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Feb. 10th, 2008 12:36 pmI've been reading.
No, please, I'd rather you didn't all jump up and down at once and tell me how extraordinary a thing this is. I used to read a lot, and now I'm down to 2-3 books a week and very abashed about it all. What's worse is that some people have been telling me (with a quiet pride that I find very sad) that they don't read much anymore.
I could rant about why it's so amazing and wonderful and important to read. Except I'm not in a ranting mood. I only hope that anyone proud of not reading much doesn't ever want to become a writer.
What I'm thinking about today (underneath the why-don't-I-read-so-much-anymore) is openings again. It's been a long while since I did that series of posts on introductions.
One thing has struck me over and over and over again since I did those posts. Openings in novels are introductions to the world and to the characters. I talked about them as introductions to the type of work, but right now I'm reading a book where the introduction is perfectly effective at showing us that the book is speculative fiction, but it doesn't let us into the world gently or make us want to find out about the main characters at all. Apparently one of them is getting married: I yawn.
There are a thousand and one ways of making us want to find out more. There are nearly a thousand and one ways of making us care. Some of them are old fashioned. Some of them are edgy and innovative. With all these options, why, for heaven's sake, would any writer worth their salt start so much in media res that I just don't care? Forty pages later and I still don't care. I will read to the end because I promised I would (that's my part of the reader compact - you write me a book and I'll read it all except in totally exceptional circumstances) but I keep thinking it's a waste of my time.
The result of this reputedly-good but unreadable book? I'm tempted to do another series of posts on introductions, looking at how they bring characters into play. Is anyone interested?
No, please, I'd rather you didn't all jump up and down at once and tell me how extraordinary a thing this is. I used to read a lot, and now I'm down to 2-3 books a week and very abashed about it all. What's worse is that some people have been telling me (with a quiet pride that I find very sad) that they don't read much anymore.
I could rant about why it's so amazing and wonderful and important to read. Except I'm not in a ranting mood. I only hope that anyone proud of not reading much doesn't ever want to become a writer.
What I'm thinking about today (underneath the why-don't-I-read-so-much-anymore) is openings again. It's been a long while since I did that series of posts on introductions.
One thing has struck me over and over and over again since I did those posts. Openings in novels are introductions to the world and to the characters. I talked about them as introductions to the type of work, but right now I'm reading a book where the introduction is perfectly effective at showing us that the book is speculative fiction, but it doesn't let us into the world gently or make us want to find out about the main characters at all. Apparently one of them is getting married: I yawn.
There are a thousand and one ways of making us want to find out more. There are nearly a thousand and one ways of making us care. Some of them are old fashioned. Some of them are edgy and innovative. With all these options, why, for heaven's sake, would any writer worth their salt start so much in media res that I just don't care? Forty pages later and I still don't care. I will read to the end because I promised I would (that's my part of the reader compact - you write me a book and I'll read it all except in totally exceptional circumstances) but I keep thinking it's a waste of my time.
The result of this reputedly-good but unreadable book? I'm tempted to do another series of posts on introductions, looking at how they bring characters into play. Is anyone interested?