….boy, are they confounding! But interesting nonetheless.

First off, thanks to all who participated. I’m going to do a Price-Waterhouse disclaimer and rattle off facts and figs: 

I ran the survey here, for one week. I contacted my regular list of bloggites with an email that I was trying out this survey. I also posted on the Sisters in Crime list-serve. That was the focus group. A few stray people came in from various other places.

According to the nifty Dashboard feature, the Survey post got several hundred views. Forty or so people posted a vote or contacted me privately with comments.

So now….drum roll, please….here are the numbers. A selection of comments will follow.

Question:  How much time are you, the reader, willing to give an author to capture your attention?

A .        One Line………1 vote

B.         One Paragraph…….6 votes

B/C.     One Paragraph/One Chapter…..3 votes

C.         One Chapter…..4 votes

C/D.     One/Three Chapters……1 vote

D.        Three Chapters….5 votes

D/E.     Three Chapters/Half the Book……2 votes

E.         Half the Book…..3 votes

F.         The Whole $%#! Thing….1 vote

G.        Other…..8 votes  (4 votes for 3 pages, 3 votes for 50 pages, 1 vote for…it was hard to tell.)

I could attempt to do percentages, but that is much too much math for me. I think these numbers say what many of us already knew, or at least suspected: that every reader is different and what pulls a reader into a story is mysterious and nebulous. However, the way the numbers lean, I’d say we should all count on a spanking good opening, because while some people are patient, just as many have a “Life’s too short” attitude about reading a book that doesn’t grab from the get-go.

Here are some pet peeves noted by participants:

• bad grammar, especially in an opening line 
• more than one ! on a page
• dragging middles
• italicized first line
• factual errors/incorrect information
• story falls apart
• story doesn’t live up to promising beginning
• mythology is not developed, or is broken
• too much gore
• shoddy research/author faking information
• KidJep
• clumsy, poor or boring writing
• prologues
• prologues known as introductions or prefaces
• anything resembling a prologue, introduction or preface
• slamming the reader too quickly into a complex story
• out of left field change or drop in the middle of the story
• second acts with characters doing nothing but talking
• opening written from POV of a victim who dies at the end of the chapter
• unlikeable protagonist
• bad writing
• too many characters introduced too soon

Here are some comments about what grabs and keeps readers reading:

• “style is all important”
• “a voice or setting that grabs me”
• “great writing”
• “compelling voice or character”
• “something surprising or intriguing”
• “have a little magic”
• “a challenge”
• “style”
• “it’s all style for me”

Conclusions?  I’d say pitch your prologue, polish your style and let your enthusiasm for your story shine.

What do you think?

Ramona

 

In preparation for a couple of workshops I will be teaching in 2010 on how to strengthen the opening of a novel (Better Beginnings), I am conducting an informal survey here at blog de Ramona. Here is the question:

– How much time are you, the reader, willing to give an author to capture your attention? – 

A.   ONE LINE. If the first line doesn’t grab me, it’s going right back on the shelf.

B.   ONE PARAGRAPH. I’ll read a half page or so before giving up or going forward.

C.   ONE CHAPTER. Come on, every book deserves at least one chapter from a reader.

D.   THREE CHAPTERS. If the premise/set up seems promising, I’ll give it a sporting chance to really grab me.

E.   HALF THE BOOK. If I’m hooked at the start, but find myself yawning in the great wasteland of Act II, I’ve fought the good fight for the author.

F.   THE WHOLE THING. If I am drawn in at the beginning, I read to the end, whether it is brilliant or bitter.

G.   OTHER.  (You’ll have to provide your own clarifiying sentence, because I think I covered all the viable possibilities in A-F, but you never know.)

–

To “vote,” please post A, B, C, D, E, F or G in a comment, and add whatever thoughts, ideas, or suggestions you’d like. If there’s a book that has a really great hook that you’d care to mention, please do so.

If you prefer to remain anonymous, email your comment to me at ramonadef@yahoo.com and I will add your thoughts to the final count.

I’ll tally up responses and report on it later. Vote once and…that’s all.

Thanks for playing!

Ramona