Earlier this week when I went to the bookstore with a friend, she noticed something about the way I browsed books.
I didn’t really think anything of it, but I noticed I do have a pattern.
Here’s how I browse a book:
Read the front flap.
I always pay very close attention to the first sentence, and always wonder how the decision was made. I try and find the hook, and then try to find the complication or story question.
Read the Acknowledgments page.
To me, this is one of my favorite things to read when I’m browsing a book–especially from a debut author. Those authors are always so grateful in their acknowledgments. This is also getting really cool because I’m now seeing familiar names or people I actually know.
Read the About the Author page.
I love reading about authors. If they have families. Where they live or what they do for a living if they have a day job. I especially like the funny or tongue in cheek ones.
Determine number and length of chapters.
This is probably me just being obsessed with chapters. I have this “thing” with the numbers 24, 27, and 32. For some reason, I think chapters should fall on one of these numbers. It freaks me out when I browse a book and it has 17 chapters, LOL.
But most of the time, I look at the chapters to quickly gauge how the writer broke the story down. Are the chapters pretty much the same length? Or are they drastically different? Are there multiple scenes per chapter or is just one scene per chapter?
Read the first chapter.
I always read the first chapter of a book just to see how it opens. Also to see if it corresponds to the flap copy. I love reading first lines and/or paragraphs. You can tell a lot about a book in the first paragraph.
I guess in my own way when I’m book browsing, I’m dissecting and learning because I’m a writer. Or it could be that I’m just really weird.
Probably both.
Ha, I read the acknowledgments page for the same reason! I haven’t done the chapter thing myself, though I completely know what you mean about odd-numbered chapters. I always have to smell a book – my husband thinks it’s the funniest thing ever :-)
Isn’t cool seeing the names of people you know in the acknowledgments page? Especially Blue Boarders—I really feel like I know them.
I totally forgot about “new book” smell. Much better than the “old book” smell you get at the library, LOL.
Sounds like you’re learning and weird. I like weird. :-)
Ha, ha Susan. If you only knew how deep the weird goes. I think most writers have this characteristic, LOL.