How to make me read your novel before others
I had a free hour this afternoon, so I walked to the library to pick out a book from my reading list. I had to decide quickly among several books, so I read the first page or so of some of my options. I'll summarize each one mercilessly, and I think you'll understand which one I decided to check out.
- Students arrive at college.
- Light shines on funereal things in certain ways.
- A criminal kills law officers to escape.
- The narrator talks funny.
- A man finds out he has a unique fatal disease.
That summarizes the beginnings of White Noise, All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, Everything Is Illuminated, and The Subject Steve, respectively. The third sounded interesting, but I wasn't in the mood for a running man story, so I picked the last one. People have raved about some of those books for years, and I'm sure they have their high points, but they do not have remarkable plot in their first pages.
