ROBUST discussion
This topic is about
Stieg Larsson
Book Talk & Exchange of Views
>
How can you find out what readers consider significant in your book?
date
newest »
newest »
Interesting. I wonder how often people highlight in fiction.
Mod
You can highlight on your Kindle, but how would Amazon know if you did that? (I highlighted a metaphor in Iditarod that I particularly liked, but that doesn't appear on that book's page, I'm glad to say. I'd like to think I can do something without the whole world knowing.)
I am a huge fan of those teeny, tiny sitcky notes. I use them when there is, what I consider, a wonderful passage in a book. But then I also collect quotes.
Mod
Mod
Frankly, like Claudine, I would feel uncomfortable if a monster as unpredictable and arbitrary and crude (by comparison with the gentlemen who once inhabited publishing) as the Zon were to know what I write on manuscripts, many of which are other people's work. Amazon, I fear, on the slightest pretext will turn into Big Brother.
@Margie. There was time when all writers, and thoughtful people, had commonplace books into which they copied passages from books, their own best thoughts, etc. I'm glad to hear you keep up the practice. You will love the highlight facility on the Kindle.
@ J.a. One lady writer has reaching for a hundred readers highlighting the same passage, and that is just one of the many passages highlighted by large numbers of her readers in only one of her books. See link below.
@Katie Now you have me chewing my fingernails. You can write to me privately to tell me what it is. Put a poor writer out of his misery!
Mod
Readers on ROBUST: If Amazon hasn't yet reported your highlight, there is no reason you shouldn copy and paste it here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-for...
But do remember to name the book and the author!
Mod
http://librariansquest.blogspot.com/2...
includes this line in one of her quotations:
"The ptarmigan decided he and his dogs were not a threat and settled like down from a tearing pillow fight."
It's the sort of line no novelist should throw away for readers to glide over at the end of a passage of hot action. Of course, the problem is, the novelist himself glides over it because his focus is on the action. A professional doesn't say, Gee, lookit me, wonderful image. He says, Christ, that's a darling little phrase, let's murder it, it holds up the story. All that saved the metaphor is the *action* of the ptarmigan settling: in so detailed a novel, it would have shattered both the idyll and the pressing, urgent realism to leave them hanging, because many readers will know they cannot fly anywhere at night. (It's like the deer/elk/moose Sharon raised, but worse.)
It wasn't until Margie quoted the line that, after reading it a hundred times without noticing (after deciding grudgingly it had better stay), I again noticed what a charming line it is, and presumed Margie chose it because "a tearing pillow fight" appeals to the juvenile in her -- and her readership, of course!
Andre Jute wrote: "It's a amazing what readers see in your books. Margie, in her review of IDITAROD at Librarian's Quest http://librariansquest.blogspot.com/2...
includes this line in..."
If I might just step in here...I love that line because yes, I freely admit, I am still a kid at heart sometimes (hard not to be after 33+ years as a teacher) and yes, it appeals to my students but a tearing pillow fight is a universal image. Most of us have been in pillow fights at one time or at the very least read or have had read to us a story in which a pillow fight is part of the events. For some reason the image of down floating through the air after a rioutous romp is so vivid; it goes with the ptarmigan. I really like that. As a reader it is important to me that the author conjures images in my mind so that I feel like I am either there with the characters or I am watching the story unfold like a movie that I never want to end.
Reminds of a time when I was a little kid and heard my mother let out a yelp. I ran upstairs to see what was wrong. There sat my sister in the middle of her big feather mattress (which she had cut open) covered in white feathers. She always was an odd bird.Speaking of notes in books: When I was doing some research for Richard Sewall (who was writing his Emily Dickinson biography) he handed me a book to take away with me for a week. He asked me to read it, looking for echos of Emily's poems. He knew the facts of Emily's life, but had trouble holding her poetry in his mind -- while I couldn't get it out of mine. The book was Reveries of a Bachelor, one of Emily's favorites. Now here's the part I treasure about that memory: the book Richard put in my hands that day was Emily's own copy. Reading it was like having her at my shoulder, whispering in my ear, because her penciled comments were written in the margins. I found a hair between two pages and wondered if it might have been hers. The color appeared to be a match: "...like the sherry the guest leaves in the bottom of the glass." (That may be an inaccurate quote, but it's close enough for our purposes here.)
Mod
Patricia wrote: "Reminds of a time when I was a little kid and heard my mother let out a yelp. I ran upstairs to see what was wrong. There sat my sister in the middle of her big feather mattress (which she had cut ..."odd bird...feathers...very clever.
What a wonderful memory, Patricia and what a gift to hold her book in your hands. Thanks for sharing.
Andre wrote: @Katie Now you have me chewing my fingernails. You can write to me privately to tell me what it is. Put a poor writer out of his misery!Just off to see if I can find it... I liked the ptarmigan one, too.
Kat wrote: "Feathers - reminds me of a funny commerical...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcc7li..."It is cute and that laugh will get you going.
Oh dear. I've been using the highlighter to highlight mistakes, missing words and typos so I can contact the author and point them out to them. I hope none of my highlights gets chosen.
Mod
Er-- second thoughts, didn't you review one of my books, Joo?
Burn your Kindle immediately!
Don't worry, I would have told you if I found any mistakes. In fact I meant to come and tell you that I didn't find any :D
Mod
From what I've seen (though I can't find the link now I need it), people only see your highlights if you choose to load them for a particular book. There's something on your Amazon account that asks you if you want to...I just can't find it again!
Mod
I just picked up a copy of Scrivener - for windows.It is one COOL piece of software for long documents. It has a Novel template with places for research notes.
I'm in LOVE!
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scr...
Take a look - you might find it useful.
Mod
Mod
Mod
That's Word's biggest time-saving secret.
I'm having fun with it.It's a database of documents, photos, a corkboard and can print e-pub files.
Books mentioned in this topic
IDITAROD a novel of The Greatest Race on Earth (other topics)Stieg Larsson: Man, Myth & Mistress (other topics)
STIEG LARSSON Man, Myth & Mistress (other topics)
...an intellectual should count his enemies with pride as the measure of his righteousness, and if he finds none backtrack to when he sold out...
...entirely independent of what their self-appointed betters though they should be reading, deciding for themselves on the large samples from books...
The first is an authorial opinion on independence of mind, the second refers to the readers' own Kindle experience.