Deborah J. Ross (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deborahjross) wrote2009-08-12 12:16 pm
deborahjross) wrote2009-08-12 12:16 pm
Why readers stop reading...
Check out Nathan Bransford's blog on why (and at what point) readers give up on a book. It's fascinating -- and instructive to us writers.
The people posting fall into several categories. Some, a minority I think, are compulsive finishers. Others are either so critical or so stressed for time, they give a book only a few pages, a chapter at most, to hook them. Most seem to be somewhere in between -- they'll hang in there for 30-100 pages.
Many commented that if a book has been recommended (or they've enjoyed other books by the same author), they will give it more time. Others mentioned specific turn-offs, ranging from content (I just put down a book which combined glorification of the military, a dystopic world, and killing a dog, all in the first chapter -- I would probably read on if it were only one, not all 3) to prose technique (telling not showing, weird tenses).
The single most cited reason for giving up on a book? "IT'S BORING." Granted, one reader's "boring" is another reader's "brilliant," but I am struck by how many bloggers used the same word.
When and why do you give up on a book? What makes a book boring to you?
The people posting fall into several categories. Some, a minority I think, are compulsive finishers. Others are either so critical or so stressed for time, they give a book only a few pages, a chapter at most, to hook them. Most seem to be somewhere in between -- they'll hang in there for 30-100 pages.
Many commented that if a book has been recommended (or they've enjoyed other books by the same author), they will give it more time. Others mentioned specific turn-offs, ranging from content (I just put down a book which combined glorification of the military, a dystopic world, and killing a dog, all in the first chapter -- I would probably read on if it were only one, not all 3) to prose technique (telling not showing, weird tenses).
The single most cited reason for giving up on a book? "IT'S BORING." Granted, one reader's "boring" is another reader's "brilliant," but I am struck by how many bloggers used the same word.
When and why do you give up on a book? What makes a book boring to you?
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For me, what is a real book-kill is an author that simply will not let his characters succeed.
There is a writer by the name of Alistair Reynolds. He does a really good job of interweaving cyberpunk, space opera, and hard tech.
But his books leave me cold, though I should love them. The reason is that no matter what his characters do, no matter how much they suffer.....in the end they fail.
There is no lasting success, and the climax of the material is that they don't fail as badly as they could have. It's simply not enjoyable.
Unlike one of the earlier responses, I loved Brasyl by Ian McDonald. It's a complex work, but organically so for me.
Another book he did, named River of Gods, was similarly complex. It was also one of the richest reads I've had in a long while.
As a writer, he cares for his characters. Even the smallest one has density and depth to them, making for material that might be slow to go through but in the end is very satisfying.
no subject