Happy Wednesday all!
Fairly short rant today, offsetting last week's long one ;).
No one likes to be lied to. Readers really don't like to be lied to. I don't like to be lied to, and that's what I feel just happened with a book I just finished.
Writers can mislead readers, that's a big part of what we do--but we shouldn't lie.
In this case the author ( a NYT bestseller who is quite awesome even though I'm annoyed with this one book) set up a nice little paranormal mystery. We had a small town with lots of who did what to whom in the past, murder, mayhem, possible satanic rituals. Very well done.
Now comes the annoying parts- one- I figured out who the person behind it all way too early. Two- I got it wrong. Now I'm not mad I got it wrong, because I did get the right body- but the author did a body switch for a person of massive evilness in the main character's past. It was a cheat in my mind.
But what really annoyed me? All of that "who killed who, who slept with who, why they did what they did", was all throw away. ALL OF IT. The evil one who took over the body was just trying to lure the heroine out. None of the people in that town meant a thing to the "actual" story.
So that left the reader (aka me in this case) feeling like I'd been working on a really great puzzle, then had all the pieces taken away because they didn't matter.
I was lied to by the author.
Now, like I said, this was a big name, very good selling author. Will it put me off from all of her future books? Probably not, I'll give her one more chance, but if this happens again, you betchya she's going into my "do not read" list.
Now what if this had been a new author? Directly to the "do not read" list. This was, in my mind, an awful thing to do to a reader and left a bad taste in my mouth about the author.
So, fellow writers- DON'T LIE. Nuff said ;).
Now I'm curious to know what the book was! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think I'd never lie to my readers, or at least I'd catch myself and be able to fix it before I finished the book. Now I feel like going over everything I've ever written just to be sure...
I don't like to point fingers, especially at NYT bestsellers! LOL! But I totally hear you on now wanting to check my work! I'm thinking she realized what she was doing but was focusing on the bigger arc of the entire series. She knew the main story of the book wasn't important- but the reader didn't, so I felt lied to ;). I think what we need to worry about is if we've given enough clies so that at the end the reader can say, "OF course!" Even if they didn't see it happening, they can see it after the fact. ;)
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Marie- stuck at day job, can't log into blogger :(
Oh man, now I am curious which book!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hate when I invest myself in to a book only to find that what has been painted out all along is suddenly not worth the paper it's printed on. I find myself going, what about........?? And how come.........?? Obviously that is the authors intent but is rather discombobulating to me.
LOL- now folks will be out searching for books like I described! I think anytime an author makes the reader question things, or feel like they were lying, or being too tricky, or anything else that pulls the reader out of the story--they've failed in their job.
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Marie- stuck at day job, can't log into blogger :(
I agree, it is a cheat to drop so many of the pieces at the end. I like a story with lots of pieces, but they ALL have to fit together in the end. A great story teller will do this.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Cyndi. When the pieces don't fit, or weren't needed, it really makes me not like that writer!
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You commented that the writer "knew the main story of the book wasn't important". I'm like WHAT! How can any writer produce thousands of words that don't contribute to the main thrust of a book and think it's a good idea? This is the same as saying it's okay to waste your reader's time. As writers we should be appreciative of the time (not to mention the money) our readers are willing to spend on our work. Is it unreasonable for them to expect some return on their investment? Of getting some sense of satisfaction? Such as the answer to a mystery or the uniting of a couple. Revenge realized. The discovery made at last. Basically all we have for sale is satisfaction. I can think of no reason why any of us would want to squander our opportunities.
ReplyDeleteExcellent points and a rant that some writers should take to heart.
Oh, I completely agree, Sharon. But this author is way too experienced to not know what she was doing. She was looking at the over-all world arc and the next book :(.
DeleteI agree with you and there were so many ways she could have had the "busy work" do something to improve the story!
Thanks for coming by and commenting!