Why readers stop reading...
Aug. 12th, 2009 12:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborahjrossCheck 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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Date: 2009-08-12 10:35 pm (UTC)The only thing worse than feeling stupid is the pressure to pretend you understand and like something you don't.
Good writers make readers feel smart, and included.