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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Trust issues



I’ve become increasingly disinclined to read or finish books that treat me like an imbecile. There are a lot of books where the author and or characters are hiding things from the reader. The characters continually hint at big things while ‘shaking their heads’ and saying ‘but I couldn’t think of that now.”

I’m not saying that a book has to lay all their cards on the table at once. And revealing things at the right pacing is a must, but I don’t want to be spoon fed fluff while having the author dribble hints that something is very wrong. Especially if this happens over several hundred pages. First, whatever they’re ‘hiding’ is usually pretty easy to figure out so finally revealing it isn’t as big a deal as the author wants. Also, I want the whole book to feel like I’m exploring and learning about the characters and setting. I don’t want to be told, not yet, I can’t tell you yet, You’re not ready, while I read. It makes me feel like a five year old whose mother won’t let them do anything.

Reveal things as they are needed for the story. Don't have your characters keep things from the reader. Then, come up with alternate ways to increase tension. Because using the same tired piece of information to try and draw out the excitement through the whole book doesn’t work. All it does is makes the reader annoyed and causes them to look somewhere else for satisfaction.

Have you read books that treat you like an idiot? What did they do that made you feel that way?

15 comments:

  1. This would bother me too.
    "I want the whole book to feel like I’m exploring and learning about the characters and setting." I agree!
    Trying to think of an example, though, and failing... Now I'm wondering which book you've been reading :-)

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  2. Yes, that would bug me too. And we need to watch that in our own writing too.

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    1. I did it a lot in my the first book I queried. I try not to do it now.

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  3. Goodness, that makes me curious about what you've been reading. Yes, I've read those kinds of books. I usually roll my eyes and slog through. Sometimes they even turn out okay.

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    1. I try to slog through, but since my time for reading and writing is so short I find I'm less and less likely to read it just to read it.

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  4. Yes, and sadly I often put those books down because I don't feel so much that I'm the idiot as the characters are.

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  5. Yes, and sadly I often put those books down because I don't feel so much that I'm the idiot as the characters are.

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    1. That's a good way to look at it. It's not me, it's the characters. :)

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  6. I used to push through books that tried to delicately spoon feed me bits of information, but I've decided I'd rather focus on books that I actually enjoy reading.

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  7. Sign me up as a reader who runs from books with trust issues! I hate them. "So little time, so many books" keeps clamoring in the back of my head as I read that sort of story. I just don't have the time anymore.

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  8. I appreciate books that offer appropriate foreshadowing. I think good foreshadowing can move me to read the book a second time just so I can look for those a-ha moments I missed during the first read.

    Yes, I've definitely read books where I felt like I was being patronized as a reader.

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  9. I appreciate books that offer appropriate foreshadowing. I think good foreshadowing can move me to read the book a second time just so I can look for those a-ha moments I missed during the first read.

    Yes, I've definitely read books where I felt like I was being patronized as a reader.

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