Quote:
Originally Posted by J. Strnad
I don't follow your logic, but it's intriguing.
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Let me try again:
My thinking is that the purpose of a sample is to show that the story is worth buying, right? To *me*; a good story, from a good writer, can do that in a short sample.
The best stories do it in a page or less.
(HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSPHER'S STONE did it in a paragraph. Everything I needed to know about the tone of the story and the writer's wordsmithing was right up front.)
I just don't see quantity being much of a substitute for quality, is all.
I've grown used to the BAEN and Amazon approach of one sample chapter, so anything longer stands out; anything beyond *three* chapters and I start to wonder *why*? As in, what's the catch? Am I expected to go *that* far before recognizing quality?
Me, I don't need to read half a book to know if I'm going to like it.
What I look for in a story: an interesting premise, prose that doesn't grate, a character or two that intrigues... Those are things that should be front and center in the opening of any well-told story.
I guess my logic is that I'm more forgiving of bad endings than of bad openings.
Finally, I'm stubborn: once I start a story I tend to finish it, bad ending or not; I can count on the fingers of one hand the books I couldn't bring myself to finish. (And I still have fingers to spare, too.)
Other people? Well, that's up to them.