Overheard a clerk at Half Price Books say 'nobody reads the first 50 pages'

I was standing in the used bookstore line last Saturday and the guy behind the counter told the customer that most people return books because they never get past page 50. Made me think about all the writing prompts I've abandoned after the first paragraph. Like, if that's how people actually read, maybe I should start my prompts in the middle of the action instead of building up to it. Has anyone else tried starting a story from the climax and working backwards?

3 comments

3 Comments

hall.nora13d ago

Starting right at the action works way better. The trick is you can always go back and sprinkle in the setup later once the reader's hooked.

cameronb5213d ago

Nora, you say that like readers don't notice the awkward flashback dump.

drew_patel5713d ago

yeah but @hall.nora that's kinda tricky if your setup is actually important for understanding what's happening. like if your character wakes up in a weird situation and the reader has no clue why they're there or what they're capable of, you risk losing them anyway. i've seen books where the action scene is just confusing because there's zero context and i put it down. you can definitely do a quick hook but you gotta give just enough breadcrumbs so they're not completely lost.