Quote:
Originally Posted by Moejoe
it takes a modern agent/editor/reviewer 3 pages (if that) to decide on whether a book is worth publishing (the First 3 Pages is a very famous book about this very process and why writers should not ignore it). I simply take this to any work that I'm deciding upon and reduce it. Read the first 3 paragraphs of any book and you'll have a really good idea of what's coming up and whether that's something you'll really want to continue with. If it's taking you a 100 pages to make a decision on whether you like a book or not, then maybe you do need to be told what to read by the gatekeepers.
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Please read more carefully what I write. And agent might read 3 pages and decide that the prose is publishable but that does not mean that the book will be published in the version that is submitted to the editor.
I personally have to read the whole book to see if I like it. I bad ending usually destroys an otherwise good book for me.
I want to read only good books. I do not want to read just OK books. And I still do not believe you can distinguish between Ok books and good books just reading a couple of paragraphs.
If the prose is bad of course everybody can detect that in a couple of paragraphs. But a good book do not just consist of prose you like. It also should have a good plot and it must be internally constistent and do on.