Aug 26, 2019
Why would you, as an author/reader, abandon (stop reading) someone else’s book?
As I mentioned in a comment a few weeks ago, I take pride in reading completely almost every book I start. Almost is the key word here. Every now and then, I run into a book I just can’t handle, it’s so bad.
I won’t be naming any names. Most of them are wiped from my memory. But because of the bad books I’ve run into, I’m pickier about what books I buy. I’ll even take the time to read the reviews for freebies to escape my pet peeves.
The first and biggest reason is bad grammar. Typos, words spelled wrong, the wrong form of a word used, incorrect punctuation. Sure, a few errors here and there happen, even in books by traditional publishers. But when I pick up a book that has several a page, it makes it hard to slog through the entire story. If it’s a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad book, I’ll erase it from my ebook reader. (Thanks, Judith Viorst)
Next up would be boring characters and a boring plot to match. Ever run into a book where you ask yourself why the author even bothered to write it? The characters are flat and nothing happens. The main characters go to work everyday and that is somehow an existential crisis. I’ve never read one of those books the whole way through.
Image by Gerhard Gellinger from Pixabay
How about unrealistic story line? Let’s say in the story it takes an hour to get from point A to point B and you know in real life it would take three or four. Or it’s a mystery and the author has no idea of police procedure. I’ll let one instance pass, but if the book is full of similar mistakes, I can’t finish it.
What do I do with really bad books? It’s easy to get rid of an ebook. It’s a little harder to get rid of a paper version. I feel guilty passing it on to a charity and inflicted the pain on someone else. And it breaks my heart to put any book in the garbage. I have to weigh the end results and usually the garbage can wins.
I did a quick poll on Twitter to see what would cause other people to stop reading a book. I only got a few responses, but the clear winner—or is it loser?—was bad editing.
I’m curious-what’s your number one reason for not finishing a book? Even if it’s already been mentioned, feel free to chime in. Consider the comments section as an informal poll. I suspect there will be a lot of repetition in the blog hop posts this week. But I’m going to go check, anyway. Follow the links below to join in.
Aug 26, 2019
Why would you, as an author/reader, abandon (stop reading) someone else’s book?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
I was recently honored to participate in the Spilling Ink podcast, where we discussed our books, writing, and life in general. By the way, I hate my camera setup, and I’ll have to change it up the next time I participate in one of these. Anyway, it was great fun to do. Many thanks go to Jason LaVell and Katie Salidas for the opportunity.
And I apologize, but there must have an issue with my internet connection which ended up making my voice garbled. (LAG!)
Aug 19, 2019
What does literary success look like to you?
At one time in my life, I would have defined literary success as getting my poetry published in a major magazine. I never accomplished that goal, although my poems got accepted by a number of smaller literary magazines. Each publication felt like success.
Then I started writing books. And to me, literary success felt like writing one good enough that I was willing to share it with the world. I wrote Wolves’ Pawn, decided it was ready, and released it to the world. While the world didn’t buy the book, each sale felt like a success.
Next came The Marquesa’s Necklace, and from the moment I published it I felt like a success. I wasn’t a one-book wonder. I’d proven to myself that I had more good books in me, and they weren’t all the same plot over and over. And that was success.
Each time a reader takes a moment to wrote a good review, and buys more of my books, that is success.
Once upon a time, when I was running a paid aid, The Marquesa’s Necklace made it into the top 100 for its genre. It only lasted for an hour or so, but that was definitely success.
Now, with each new book I write, success seems harder to achieve. I’m always shooting for more and for better, and it’s harder and harder to achieve. I’m an addict, searching for my next literary high. Maybe it’s a compliment from another author. Or selling enough books at an event to not only cover the cost of the event, but to make a small profit. Or gain new subscribers to my newsletter, or get more views on my latest blog post.
Would I like to write a nationwide best seller? Absolutely. Do I expect it to happen? Expect-no. Hope-yes. That would be the ultimate literary success.
In the meantime, I’ll remind myself to take joy in the small successes. Writing a line or a paragraph I know is way above average. Finishing my next book. Cheering a reader on as I see the books in a series being bought one after the other.
That’s what I define as literary success. Now, I’m off to find out how everyone defines it. Follow the links below to come with me.
Aug 19, 2019
What does literary success look like to you?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
August 12, 2019
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
When I first read this question, my thought was “But it’s all hard!” However, that wouldn’t make a very good blog post, so here we are.
After giving it some thought, the answer was simple. Beginnings. It’s hard to find the right place to start, whether it’s a book or a blog post. Often it takes me three or four tries to write the beginning of anything. (It took me three tries to get this far!)
Unlike the advice in song from The Sound of Music, Do_Re_Mi, stories don’t always start from the beginning. They need to start at some point that will draw the reader in. How bad would it be to have every book start with the birth of the main character?
Sometimes, it’s finding the right ‘voice’ to tell the story. When I wrote the prequel to the Harmony Duprie mysteries, I wanted to write in from Jake’s point of view. I tried four different beginnings, but none of them worked. Jake just didn’t want to reveal his secrets. Once I switched to Harmony’s point of view, the story came easily.
When I wrote The Marquesa’s Necklace, the first book in the series, I wrote an entire chapter that ended up being deleted. But it wasn’t a lost effort, because it helped me to develop Harmony’s personality. Plus, I used parts of it in my reworked first chapter.
In fact, I pulled out the first paragraph from the first draft. You’ll see why I got rid of it!
It was another quiet day in the library—just the way I like it. As an ex-librarian, I appreciate the times when only a few patrons are scattered in the stacks or perusing the racks of periodicals. Back then it gave me time to shelve books or straighten out the magazines. Now that I spend much of my time doing research for a writers’ co-op, these times are when I am most productive. None of my old coworkers object when I accumulate a large pile of books on the table I stake out as my territory for the day. They know I will put them back in the proper place before I leave. I don’t necessarily need all these books, but they create a wall I can hide behind.
The same is true for my Free Wolves series. Although the prequel to Wolves’ Pawn came to me a dream, writing the first chapter wasn’t easy. And I wrote it with pen and paper, so while I have the original somewhere, you aren’t going to get the original opening paragraph!
Each book I write, it gets a little easier to write a good first chapter. That doesn’t mean they don’t go through numerous revisions, only that I don’t end up having to delete the whole thing and start over.
By the way, endings can be hard, too. But I’m just going to leave this here and head over to check out what the other authors have to say. You can come with me by following the links below.
August 12, 2019
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Rules:1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/p/eeae40
August 5, 2019
What is your writing Kryptonite?
What’s the one thing that could make me give up writing?
I almost did, a few years back, but not on purpose. And you may have heard the first part of this before, but keep reading.
That was when poetry was my focus in writing. For many years, the words came easily. I have notebooks and binders filled with my poems. But somewhere along the way, I lost the words. I was doing good if I wrote two poems in an entire year. It hurt. It hurt bad enough that I considered giving up writing altogether.
But a story floated around in my head and wouldn’t go away. It wouldn’t work as a poem. So, I wrote it as a novel. At least, I tried. And words came back to me.
Now, I’m happily working on the fifth book in the Harmony Duprie series. But I’ve been tempted to give up. Why?
I’ve been hit by my Kryptonite-lack of sales. Why write when no one is reading? A book isn’t complete until someone reads it. Plus, it costs money to get a book ready for publication. If I can’t recoup those costs, it’s like throwing money away.
Interior artwork from Superman: Secret Origin vol. 1, 1 (November 2009 DC Comics)
Art by Gary Frank
But then I remember the people who encourage me and like my stories. The ones that buy them even if they don’t write reviews. So, I keep trying. That’s the advice you hear in the writers’ group-keep writing! Maybe one of these days I’ll write a best seller. (I also hear a lot of writers are having a hard time, not just me. Go buy a book even if it isn’t mine!)
So, I’ve been weakened by one form of Kryptonite but not knocked out. I’m still writing. (I should break 26000 words tonight!) Still, I know there are other forms of the nasty stuff. I hope I don’t run into them.
Because I have an idea for another series. I’ve written one draft of the book, but the time frame and location are all wrong. How would you like a story about a gritty female PI with a darker edge? She’d be no Harmony Duprie.
But while I think about it, I’m heading over to see what the other authors in the hop believe their Kryptonite is. You can too, by following the links below.
August 5, 2019
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Rules:1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
