Insecure Writer’s Support Group Blog Question for January, 2021

Thank you for stopping by this morning to read my IWSG post. As Alex C. said, this past year was a tough one for all of us. For many, natural disasters ran hand in hand with political, economic, and medical ones. As I was getting ready to write this post, I was watching the movie, 2012. Remember that year 2012? According to the Mayans, it was the year the world was supposed to end. Fascinating idea. What if someone transposed the numbers, and it was really 2021? Just something else to worry about as we enter the second year of the pandemic!

January 6 question – Being a writer, when you’re reading someone else’s work, what stops you from finishing a book/throws you out of the story/frustrates you the most about other people’s books?

Even before I became a writer, there were a few things that would turn me off when I was reading someone else’s work. The greatest of these was a weak plot or one that fell apart midway through the story. Timelines were inconsistent, and there were a number of plot points left unresolved–not intentionally by the author, since we all do that when we’re working on a series, but just set aside and forgotten. If they are minor points, it’s irritating, but if they are significant enough to impact the story, it’s frustrating.

I like to equate such things to a scene in Vacation, when Chevy Chase ties the dog to the bumper of the car. No one pays any more attention to the animal until they stop again and all that’s left is the dog’s collar at the end of the leash. I realize it was meant to be funny, but to animal lovers it was even more horrifying than tying the dead aunt’s body in her rocking chair on the roof of the car.

Dangling plot elements left unresolved will actually stop me from reading another book by the same author.

The second thing that will turn me off very quickly is the overuse of sex in a novel. I get it. People like a little spice, but when there is so much spice that it obliterates the plot, well, that’s it for me. If sex is needed to move the story along, to show growth in a relationship, then by all means, but I far prefer to leave the actual act to my imagination. I don’t need a vivid description of her wahoo. There are very few books I haven’t managed to finish, but those that I haven’t all had this flaw. I suffered through a trilogy a few years back because everyone was raving about it. I didn’t find the plot until the third book. First time in my life that I’ve ever read three books in less than four hours, but easy to do when I was skipping pages of same old, same old.

A third thing that will affect my enjoyment of a book is poorly developed or one-dimensional characters, another flaw found in the trilogy. If I can’t identify with the hero or heroine, it’s impossible to get into a story–if i can find it..

Finally, in addition to writing, I am an editor, a natural evolution from thirty plus years as an English teacher. While spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors may be annoying, they don’t define a book if the plot is sound and the characters well developed. Let’s face it. A few typos always manage to survive even the most rigorous editing, and those few won’t make or break a book for me. What will ruin one is if it’s riddled with errors. poor sentence, unnecessary repetition, in addition to needless foul language and the overuse of slang. I get it. Sometimes those words are necessary to develop a specific character and flesh out a situation, but there shouldn’t be more foul language on a page than proper English.

Of course, this is all personal preference. To find out how other writers/ readers feel, check out some of the other posts here. https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

See you next month.