Lately, I have put down two books. Couldn’t finish ’em. I got about a little less than halfway through (I was trying very hard), but just had to say, “Fuggetaboutit”. I decided to ask myself why? What made these books putdownable? I came up with two reasons.
For the first book: The main character did something in her past that literally made my skin boil. Instant turn off. Whatever sympathies I had for her vanished. I put down the book and got this funny look on my face and thought, “Why in the world did the author do this?” I’m all for edgy inspirational fiction. I’m all for giving my characters flaws and murky pasts (that’s real life!). I do this with my own characters. So why did this particular character make me cringe? I don’t think it was the action itself, as much as it was the motivation behind the action. The motivation that drove this character to do what she did… it wasn’t there. At least not enough. So I put the book down.
For the second book: My disbelief was not suspended. I knew I was reading a book. Instead of getting sucked into the world, I knew I still sat in my living room, reading words off a page. What fun is that?
What lessons can I take from these two books?
1. If I have my characters do something bad, something a lot of people do not agree with, I better give that character one strong, compelling motivation to have done it.
2. My story world needs to be realistic. My characters need to be three-dimensional and my dialogue realistic. Disbelief needs to be suspended.
This first one is a little easier to fix. The second one… that’s a little tougher.
Question to Ponder: What makes you put down a book?
