In the books I like that's certainly true, which is why the page 117 test. The reason I want to avoid the hooks at the start is because every writer puts those in, my test is to see whether they do it on every page or only at the beginning. But it's not just obvious hooks which interest me, it's writing style, characters (if an author can make a character grab me on one random page) and other aspect which I don't necessarily consciously notice.
(I think the first line of AoC is up there with the best hooks I know. Possibly matched by Heinlein's "Once there was a Martian called Smith", I'd be hard put to choose between them.)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmmag
no subject
Date: 2009-01-26 07:02 pm (UTC)(I think the first line of AoC is up there with the best hooks I know. Possibly matched by Heinlein's "Once there was a Martian called Smith", I'd be hard put to choose between them.)