I’m delighted to be a guest on one of Marshal Zeringue’s blogs just now. I’ve put my latest book, DANGER IN THE WIND, through his “Page 69 Test.”
Marshal hosts some of the most inventive blogs around. In this one, he asks an author to evaluate Page 69 of a book. Is it typical of the novel as a whole…and how? If not, why not? I suppose you could be unlucky and find your Page 69 at the end of a chapter with just one or two lines on it, but mine’s a full page, and it made a useful point about the plot of the book…not a spoiler, just something about the way mysteries are put together. Oh dear, that sounds a bit serious…and it isn’t really. These “tests” are fun to do, and I love reading other people’s entries, so I hope you’ll enjoy mine. It’s at
http://americareads.blogspot.com/2012/02/pg-69-jane-finniss-danger-in-wind.html
You’ll find that Marshal has put in links to a couple of earlier entries of mine, including one for another of his lively series, Coffee with a Canine, about my two dogs.
Marshal is too busy to have visitor comments on his blogs – he says he hasn’t the time to moderate them. A shame, but when you’ve seen how many good threads he’s running, you’ll appreciate why. So just browse and enjoy…and you could always comment here, of course!
I really enjoyed the p 69 test on “Danger” as I’d enjoyed the book so much. I just hope new readers get tempted!
Thanks, Dolores. It’s such a neat idea, isn’t it…evaluating a page in the middle of a book. We all take extra care over our openings and endings, and I’m not suggesting we’re negligent about the rest of the work. But to look at a page in the middle and ask yourself, does this work, does it tell us anything about the book…that’s really interesting.