maestrowork
Re: Analysing The Ingredients For A Real Page-Turner
Grisham is so huge that he can probably write toilet limericks and people will still buy his book.
If you pay attention, you will see that he's getting away from the courtroom suspense genre: A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Bleacher... do we see a trend?
In a Painted House, he tells the story with a VERY languid pace. The first few chapters, almost nothing happens and very little suspense.
It's very risky. Because he is Grisham, people give him a chance. I had to start the book a few times (because I have short attention span and the beginning of A Painted House was SO slow)... but once I was at about page 60 I got into it and it worked, because by then I already cared about the characters.
But Grisham can afford to do that, because he is Grisham. For a new writer, you need a hook or something that tickle your curiosity right from the start, even for a literary fiction! When Grisham was relativelynew (A Time To Kill, The Firm, etc.) he did the "hook" thing.
I'm still learning how to do it. I tend to end the book much stronger than I start it. For me it's still not second nature to know how to hook a reader right from the start, but I'm getting there.
Grisham is so huge that he can probably write toilet limericks and people will still buy his book.
If you pay attention, you will see that he's getting away from the courtroom suspense genre: A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Bleacher... do we see a trend?
In a Painted House, he tells the story with a VERY languid pace. The first few chapters, almost nothing happens and very little suspense.
It's very risky. Because he is Grisham, people give him a chance. I had to start the book a few times (because I have short attention span and the beginning of A Painted House was SO slow)... but once I was at about page 60 I got into it and it worked, because by then I already cared about the characters.
But Grisham can afford to do that, because he is Grisham. For a new writer, you need a hook or something that tickle your curiosity right from the start, even for a literary fiction! When Grisham was relativelynew (A Time To Kill, The Firm, etc.) he did the "hook" thing.
I'm still learning how to do it. I tend to end the book much stronger than I start it. For me it's still not second nature to know how to hook a reader right from the start, but I'm getting there.