DNF: Do Not Feed (The Trolls)

It's been a while since I wrote an opinion piece on here, and I thought I might like to talk about dnf-ing, or 'did-not-finish'-ing books.

First and foremost, I am a huuuuge DNF-er. Mostly because I own hundreds of books, and if I am disliking one it isn't fair to all those other books to wear myself out on it (have you noticed how painful it is to read through a book you loathe? The Notebook took me three-and-a-half hours to finish, despite being under 200 pages, and I got a headache at the end of it to boot). So even though I'm an author, I fully support DNF-ing. Reading is supposed to be fun. I have no wish for people to force my book upon themselves like some sort of medieval torture implement.

One of the biggest arguments of DNF reviews is that "you shouldn't read the book if you don't like it." Which is just plain silly, because how will you know if you'll like the book or not UNTIL you read it? Logic fail! I think it's wrong to castigate people for trying new things. Or NOT wanting to try new things. To each to their own.

A slightly more valid, but still incredibly rude, argument is that "you missed the awesome thing that happens at the end that totally puts everything else into context." While this may be true (maybe), if the book is 23523223 pages long, people might not want to wait that long for some sort of payoff. It's like investing money in something that has a 50% chance of failing. Most people aren't going to want to stick around - they're going to want to jump ship before they lose their investment. In the case of books, this is their time.

The silliest argument I've heard, though, is that "DNF reviews don't add anything of significance to the discussion because they haven't read the whole book." Now I can't vouch for all authors, but I really like knowing what made someone put my book down. Sometimes it might not be something I can fix. But SOMETIMES it is something I can fix, and my future works will be all the better for it.

Also, from the perspective of a reader, I like knowing what made someone put down a book I'm interested in. If it's got a meandering plot that doesn't seem to have much hope of a good conclusion, I'll probably pass over that book in favor of something else. Chances are that if I'm checking out the reviews I was already on the fence about the book anyway, because if I REALLY want to read the book, I'm going to read the book: even if it has bad reviews.

The bottom line is that seeing that DNF tag should not be read as a blinking "FEEDING TIME" sign by trolls. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, even - especially - if it's one you don't agree with. I, for one, like to hear both sides of something before making my own decision. Anything else is propaganda, and probably has a hidden agenda going on somewhere.

When in doubt just ask yourself this: "What if it was MY opinion someone was claiming 'invalid'?"