How do I write a good hook?

Write it last. Draft the body first, find the most surprising line in it, and open with that. Hooks written first are guesses about what the video will contain, which is why they over-promise. If nothing in the body is surprising, the problem is the topic rather than the hook.

Should I write in Gujarati script or Gujlish?

Whichever is faster for you. Gujlish needs no special keyboard and is how most people type quickest, and the video is narrated and captioned in Gujarati either way. The captions on screen should always be in Gujarati script, though — it reads faster to a Gujarati audience and matches what people search.

How do I control the pacing of an AI voice-over?

Through punctuation, which is the only control you have. A full stop produces a real pause, a comma a shorter one, and an ellipsis a longer beat before a reveal. Break a long sentence in two rather than adding another comma, and avoid semicolons and dashes, which systems treat inconsistently.

What is the most common mistake in reel scripts?

Opening with a greeting, which spends the only three seconds that decide the video on words carrying no information. Close behind it is putting two ideas in one reel — the second idea is tomorrow's video, and you needed one anyway.

How do I know if a script will work before making the video?

Read it aloud once. Twenty seconds of reading catches sentences that are too long, phrases you would never actually say, tongue-twisters, and whether it fits the time. If you run out of breath, the sentence is too long for a voice-over as well.

Writing Gujarati That Sounds Spoken, Not Written

The script is the only part of a Gujarati reel that cannot be automated away. Voice, visuals, captions and export are all solved; what you say and the order you say it in is still entirely yours, and it is what decides whether the video works.

The good news is that a reel script is short and follows a shape. Once you have the shape, writing one takes about ten minutes.

Length is fixed by the format

This is not a stylistic choice. Spoken Gujarati runs at roughly two words a second in a natural narration, which fixes the arithmetic.

How long a script should be

Video length	Words	Best for
15 seconds	30–40	One sharp fact or a single tip
30 seconds	50–70	The default. Most reels should be here
45 seconds	80–100	A short story or three-point list
60 seconds	110–140	An explainer that genuinely needs it

Going over does not make the video longer — it makes the voice-over rush, which is worse than cutting a line.

SOURCES

Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts — YouTube Help
Reel size and aspect ratios on Instagram — Instagram Help Centre

The shape: hook, one idea, close

Hook (one line). A reason not to scroll. Write it last.
Body (two to four lines). One idea, delivered. Not two.
Close (one line). What to do, or the thought to leave them with.

Three seconds, twenty-two seconds, five seconds. The proportions are not equal and neither is their importance.

Write for the ear

This is the single biggest difference between a script that works and one that reads well and sounds wrong. Written Gujarati permits long, elegantly subordinated sentences. Spoken Gujarati does not, and a voice-over reading a written sentence sounds like a notice being read out.

The same point, written two ways

Reads fine, sounds wrong	Sounds right
A long sentence with several clauses, joined by commas, that carries three separate thoughts before it finishes	Three short sentences. One thought each. Full stops.
Formal, written vocabulary	The word you would use talking to a customer
Passive constructions	Say who does what
Numbers written out in full	The number, said the way you would say it

The test is not whether it reads well. It is whether you run out of breath.

Read every script aloud, once

This takes twenty seconds and catches almost everything: sentences that are too long, a phrase you would never actually say, a tongue-twister you did not notice, and whether it fits the time. No other single habit improves reel scripts as much.

Write the hook last

Almost everyone writes the hook first, and it is why so many hooks over-promise. Written first, a hook is a guess about what the video will contain; written last, it is a report of the best thing actually in it.

Draft the body, find the most surprising line in it, and open with that. If nothing in the body is surprising, the problem is the topic and no hook will save it.

Punctuation is your pacing control

When a voice-over is generated from your script, you have no direct control over delivery — you cannot mark a pause or an emphasis. What you can do is punctuate, and punctuation changes the audio.

Use a full stop where you want a real pause. Commas give a shorter one.
Break a long sentence into two rather than adding another comma. The pause is what you wanted anyway.
Use an ellipsis before a reveal. It produces a longer beat than a comma.
Avoid semicolons and dashes — most systems treat them inconsistently.
If a line lands flat, repunctuate it before rewriting it. It is usually the pacing, not the words.

Gujlish, Gujarati, or English?

Write in whatever is fastest for you. Gujlish — Gujarati in English letters — needs no special keyboard and is how most people type quickest, and the output is narrated and captioned in Gujarati regardless.

The one thing that should not vary is the caption: put ગુજરાતી on screen even when you wrote in Gujlish. It reads faster to a Gujarati audience and it is what someone searching in Gujarati will match.

Where scripts go wrong

Opening with a greeting. નમસ્કાર મિત્રો spends the only three seconds that mattered.
Two ideas. The second one is tomorrow's video and you needed one anyway.
Explaining before hooking. Context can wait until line two. It almost always can.
Writing to a word count rather than to a point. Padding is audible.
A close that asks for everything. Like, share, follow, comment and visit is five requests and gets none. Ask for one.

The short version

50–70 words for 30 seconds. Over-writing makes the voice rush.
Hook, one idea, close. One idea means one.
Write the hook last, from the best line in the body.
Read it aloud. Breathlessness means the sentence is too long.
Punctuate for pacing — it is your only control over the voice-over.
Write in Gujlish if it is faster; caption in Gujarati always.