I don’t know what it is about me lately, but I’ve been a difficult reader to please.
I think it’s the fact that I’ve been unusually busy since late-July. But it seems to me that I’ve been a more impatient reader than ever before—that when I reach a boring patch, it shouldn’t last very long or else I’m going to find something else to read.
This worries me—as a reader and a writer.
I was an English major and classical literature is known for its boring spots. :) I was always able to wade through it before…but I had a whole lot more time on my hands and was definitely a more patient reader.
As a writer, I’m working harder to make sure my story doesn’t drag. I’m reading my manuscripts as an impatient reader and looking for places where my book needs a little shaking up.
Here’s a list I’ve come up with on little ways (well, some of them are bigger ways) to keep things interesting for readers:
Change the setting (are the characters spending too much time sitting and eating?)
Add more dialogue.
Introduce a new character. Or, if you’re me, kill off an old one. :)
Shake up the sentence structure. Are all your sentences starting with the subject, followed by a verb (should you start some with participles or subordinate clauses)? Are there too many nouns preceded by adjectives (should you be choosing stronger verbs)?
Introduce a plot twist.
Add to the conflict.
I also get worn out with too much conflict (I warned you I’m becoming the impossible reader!) So maybe infuse some humor to break up the tension.
Move the characters around. Have them engage in an activity if they’re sitting a lot.
Use both long and short sentences.
Show more than tell.
Cut out the dead wood in the book. Do I have any scenes that seem dead? Do these scenes serve a purpose, or can they be cut out…or could the information in the scene be conveyed in a different way (through dialogue, etc.)?
How do you keep your readers interested?
Elizabeth – I think about this, too, actually. I think (at least for me) it’s also a question of age. As I get older, I have less patience for saggy places in stories. I like your ideas very much for making sure that doesn’t happen. Since I write mysteries, I find that adding in an important clue, a strange discovery or some sort of revelation helps move the plot along.
I think you hit upon an important factor: variety. Change up the settings, change up the prose. Mix dialogue and setting and exposition. Even throw in a little boring stuff, so the rest will seem more exciting.
I think that the more we write, the more critical we become as readers. It takes an excellent story to turn off the internal editor.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
The midsection of a manuscript is where action often sags. Many writers try to counteract this by inserting events such as explosions and car chases that seem random or episodic.
At this point in your manuscript, you really have to be in touch with your protagonist’s goals and needs. If the challenges you offer your protagonist relate to their goals and needs, action in the middle will seem more connected. The middle won’t be boring.
Also, action crafted this way will relate to the story’s impending crisis. Don’t skip making the protagonist go through the crisis, just because you want him or her to avoid pain!
Suzanne Adair
I’ve discovered I’m a less patient reader as well. (My tolerance for stupidity in movies has definitely decreased!)
Right now I’m working on more conflict and richer details and background.
Oh Elizabeth, I’m exactly the same type of reader as you! I’ve noticed over the past few months, my patience with the boring bits has become paper-thin. Thanks for these tips on how to keep the reader interested – my go-to solution is more dialogue.
I’m editing now. This is all very useful information because I worry about this. I am the most impatient reader, and I want my manuscript to pass all my tests, too. Not enough? Too much? It’s making me crazy. Thanks.
I think with so much to read out there, it becomes harder to make ourselves finish something if it doesn’t hold our interest.
I try to do all or most of the things on your list, but I’m printing the list off to have on hand for editing time. Thanks.
Those are all excellent suggestions and I would say necessary to a good book. I think the older we get, the less time we have, the harder it is to plow through a book that is too wordy. I used to be so stubborn that I would finish a book no matter what. Now I find my taste are more refined.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
I’m a tough writer to please lately too. Thanks for this reminder to make our own work stand up to our standards! Great tips!
I’m not positive I do… The technique I LIKE best is a subplot that actually works to pull together other pieces… so in the end the story is more cohesive, even if as you GO it isn’t clear where the pieces might be headed. I also am a big fan of misunderstandings… somebody thinks one thing happened, then it’s later revealed to be something else… little mini-mysteries, if you will…
Very good advice.
I like dialog when I’m reading, and use it a lot when writing too. It kind of breaks up the body of massive text >:)
Cold As Heaven
Thanks for this post, it definitely strikes a chord with me as I have just finished my novel for NaNoWriMo, and have in fact used some of these techniques without really meaning to! I usually assume that if I get bored with the writing then a potential reader would get bored with reading, so if I really get stuck I will start a new chapter with someone else’s point of view. I never used to risk doing this, but would soldier on trapped in one character’s head for the whole novel. I got really irritated by some of these main characters after 70,000 or so words! I too will have to print out this list of useful techniques which I can use as alternatives to changing point of view.
Great advice – love that you kill off a character wehn it gets dull!
I’m less tolerant of boring patches too than I was when I was younger. I think for me part of it is that I read in smaller chunks of time and I have less time to ‘get into’ the book. It has to pull me in.
Definitely things to keep in mind! These are great! Thanks!
Wow. And I thought it was just me. Lately, I’ve been much harder to please and quicker to lose interest when I read. Maybe there is a correlation between that and the size of our TBR piles.
Suzanne–Toruring our poor protagonists is always a good idea! And what *bothers* them can even be something small and irritating…but it’s still conflict. And plots love conflict. :)
Margot–I love strange discoveries! And trying to figure out how they tie into the mystery.
Alex–There aren’t enough hours in the day for stupid movies and books!
Jane–There’s a lot of competition for our attention, isn’t there?
Alan–Especially if the boring stuff comes right before an exciting scene! The killer lurking as the innocent victim scoops the cat litter… :)
Nancy–I usually won’t stick with a book past the first 30 pages if I’m not hooked. That’s a terrible thing to admit to.
Terry–I really MISS the escape I used to get from reading.
Heather–Sometimes I try to look at my manuscript as if I’d never read it before and hold it up to my exacting standards. :) Which sometimes isn’t a good thing…
Hart–I like your ideas! Subplots are a lot of fun, and I like to have small mysteries (of character, plot, etc.) worked into a book, too.
Cold As Heaven–I’m so picky that I’ll flip through a book and, if I don’t see enough white space (which equals dialogue to me), I’ll put the book back on the shelf.
Sheila–Changing POV is definitely another way to do it, but it’s tricky so I left it off the list! But I’m with you–I can get bored reading from one POV…especially if the character is dull.
Elspeth–I LOVe dialogue. I think that’s another reason I’ve gotten restless with some of the books I’ve read lately–not enough dialogue.But then, I can’t ever seem to get enough dialogue.
Carol–Writing is always full of so many worries, isn’t it? It’s a shame that reading has stressed me out lately–it’s usually my fall-back.
Linda–It could *be* the TBR pile! Or maybe the fact that we’ve gotten to be such critical readers of our OWN writing that we can’t turn it off when we read others’ books?
I love dialogue!
My biggest struggle is really short sentences. They seem so awkward to me.
As a reader, I like to shift genres every once in a while for a change of pace. As a writer, I’m also guilty of genre-hopping. I’m not sure that’s going to work out so well unless I also use a pseudonym (that’s assuming I get published again, of course).