Amanita
Maester
Well, there are many discussions about formal matters of writing around here again.
There's one thing I'm asking myself though, from the perspective of a reader. Are they really so quick to put down a book because it has too much description, unnecessary uses of the word "said", passive sentences, telling and so on?
I have to admit that it's not true for me at least. When I read a new book for the first time, I tend to read rather quickly not even taking in all of those finer points. If I reread I do, but that's only with the books where I've liked characters and story enough.
If there are descriptions which don't interest me when reading the book for the first time, I'm going to skip them. If I decide that I like it, I will read them in detail next time.
As long as there aren't any glaring errors and an extremely clumsy style, I'm much more interested in characters and subject matter of the book. For me, the main if not only thing to look at if I want to buy a book is what it's about. If the subject matter interests me, I'm going to give it a try, if not than not.
Maybe I'm alone with this shallow approach to reading, but looking at the bestselling novels like Twilight or Shades of Grey I doubt it.
For some reason, many bestsellers are doing exactly those "wrong" things that supposedly make readers put down the books.
There's one thing I'm asking myself though, from the perspective of a reader. Are they really so quick to put down a book because it has too much description, unnecessary uses of the word "said", passive sentences, telling and so on?
I have to admit that it's not true for me at least. When I read a new book for the first time, I tend to read rather quickly not even taking in all of those finer points. If I reread I do, but that's only with the books where I've liked characters and story enough.
If there are descriptions which don't interest me when reading the book for the first time, I'm going to skip them. If I decide that I like it, I will read them in detail next time.
As long as there aren't any glaring errors and an extremely clumsy style, I'm much more interested in characters and subject matter of the book. For me, the main if not only thing to look at if I want to buy a book is what it's about. If the subject matter interests me, I'm going to give it a try, if not than not.
Maybe I'm alone with this shallow approach to reading, but looking at the bestselling novels like Twilight or Shades of Grey I doubt it.
For some reason, many bestsellers are doing exactly those "wrong" things that supposedly make readers put down the books.