Is it the characters? The plot? Unanswered questions? What kinds of things hook you and keep you reading? For me the characters are what keep me turning the pages. Some of the books I read have little plot, not much action, but I get attached to the character. Even in mysteries, I love knowing more about the primary detective or his/her side-kick. Martha Grimes created such an amazing detective with Richard Jury and his side-kick, Melrose Plant. Even though the plots were pretty formulaic, I read every book because I loved characters and how they interacted with one another.
Take this short quiz and see if you can nail that illusive thing that keeps you nailed to your book:
- Do you read ahead to see what is going to happen next. Even if it means skimming pages?
- Do you worry about the characters and what events will cause them trouble?
- Are you more interested in the main character’s life than the mystery at hand?
- Do you skim through the action in order to discover if the character will survive?
- Do you tire of reading about the main character’s problems and more interested in how the action will play out?
If you answered yes to questions 1 and 5, you tend to be a plot driven reader who gets hooked by the action and the mystery at hand. If you answered yes to numbers 2, 3, and 4, you are more character driven and tend to read even if the action is stale. If you have a mixture of answers, you read for both character and action. You could be hooked by either one, depending on the story.
So, how did you do? What hooks you?
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