For a lot of years, I couldn’t bring myself to quit a book I’d
started until I’d read the words “The End”. My inability to set an
unfinished book aside worked out just fine for the most part, resulting in many hours of satisfying entertainment. There were, of course, those times when the
genre wasn’t my favorite, or the story was okay, just not my style. On other
occasions, however, I’d find myself gritting my teeth and asking, “How the hell
did this book ever get published?”
Trust me when I say I’ve read some really BAD books from
cover to cover. I’m talking major stinkers that left me groaning and thinking,
surely, I could come up with a more believable plot line and dialog that wouldn’t
make readers cringe in embarrassment for the author. The excruciating hours I
spent working my way through those books are partially responsible for my
decision to finally do something with my writing compulsion.
But, I digress…
The birth of my boys changed me from a finisher to a
flinger and I became very selective when choosing my next escape. With my personal entertainment window shrunk to stolen minutes and nap schedules, I no longer had the time to put up with stories that didn’t hold my
rapt attention. I knew firsthand that judging a book by its cover is
fraught with peril, which left the blurb. The trouble with that selection process is, an interesting
blurb doesn’t always translate into a well-written story, nor does it always
give an accurate representation of an author’s voice. But hey, I can’t come
down hard on an author for a murky blurb. As someone who’s had to produce a
number of them, I can honestly say that whittling a 100k story down to 500
words is a real bitch.
But that’s a whole other story…
Bottom line, the only sure-fire way to know if a story is any
good is to dive in and read. Then, if the story isn’t for you, go ahead and
fling. Life is short, after all. On the other hand, don’t be too quick to break up with that book. You
never know when you’ll stumble onto a little gem that starts out iffy only to
end up an all-time favorite.
This book introduced me to one of my favorite authors. If
you haven’t sampled Johanna, I highly recommend her. Years later, many of her
titles, including the entire Ly-San-Ter series, hold a treasured place on my
re-read shelf.
So, what about you? Are you one of those people who can
fling a book to the side midway through the reading because it just isn’t
working for you? Or are you the type who must always finish what you’ve
started?
When Mac isn’t bashing
her head against her keyboard as she struggles to write the blurb for her latest
release, she’s busy weaving happily-ever-afters for her characters, like the
heroes and heroines of her PLAYERS series available at Kensington Publishing
and wherever e-books are sold.
8 comments:
Great post, Mac! I've always been a finisher, but mainly because I stuck to a few genres or subgenres and known authors. Since the explosion of e-books, my horizons vastly expanded, and so did my ability to fling, especially if the offending book was borrowed from the library or a freebie. Sometimes I'll spot the latter still languishing in my Kindle list and give another try, but rarely do those instances end well. :-) I try to read a sample of the book itself before buying and can usually tell within a few pages if I'll like the author's style. You're right, life is too shore and there are too many books out there to spend your time on something you're not enjoying.
I recently started a book by an author I've always loved. But it was more contemporary than suspense, and I got bored. I gave up on it. I rarely have time to read anymore, and I can't waste what little time I do have on a book I'm not fully enjoying. Nice post!
I'm still reading about a book a week because it is a welcome break from writing, a form of escape, AND most important, my exposure to fine writing inspires me (okay, sometimes intimidates me). I am a competitive soul, and I want to see that high bar and try to reach it. Joshilyn Jackson is one such writer...artful, funny...great characters. A keynote speaker for InD'Scribe in October is Jill Shelves, so I'm sampling her fine work. But like Mac, I'm going to fling a book that doesn't grab me. Any sense of a 'plod' and I'm on to another book. So many good writers...too little time to sample them!
I'm a flinger, Mac. I usually give it three chapters before I do so. Some authors just don't know where to start the story and the meat doesn't hit until that third chapter. There has been a rare one that I'm more than half way through and wonder what happened? It fell apart. Have to tell a story on my own writing. My last romantic suspense gets the romance going a little quicker than the suspense. FDW reads all of my books and this one is not one of his favorites. I know it's because of the romance angle. If he was a flinger and not married to me, he might have tossed it.
My reading time is limited too. The last book I read, kind of dragged in the middle but I kept with it. Then the ending left me shaking my head and thinking. Seriously? That book was by an best seller, suspense writer AND, okay so a few years ago, was made into a movie. I say again - Seriously? Frustrating, isn’t it?
If curiosity doesn't drive me back to a book (I had to put down for some reason) I generally don't finish. Reviewing books cured me. I made myself finish every book I reviewed and there were some really awful ones. Now if I can a set a story aside and not care what happens next, it's a no go for me.
Enjoyed the post! I have become a flinger. Like others, I have so little time for pleasure reading, if a book doesn't hook me and keep me, I have no problem setting it aside. And, of course, with us being authors, we're more likely to notice little irritants with regards to the writing, and sometimes those can make me fling a book. I used to read Johanna Lindsey, but I never heard of this book.
I'm a flinger, too. Although I will finish a book for my monthly book club, there have been times when I didn't. Life is short. Eat dessert first, and only read good books. LOL
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