Please Make Me Want to Read Your Book



Please make me want to read your book. I really want to read it, but you have to help me out.

This may seem odd, but last month I started three books; I was only able to finish two. In one, the opening two sentences had three grammatical errors. Seriously. In the next one, the Kindle formatting was bad


I


had            trouble following

the







               story.

I finally found a book I could read and enjoy, so thank you for the fine editing, the good formatting and the satisfying read, Ms. Professional Author.






#IWSG Book Club selection this month is The Secret Garden. We're reading it to have a discussion about characterization. There are several reasons not to finish this book. One is the omniscient point of view. The author takes you into everyone's head, including some small animals, without so much as a scene change. Then there's the heavy use of respelling to create the Yorkshire dialect. That's hard to follow, especially when there are long chunks of one person speaking. It's filled with tropes such as the wise and gentle peasant in the bucolic cottage, the orphaned girl, the invalid restored to health by nature, the grieving uncle off to find solace in other places. Most of the story is written in what today's critics call Telling. The author simply tells you how the characters feel, she doesn't bother to reveal those feelings by Showing the character in action.

However, it still holds up as a great story.  First, I responded to the story as a period piece, and then before I knew it, I was caught up and wanted to follow the MC's journey to the end. It didn't matter that I was head-hopping or that I was being told how the characters felt. I was in the hands of a storyteller and enjoying the time in her tale. 

If you haven't joined us, I hope you will. The discussions are interesting. 


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Clare Dugmore and Kyra LennonEnter and tell about those small things that make you smile!

Here are mine: The view from the top of any mountain. Hills, too. The morning. A good friend who stops by. An excellent book. My family.


Quote of the Week: "Books are uniquely portable magic." Stephen KingBeware the White Rabbit (Anthology: They Call Me Alice), Leap Books, Summer '15
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Anthology story: Into the Sea of Dew
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Published on June 12, 2017 09:10
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