What kills a book for you?

[Caesius]

Originally Posted by Assassin

Wow!! Am I different. About the only thing that will cause me to stop reading a book is if it is just plain terrible; poor editing, unpredictable characters who constantly change emotions, unbelievable plot, too much or too little detail to convey an image of the scene. I wouldn't even start a horror, sci fic, or fantasy story because I don't like those subjects.

Yeah, I'm thinking the discussion went from "What would make you stop reading" to "what don't you care to see in a story?" Two completely different flavors of Gummi bear.

[melaniejaxn]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

This reminded me of another one - Foreshadowing every 5 minutes. Are they afraid that I might not have enough expectation of something happening? Cuz when reading a book, I generally expect things to happen. Lots of things. I don't need a big "SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!" flashing on every page.

I've been nodding at a lot of things people have said-- bad formatting, too much anythings (sex, description etc)-- but the foreshadowing thing makes me crazy. I read one that ended almopst every chapter with 'had I known that...'. It might have worked if done for humorous effect but it wasn't. Talk about taking the suspense out of things.

[Caesius]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

I can't stand when a novel is written in the present tense.

I'm trying to picture that. I think the closest I've come is having a character at the beginning of a tale explain to the reader the situation he is in, and that he is about to tell how he got to where he is now (I've seen that with Lovecraft). But aside from the opening and closing, I believe the bulk of the tale is past tense.

Maybe it is too close to dinner time and I'm just not firing on all synapses -- can you give an example of one that I can look into?

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Caesius

I'm trying to picture that. I think the closest I've come is having a character at the beginning of a tale explain to the reader the situation he is in, and that he is about to tell how he got to where he is now (I've seen that with Lovecraft). But aside from the opening and closing, I believe the bulk of the tale is past tense.

Maybe it is too close to dinner time and I'm just not firing on all synapses -- can you give an example of one that I can look into?

"The Hunger Games" is first-person, present tense. At least as I understand those terms.

A good example of present tense done well, too, imho.

[JSWolf]

Being sold only in AZW/Mobipocket via Amazon really kills it for me.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Caesius

I'm trying to picture that. I think the closest I've come is having a character at the beginning of a tale explain to the reader the situation he is in, and that he is about to tell how he got to where he is now (I've seen that with Lovecraft). But aside from the opening and closing, I believe the bulk of the tale is past tense.

Maybe it is too close to dinner time and I'm just not firing on all synapses -- can you give an example of one that I can look into?

A lot of fanfic is written in present tense.
Where There Is Darkness, by unveiled; ~2200 words; X-Men First Class. Summary: In the autumn of 2012, Daniela Zhou interviews Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. This is her story.

VIP by Lindentreeis; ~4500 words; Sherlock/Push crossover. Summary: John shrugs. It's not like he hasn't met Assets before; not like they can tell he's one of them, unregistered and untapped, just by looking. All he has to do is act normal and he's fine, like always. He's not letting Bill's rampant paranoia infect him.

(There's longer--I recently finished reading a 228,000+ word fanfic novel in present tense--but I was avoiding rec'ing explicit slash just to show examples.)

[VydorScope]

My editor yells at me because I write in BOTH present and past tense... she's like 'PICK ONE AND STICK WITH IT FOR AT LEAST ONE STORY"

Personally, I think thats asking to much LOL

[Isabel]

Example: if the author has me driving down a one way street when I KNOW the street is not one way, I tend to think that if the author can't be bothered to get the facts right then (a) why include that level of detail, (b) lazy writing, why should I bother read it?
Accept that fantasy is totally different, but needs to be consistent, but these days I am so not into fantasy. The preponderance of speculative fiction has me wondering just what is so wrong with the world that an enthralling story cannot be found within it? If people are living lives such that an escape is needed, my response would be to find the best way of living in the real world. Don't think fiction is, in the long term, a healthy escape.

[orlok]

[Native]

Good fantasy or sci-fi can attach to real-world meanings, but yeah, any (other than obvious humor) stories that are so genre-specific as to lack connection to real possibilities. You can usually identify that within a quick sample though.

[Anke Wehner]

Here's another reader who usually can't stomach present tense.

One thing that made me quit reading a handful of novels recently: Each started with a high-tension prologue, scene, chapter, or even just paragraph that made me want to know what happens next, then jumped to a different point in time (I think mostly before the high-tension bit happened). Two, three, four chapters later there's STILL no sign of continuing what was initially started.
Starting in the middle of things and then going on from there, gradually slipping in stuff that happened before, would work, or maybe alternating between the two timelines, one chapter this, one chapter that. But not knowing WHEN the author will stop pulling the metaphorical carrot out of my reach is too frustrating.

The protagonist has so little personality that I don't give a hoot what happens to them.

Science fiction that shows off how the author does not understand basic physics, like relative movement (nothing about relativity, just the fact that in a spaceship that's not accelerating or decelerating, and if you aren't looking out a window, you can't tell it's moving).

Hm, one reason why I did not read the Hal Spacejock stuff what that he was playing chess against a computer using a physical board, the computer announcing how he should move the pieces for it. I'd accept it in something written in the 1960s or earlier, or using computers that don't have screens, or maybe even just if it were commented on, but not something written this millenium when the computer in the same chapter pulls arbitrary images on its displays.

Repeating the same word over and over again close together, rather than varying the description.
One author in part lost me because they kept writing "[character] began [doing something]" rather than just "[character did something]" - at one point about 7 times in 9 consecutive sentences.

I don't drop a book at the first typo, but consistently bad spelling and grammar might make me stop reading. Worst are mixed up homonyms and incorrect comma usage. (With one book the last straw that made me abandon it was having "site" instead of "sight", a comma behind "but", and a third mistake on the same page.)

I haven't come across a book that did it, but not using proper capitalisation or not using quotation marks would be a no-starter.

Poor formatting can make me discard a book; the two examples I can think of were one with double line spacing, and one which had ridiculously wide margins along the sides.

"Life sucks" books. Diving deep into the seedy underbelly of whatever. Starting a book by describing how much the protagonist suffered all their life, or the protagonist wallowing in misery.

Books which treat women as sex objects and maybe plot devices rather than characters. Books in which the viewpoint characters are misogynist dickheads. (Didn't get farther into a book by John Locke than the prologue because the AFAICT protagonist thought a) the only reason to meet a woman would be sex and b) she should be impressed at him pulling a knife from under the pillow and stabbing his cellphone, rather than freaked out.)

There's more that annoys me, but these are actual reasons I can think of why I put down books after starting at least the sample.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

"Life sucks" books. Diving deep into the seedy underbelly of whatever. Starting a book by describing how much the protagonist suffered all their life, or the protagonist wallowing in misery.

Interestingly enough, I enjoy reading about crapsack worlds where everything is terrible, as long as it maintains some wit, or a sense of humour, or has a different take on things. I don't like it when books with dark settings are take themselves way too seriously. The darkest stories I've enjoyed with asshole anti-heroes and seriously crapsack-why-aren't-you-all-dead-yet settings still had a refreshingly twisted sort of humour. There has to be bits of humour to everything, whether it be dry humour, wry, off-beat, slapstick, gallows, twisted, etc. Even just a few quips at the right moments will make a book much better. Humour is part how people put up with life, and I like seeing that reflected in fiction.

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

Books which treat women as sex objects and maybe plot devices rather than characters. Books in which the viewpoint characters are misogynist dickheads. (Didn't get farther into a book by John Locke than the prologue because the AFAICT protagonist thought a) the only reason to meet a woman would be sex and b) she should be impressed at him pulling a knife from under the pillow and stabbing his cellphone, rather than freaked out.)

Yeaah I'm not a fan of this either.

I like competent female characters and I don't like it when women are disposable or constantly treated as victims (e.g. rape and killed), it's not material I'm interested in reading about. There's nothing wrong with themes about violence against women, but it's more appealing to me when it's told from the point of view of the woman and shows her struggle and how she gets out of it.

But those stories where the woman is raped and killed in the first scene, then all the guy detectives have to solve her murder, or the only female character is raped and killed to get at the male hero... well... those are instant wallbangers for me. Not saying it should be wallbangers for everyone, but there are just some tropes (like stuffed in the freezer) which I find distasteful and you know, not really inspiring. I'm a woman. Why do I want to read about women getting raped and killed all the time? And spend my leisure time reading these? I pass.

[wyndslash]

another thing that irks me is that just because it's fantasy, suddenly anything and everything is acceptable.

[anamardoll]

@ Frida,

It's definitely a subject that has to be approached with sensitivity. I liked the Millennium Trilogy, but lately it seems like a lot of authors are trying to copy his success by making increasingly terrible things happen to the women in the pages, and it doesn't work that way.

ROT13:

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Zber znvafgernz, gnxr Cnggrefba'f "Xvff gur Tveyf". V yvxrq gur zbivr whfg svar, ohg gur obbx sryg gur arrq gb vapyhqr n tenghvgbhf encr fprar jvgu n fanxr. Vg jnf pbzcyrgryl fubr-ubearq vagb gur obbx naq sryg bhg bs cynpr gb zr, yvxr gur nhgube jnf whfg gelvat gb chfu gur rairybcr. Jnyy onatre.

Something else that kills a book for me:

Earlier this year I read Dekker's novel, um... The Bride Collector, I think. I was expecting a CSI-style mystery but instead the author didn't want to do forensic crime and instead wanted to bring in a psychic. Not my thing, but fine.

What I DIDN'T like was that instead of there being no forensic evidence because the killer was just that good or whatever, the detective would walk into a room and just "know" that there was no forensic evidence left behind. And everyone would be all, "Oh, okay", and that was the end of THAT. Annoying in the extreme.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

another thing that irks me is that just because it's fantasy, suddenly anything and everything is acceptable.

I think this shows in authors who normally don't write in this genre, but it's a genre where world-building and making things plausible is very important. There's a lot to be said for following internal rules and having the right tone for the work. Fantasy is not a license to make sh*t up and not do research. Good fantasy writers know exactly when they need to do research, and when they can make sh*t up.