I have been testing a theory of mine that the average reader
loves seeing the author use "eyes" as often as possible. (As
in: "He looked in her eyes and knew she was ready to two-time
him.") That if two writers wrote the same type of book, the
book with the most "eye contact" between characters would
sell more.
Somebody a few years ago on DorothyL kept track in some
best-seller and was freaked to discover there were maybe 270
incidents when "he saw in her eyes that she . . ." It was
goofy the first time I saw it . . . but then I kept seeing
that "gimmick"(?) being used in books. And the more often it
was used, the more often the book received favorable
treatment.
I don't have my copy of Maltese Falcon handy, but I did play
with the text a bit, ignoring the dialogue and see what was
left. What I think I remember was curious: a lot of that "eye
contact", but also a weird, very distanced things with
"hands", too.
I do know the more often the writer uses primary colors to
describe something, the more readers seem to go for it. I've
been teaching Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and
every other paragraph has extensive repetition of primary
colors. Hammett uses colors often -- more than I initially
thought there would be, but I think James Lee Burke gets the
prize.
Anybody else notice this?
Best wishes
Frederick Zackel
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