Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.
This week Billy asks: When you start reading a novel, do you prefer to be plunged right into the action, or do you prefer a slower, more descriptive introduction to the plot and characters?
I have enjoyed books that begin both ways, but in general I think I tend to prefer books that just throw the reader into the story and trust that they will figure out what is going on as the plot is underway. I am generally a big fan of stories that start in media res, which I suppose is pretty much the apotheosis of the "plunge right in" kind of story.
One caveat is that it takes a skilled writer to pull this sort of story structure off. Just jumping into the story straightaway means that things like worldbuilding and character development have to be done as part of the flow of the narrative. When this is done well, it is incredible, and makes for a book that flows along at an almost effortless clip. This can be done very badly, however, and when it is done badly, a book just falls apart.
Previous Book Blogger Hop: The U.S. Navy Said That the Ship T-AG-193, Also Known as the Glomar Explorer, Was for Deep Sea Drilling
Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: Mithridates I, the Great King of Parthia, Was Born in 195 B.C.
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