Name One Thing That Kills Your Interest in a Book Immediately

[Stacy-Deanne (Novelist)]

Hi All,

I had to vent about this book I've started reading so I decided to start a thread about it. This book is frustrating me.

What is one thing about a book that causes you to lose interest before you get even halfway? What's one thing that really frustrates you and makes you wanna give up on the book?

I have to say, and this has to do with the recent mystery novel I'm reading, TOO MUCH NEEDLESS DESCRIPTION!

I am trying to give this book a chance but this writer is too obsessed with description. He's describing things that don't matter and not describing things that do. He is not describing the main character at all, but then he describes every other secondary character. There's a scene where the MC is going to the grocery store. He starts describing a man at the store who has NOTHING to do with the story! It's just a man at the store. The man doesn't even speak to the MC. Yet we know what he has in his grocery cart, what he's wearing and what the MC thinks he might do for a living! WTF? Do I need to know this about someone who doesn't even matter? This dude is describing everything! He even had his character take a walk in his backyard and started describing the trees and bushes! Heck I know what trees and bushes look like! Get on with the story! Unless the killer lives in a tree, we don't need to have it described.

I want some idea of how the main character looks! This book is also told in first person (books I often avoid), so I am wondering if this is why he's gone over the description deep end and finds it hard to even describe the main character.

I started this book last week and I think I'm just getting to page 100. The book has about 400 pages! I don't want to quit but the description is killing me. He took THREE pages to describe a person's living room. The room didn't matter! He took TWO pages to describe the model and style of a lady's pick-up truck. It didn't matter! He had to drive across town but instead of simply shifting us to the next scene to quicken things up, he shows us in DETAIL after DETAIL, how long it takes to drive on this particular freeway, what he is listening to on the radio, what the stupid dog is doing in the backseat, when he gets off the freeway and every freakin' street he drives on UNTIL he gets to this lady's house! I swear it took five pages to get to this house! That was ridiculous! I live in Houston, but as I was reading this driving scene I felt like I'd been riding to California! That's how drawn out and long it actually felt to read it.

When I write, I describe what's necessary, what I feel my readers need to know. I don't describe everything because some things should be left to the reader's imagination. I'd rather read a book with minimum description than one that's stacked with it! I am beginning to think that this author wrote all this description to make up for a lacking plot and to get his manuscript to a certain word count. It's ridiculous! It's got me pulling at my hair going, "Get to the freakin' point!"

I am more critical of this book because this is my favorite genre and the genre I love writing the most. You can get away with a lot of description if you are writing a historical novel or literary fiction. But in mysteries, things gotta move fast or the reader will quit. I am going to give this book another chance to wow me and if it doesn't, I'm through! I am frustrated because I feel that the plot could be decent if he stops describing everything and I don't want to stop reading it. But it's going downhill the more I read. I hate that damn dog! The dog has no significance yet the MC wastes tons of time describing everytime the dog eats, drinks, pees and poops! Please!

(for those who caught my thread about my taste in modern male writers...well you see I am trying to give more a chance. But not this dude if this writing doesn't improve!) I've seen politicians that get to the point faster than he does. Sheesh!

So, what instantly ruins a book for you?

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Cat Connor]

Pretty much the same thing that you just described. In fact I may have had a similar rant at a friend after trying (I really tried and eventually succeeded, but oh my!) to read a book he'd written. (maybe it's a guy thing? Guys like mindless details, perhaps?)
One of the reasons I love mystery/thriller/suspense genre novels is they move fast. I can't read Sci Fi - I find those to be overly detailed and can never find the plot under the detail.

I don't like everything spelled out for me, I like to use my imagination but I want a fair idea of what the main character looks like, not so much the random guy in the stupidmarket*. (by the way, I write first person thrillers)


* stupidmarket is this sense is correct and means supermarket.

[Stacy-Deanne (Novelist)]

Hey Cat,

I am wondering if the describing thing is a man thing too. A lot of male authors do a lot of describing. It also seems funny to me that some of them go on and on in books, yet they say women don't ever get to the point in real life when we tell stories, LOL! I guess men like to jabber in their writing. Hmmm, LOL!

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Cat Connor]

I think it is a male thing. Who'd have thought they could be sooo very long winded on paper? lol

[Peter Joseph Swanson]

no no, I know a woman writer who practically gives us all the recipes of all what's on the table for every meal (characters have to eat, too). Ok, I admit that was an exaggeration, ha ha. But she's a marvelous writer and her books are really wonderful, anyway. Shirley Ann Howard. Tales out of School and Tales out of College.

Nobody went on and on more than Anne Rice but I just skimmed.

[sari]

I feel the same way. If an author takes two pages just to describe a scene setting, I put the book down. I like prose but there is a big difference between a well written sentence and and over use of words.

[Christy Pinheiro]

I hate books that introduce a billion characters at the beginning and never bother to develop any of them. It happens a lot in large fiction novels; it seemed to happen more and more with the Harry Potter series as it progressed, so I just never finished all of them. It's like a lazy author's crutch-- introduce lots of new people, and never really focus on one or two characters and flesh them out.

The Publishing Maven

[Shannon Cook]

Excessive cussing, I had to stop reading Stephen King novels simply because he used the F word all the time and it was driving me crazy! A little bit of cursing really doesn't bother me but when a character is using those words every other word it gets to be to much. It seems like the author could have been creative enough to come up with a different word to replace that one.

Like you said to much needless detail. I think that is part of the reason it will take me so long to get through some books because there is so much detail but the plot is enough to make me stick with it.

To many characters too, if I have to make a list of every character to keep them straight then there is just to many. Or when one character has a million different nicknames that has nothing to do with their real name. I tried to read The Brothers Karamazov over the summer and the different nicknames that the brothers had where just to much to keep straight that I had to give up.

[Adam Sasso]

I know what you mean! That drives me crazy. I absolutely hate it when I can actually picture the author at his/her desk (though I find this problem is way more common with male writers - perhaps a topic for another discussion?) being so impressed with his/her self about the clever descriptions or metaphors they come up with. I want to float away in the story, not be bogged down page after page. I usually know after page 1 if I'm going to hate a book and rarely waste a lot of time reading a bad one. There are so many great books out there left to read, why struggle through an awful one?

Another thing that can turn me off immediately - oddball names. Unless it's necessary do you need to name the main female character "Jade"? How many "Jade"s have you met recently? Or "Hancock Bridges". Come on, if you're writing a realistic novel, give me a John or a Chris or a Mike so I can start believing you right away...

[Stacy-Deanne (Novelist)]

LOL, Adam!

And I feel you on the names. I don't read romance but notice that a lot of romance books have a lot of weird names for the characters. Some of them are ridiculous and sound straight out of a soap opera. I've never met anyone named Jade in real life myself. I mean names like, "Skye, Wolf, Hook, Rove, Jewel, Rain...come on! Sure, some people might have these names in real life, but it makes a book completely unbelievable if the characters' names sound like someone got them from a moodring chart. I mean, how many guys do you know who are named, "Wolf" for a first name? I also hate it when authors spell ordinary names in weird ways.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Jaime Huff]

LOL That is so funny, because I personally know 3 women named Jade.

The rest of the names are weird.

[Cat Connor]

I love the name thing, Adam. Some female character names I've come across sound a tad like stripper names.

You should read my book - no weird names. Really - nothing weird about Ellie and Mac. :-)

Although I called a kid in a story Crystal, and my editor asked how many Crystal's I know... way too many. Also know several Miracle's, Pride, Caution (I kid you not), Precious, Angel, two Sapphire's, and a Jada.

Can't see me ever using them as a main character though.

[Stacy-Deanne (Novelist)]

Yep, I think we all know a Crystal somewhere. I've known many. I've never known anyone named Pride or Caution (sheesh!). There's a porn star named Sapphire. (Don't ask me how I know, LOL!) It also sounds like a name for a stripper. But I have known some folks named Precious, Miracle, Angel (men and women). Angel is a very popular name for a Hispanic males by the way. I don't know any females named Angel but I've known many guys. And the only Jada I've ever heard of was Jada Pinkett, LOL!

I wouldn't want to meet someone named Pride or Caution in real life. Too weird. I'd change my name if it were me.

And you're right, nothing wrong with Ellie or Mac. At least these are real names and easy for your readers to relate to. Strange names take away from the story.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net