If you are a writer or even a reader of fiction works, from time to time you will pick up a novel, read the first page and say, ‘how did this get published?’ Whether it’s a misspelling or some grammatical error or even if the prose is just boring, it can make you wonder.
Over the last couple of months I have tried to read some new books, not only for enjoyment but to analyze the writing style, appreciate the word choices and get an idea how they are weaving the story they want to tell. Trouble is I am having a hard time getting past the first few pages and I think I know why.
- I do not like books that are ambiguous for ambiguity’s sake: If an author is intentionally unclear about the topic in the first few pages I put the book down.
- I do not like books that try to hard to be flowery; you know the type. Lots of exposition just to take up space.
- I do not like books with a ton of cursing right out of the gate, but that’s just me.
Therefore, I’m kind of picky about what I read, and I am sure you are too. Even if your list is different from mine, I bet you have one. That said, you can imagine that the books I write avoid (or attempt to avoid) the first two. Regarding the third I only add a curse word or two if the conversation or topic warrant it, though I’m not one to use profanity as a rule (again, that’s just me). In this rant, I will concentrate on the first two.
Which gets us back to the topic: how do these books get published? Granted some books are self-published and maybe didn’t go through a developmental edit. Maybe the editor got tired and said ‘I can’t find a way to fix this so let’s run it through and see what happens’. Or maybe, just maybe, I am missing something? That’s where you come in: tell me about a book you read that made you go ‘hmm’ and tell me why. I need to make sure I’m not clueless about what people in general like to read. Who knows, I might be enlightened!
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