The non-writing reader

Oh gosh, I'm three days late on my post.  This is what happens when Brenda Drake (www.brenda-drake.com/) hosts Pitch Wars (a competition to help new writers to find agents).

Apologies for the delay.  Let's get into the meat of this month's post!

I'd like to talk about reading as opposed to writing this month.  A lot of the time, writers can dominate the Internet when it comes to books.  However, it's just as important that we hear from a reader's point of view as well.  And I mean a normal, non-writing reader.

To that effect, I discussed books with a few non-writing friends to find out what pulled them into a YA book.  And this is what they said.

"I loved how you could see everything.  It was like a movie in my head.  I want to be able to watch it as I read.  If I can't see it, I can't get into the story.  It doesn't seem real."

"It has to make sense.  I find stories that miss out information confusing.  I want to understand the logic of what's going on.  I don't mind little leaps across the page, but I need the characters to make decisions that I can believe they'd make."

"Sometimes I like the other characters more than the main characters.  They seem to have more interesting quirks and I can often see myself in them."

"I get bored and skim the pages if they talk about what places look like or how people look for too long.  If I can skip a few pages and still follow the plot, then usually it's a book I get bored of easily."

"Character's talking always makes it easier for me to read."

"I'll buy a book by an author I like when I see it in the store."

"Good covers make me look at new books.  And ones my friends say are good."


So, straight from the non-writing horse's mouth!

Happy holidays everyone, and I promise to be on time next month!