NEW YEAR! NEW YOU! NEW READS?
Its been many years since I’ve
written a blog post. In all that time, I
figured most of my readers already know how I feel about books and my mindset
on how I arrive at the book reviews I give.
But, after speaking with other avid reader fans, I’ve discovered there
are some things about the book world that really sets our mind’s eyes on
fire.
Going forward, I’d like to advise
authors of some of the pet peeves that many of us avid readers are a bit tired
of and hopefully some of our gripes will not fall on deaf ears. Or, become imagination
crushers. We’ll see.
For me, here are the ingredients
that make a five-star good read. 1)
strong plot; 2) unforgettable characters; 3) exceptional detail (but not overly
done); 4) well thought-out chapters; 5) excellent editing; and 6) well-balanced
mystery/suspense to keep the readers on the edge of their seats. Again, these are my opinions on what makes a
story not just good, but great! The type
of stories that can go on your all-time favorites list. I’m happy to say I’ve read many five-star books. What sets them apart is the fact that I can
still recall the great moments of each of those books and often find myself
thinking about those characters that I loved so much. Novels that touched me so deeply that I
sometimes forget the characters weren’t real.
That’s what makes a five-star good read.
At least, that’s what used to
make a five-star good read. I’m not sure
what has happened in the last decade or so, but the authors of today aren’t
quite like the ones of yesteryear, and I’ve been struggling with this. I’m finding the books I’ve read within the
last five years aren’t making it to five stars.
In fact, I’ve been struggling to even get to four and a half. I’ve been doing good to get to three (the
dreaded fence) as I prefer to call it.
What has happened in the world of imagination? What’s going on in the novel universe? Has the pandemic affected the way we writers’
think? Has our psyche become damaged due
to the ugliness of the real world? Is it
me just struggling to find great stories anymore or are you experiencing the
same thing? What is going on? Let’s explore together. Here are the gripes I’ve learned from speaking
with other avid readers. Authors, please
take note!!! 🙄
Note to Authors
Readers’ Gripes:
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Too
Long
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Too Many Characters
Great characters make for a great story. You can’t have a story without strong characters. That would be like building a car without brakes. Think of all the movies you enjoy or books you’ve read where the characters were so memorable, it will still bring a smile to your face. But as of late, I get books that have about six or more characters to keep up with and it becomes so confusing. I must go back and see what character this is and how do they relate to the story. When I must go back and figure out who a character is, that’s too many damn characters. OMG! Three or four characters to learn is about enough and even sometimes they can be confusing. Try to keep the characters to a level that the reader can follow and want to invest time in. When I can’t keep the characters straight in my mind, I’m abandoning the story! Point! Blank! Periodt! I’m over it! 😴
Too Much Detail
I’ve already explained what makes
a five-star rating to me. There’s a fine line between giving the reader too
much detail or not enough. Those authors
who master this are truly great writers, but there are so many of us out here
that really need to examine what “detail” is.
I can’t stand when an author tells me everything, i.e., lint that is on
the character’s clothes, a scab the character picked at, running their fingers
through its hair, the streets the character drove down to the point of giving
us GPS coordinates of where the character is driving, how much food they are
eating, every facial expression the character is making, etc. You get the point. OMG!
We don’t need to know all of that.
Some authors excessively give too much detail, and they don’t let the
reader do any work for him or herself.
It drives me insane with all the detail.
There are some authors who give you so much detail, that I must go back
a few paragraphs to figure out what were these characters supposed to be doing
in the first place? When I must go back
and try to figure out why this character is doing what it's doing, that should
tell you it’s too much detail!!!! 😫
Cliffhangers
Who doesn’t love mystery and a
little suspense. Hell, a story wouldn’t
be worth its salt if you don’t have some mystery to keep the reader wanting more. Oh, but authors today have this “gimmick”
where they will offer the reader (in some cases) the beginnings of a new story
or series for free to bait us. Once we bite, what they neglect to tell us is the
free story they’ve offered has a cliffhanger and for us to get to the rest of
the story, they advise we must pay to read the rest of the story. Well, ain’t that
rich! When this has happened to me, guess what?! Not only will I never read anything that
author has written again, but I also refuse to pay for the rest of the story
because I was hoodwinked to begin with. Perhaps
if the author was upfront and said, “Hey this story isn’t going to end, and if
you liked what you read thus far, I’d appreciate you paying for the rest of the
story,” I would gladly do it. But no, I’ve
got to be lied to and once an author breaks my trust, there is no going back! You only get one shot to fool me once and
that’s all she wrote!
How do you expect to gain readers’
trust with those types of games? That may work for some readers, but I’m a vet
and ain’t no way in hell will I be played liked that. Not today!
No ma’am!
Also, along those same lines, most
authors have a series of books out.
Another huge pet peeve of mine, that is, unless those stories read as
standalones. If you try to play me and
not advise that the first book in the series is a cliffhanger and I must read book
two, three or four to finish it off, guess what?! Right…you guessed it, I will not finish that
author’s series. I want to know what I’m
getting upfront, otherwise, if you fool me, I’m out and I’ll never read their
work again nor will I recommend their work to other readers. 😝
Finally, Genres/Synopses
Every author knows that to get your
work out there, your synopsis must be strong.
How else will readers know what your book is if they don’t know exactly
what it is they’re reading? Which brings
me to one of the biggest gripes I’ve heard from avid readers, besides being
hoodwinked, and that’s the inappropriate handling of the genre an author’s work
falls under. Out of all the pet peeves I’ve
outlined today, I think this one bothers me more than all the rest. A classic example of this atrocity is when
you read the synopsis and the reader thinks this is a murder mystery, only to
find out the book had little to do with any murder, but was more like a
contemporary romance, immediately my Spidey-senses get to tingling. I’m a huge horror reading fan and my readers
know how serious I take my horror books.
It galls me when I go searching for good horror books and I read the synopsis
that says it clearly is going to be about horror and then suddenly, there’s no guts,
gore, blood, or fear at all. How the
hell do you write a so-called “horror” book and none of the things I mentioned
are in it? Once again, some authors put the
wrong tags on their books to get readers to bite and when we do, they think they’ve
won.
Wrong! You’ve lost and you’ve lost quite a lot. Once I find out I’ve been hoodwinked by
having the novel misclassified under the wrong genre simply to gain readers and
money, I immediately will stop reading your book. I will give it the worst and lowest rating possible,
and I’ll shout it from the rooftops to every reader I know to never purchase
that author’s books again. Do you know
how horrible that is to do that to a book reader? All for the sake of getting
money and followers?! You’ll be left
penniless messing with me like that.
If you’ve written a romance
novel, then make sure you advertise it as such.
Don’t say it’s romance and it turns out to be a sci-fi novel with not so
much as a sprinkle of romance in it. It’s
those types of games some authors do that is really aggravating us avid readers
and we’re tired of being silent about it.
So, this is a brand-new year bringing
along new promises. It is my hope that
the writing world gets a whole lot better.
I truly haven’t been happy with the books I’ve been reading in the last
five years. Of course, I find some
jewels among all the lumps of coal, but I miss the days when books were good
and made me want to jump to the next one. Reading is a huge part of my life,
and I don’t know where I’d be without books. I’ve gotten to the point where I
don’t enjoy reading anymore because of all the games I see being played out
here in the book universe. Please tell me this is just a rut some authors are in,
and things will get better at least. I don’t know.
Side Note: Many new authors like to use the tags "If you liked 'Gone Girl', you'll love this story." I'm here to tell you. When I see those words in the synopsis, on the cover, or written in very fine print anywhere on a book I'm thinking about selecting, I will pass your book up faster than the speed of light. That book was one of the best five-star/three-star books I've ever read. Click link to read my review of Gone Girl.
Here's hoping for a better reading year than the last five. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I get to read at least 15 books that are five-star out of my 2023 book challenge. Am I setting myself up for failure, Nerds? Hmm…I don’t know? Authors, please take heed to what we’re saying. We want great books to read and not games to play.
Until next time, Nerds, wishing
you a great 2023 reading year! Let’s
go! 😘
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