Quote:
Originally Posted by tompe
Well, I only know about science fiction authors since I go to a lot of sf cons and it is well known among them.
And I would have thought it self evident that you do not start a book with 50 boring pages...
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It's not universal. Not even among "good" works.
I've seen plenty of traditionally published SF&Fantasy books (some really good) that start off slowly, albeit it with a good narrative tone.
It's not just the strength of the hook I judge, but how the inside of te book lines up with the marketting promises of the cover, title, blurb, etc
A bad fit is a red flag; a smooth fit is a good sign.
(A fantasy titled HEROICS FOR BEGINNERS had better be witty and funny and it is. Right from the start.)
"It's a gestalt thing."
Trying to tell if a book is worthy of our reading time (and money) is like the fabled blind men trying to make sense of the elephant; you judge by what you hear and feel and the more inputs you get the better judgment you can make.
But in the end it still is a matter of taste; nobody can say what *must* work for others. Only where their preferences run.
And that is where Mr Franklin and his crowd are wrong; they are projecting *their* preferences and prejudices onto the rest of us.
And we (politely, unlike the FUD-spreaders) beg to differ.
We choose differently than they prefer we would but that is simply because we live in different worlds; what works in one small community does not necessarily apply in the bigger world. And once you move into the digital domain the world gets very big very fast.