The Hook

[jteethy]

Here's the opening paragraph of The Dreaming Jewels (aka The Synthetic Man) by Theodore Sturgeon:

They caught the kid doing something disgusting under the bleachers at the high-school stadium, and he was sent home from the grammar school across the street.  He was eight years old then.  He'd been doing it for years.

That's a hell of a hook. How could

Comments

[baronscartop]

I have so many books to read on my shelves that I never buy books on a whim any longer, and if I pick one off my shelf it has five to ten pages to stimulate me before I decide I'm just not in the mood for it right now and pick something else up.

t!

[pasley]

Totally a mood thing with me as well. There are times---and it can be a seasonal determinant---when I have infinite patience with some pretty dense and/or obtuse writing, writing that requires special attention, and I am often rewarded after fifty pages or so, because suddenly I am completely engrossed and it was worth the initial struggle. (A recent example was Ellroy's The Black Dahlia, which I actually stuck with for 70 pages or so before it finally took off, after which time I was unable to put it down until I finished it

[talyesin]

Books... Ugh. I once went two and a half books into a trilogy before deciding it was crap and stopped reading. Nowadays, though, it's a lot quicker - a couple of chapters is about all I'll give it to hook me. Any more than that, and I feel obligated to finish it. Sort of a professional courtesy to another writer, sort of thing.

Movies? If I paid for it, I'm watching all of it. Actually, that's not completely true: I've never walked out of a theatre, but I have turned off movies that I've rented. Not often, but sometimes. Knowing that screenwriters have that crucial first half-hour to lay out everything you need to know about the universe the movie is set in makes me watch the first half-hour, at least.

If I fall asleep during, however, it's probably not going to be any better the second time around, so I take that as a sign.

[talyesin]

Nowadays, though, it's a lot quicker - a couple of chapters is about all I'll give it to hook me.

Yes, ERAGON, I'm looking at you. Better hook me soon!

[walkerofrohan]

Ok, just cause I work in the fish department doesn't mean you can try to get me to read something by a guy named Sturgeon. Although that does sound tempting... and my mind is as dirty as yours (possibly dirtier, and my mouth goes along with it more often