Nothing scary about this advice
It happened to me this summer. It was the first time I finished a book I didn’t like. I barreled through, I turned the pages, disappointed on each and every one from mid-book on. I wanted it to change, for the author to step up and make it better. I could have forgiven her if she’d redirected the main character. I might have even thought that commercial literary genius. But she didn’t. And I didn’t.
But I did know that I could do better.
I wouldn’t drop subplots and secondary characters like hot potatoes (I’m still wondering about some of those characters) and I wouldn’t change the personality of a main character so severely without, perhaps, giving her a medical condition that warrants it.
I’m not asking you to rat out any authors, that’s not what this is about. We know better than any subgroup of people on the planet that this is a subjective business. Actually I’m sure many readers liked the book I found so trite.
So when did this happen to you — and what did it teach you?
And if you haven’t read Stephen King’s On Writing, you should.
It’s happened to me many times, but the one time that it pissed me off enough to write an entire blog post about it was Christopher Moore’s Bloodsucking Fiends. It was well written and funny, but I hated the characters. They had no redeeming qualities and the girl basically chooses to end up with a human who considered raping her while she was unconscious and locked her in a deep freezer for several days, over the vampire who turned her, gave her 100,000 dollars after turning her so she could start to take care of herself, and just wanted a companion.
I’ve read a couple of those books. If they were television sets, you’d want to throw a brick through them at the end of the “show.” I agree that King’s book On Writing is an excellent one.
This happens to me incessantly. Nothing pleases me. Not even my own work. It’s craziness. I need to drink a glass of wine before I can settle back and enjoy a good (or bad) book without thinking too much.
Thanks for including that Stephen King video, great advice and you’re right, his book on writing is one of the best out there.
I can’t pinpoint a book that I hated and said “I can do better”, maybe I just block the books I can’t stand or I just stop reading them.
On the other hand, I’ve had the opposite experience. Right now I’m reading 100 Years of Solitude and am blown away by the writing so much that I’ve actually wondered what it must be like to be that talented and to be able to write that well….is it an out of body experience? Does the author realize how well they are writing?
Beginner’s Greek. Usually I just toss a book when it turns bad, but this was such an ornate and well-dressed train wreck, it was like watching the Orient Express crash into the Gare du Nord.
I do my best to plug through to the end and learn from the experience. Sometimes I just can’t stay focused and decide not to torture myself any longer. I have Stephen King’s Memoir On Writing on CD. It’s in my car and I listen to it as much as my grandson watches The Cars movie. Great inspiration!