02-11-2023, 09:07 AM | #46 |
cacoethes scribendi
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I'm equally fascinated by the idea that someone would bother to read fiction if they didn't care. For me, in the best fiction, there is a real emotional involvement and anything that lacks that falls short of my expectations (or hopes, anyway).
... Although I do have to admit that, as a writer myself, I do find some intellectual curiosity about the mechanics: how certain writers achieve what they do, or - more often - how certain writers fail to achieve it. All in the faint hope of learning what to do and what not to do. But in what I consider to be the best fiction, that separation tends to fail me, and I "wake up" later and wonder how they did it to me ... again. |
02-11-2023, 09:08 AM | #47 | |
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I doubt anyone here is as emotionally invested in fictional characters as we are in real people. But for many of us, there must be some emotional investment, or we just lose interest. |
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02-11-2023, 09:11 AM | #48 |
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Yes, exactly. If I care nothing about the characters on an emotional level, I'll be bored. Good fiction must engage my emotions to an extent.
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02-11-2023, 09:38 AM | #49 |
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I don't need to 'connect' to either, but if I don't enjoy either the story or the characters, I quit and move on. Some people need vastly described characters - if it's a good story, I don't need that (pulp fiction - flat characters, great story). I don't quite get the 'connect' either. I read a lot of crime novels - I don't connect with killers or the detectives to enjoy the meandering of the story.
Last edited by Tarana; 02-11-2023 at 09:41 AM. |
02-11-2023, 09:38 AM | #50 |
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A good example how one may not like or connect to the protagonist, but still be interested and invested in their fate. I'm reading the Agent Pendergast series by Preston & Child and am finishing book 3 at the moment. I actually dislike Pendergast, or would if he was an actual person. He's an awful snob and moreover, almost a total opposite of me in every way (temper, character, preferences etc.). We have practically nothing in common. But he's interesting and I like to read about him. I want to know what happens in subsequent books. He engages my emotions. It helps that I generally like most of the other characters in the books, otherwise Pendergast would get really annoying pretty fast.
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02-11-2023, 02:12 PM | #51 | |
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I care about a lot of things when I read: good plotting, good dialog, good action, good word-craft. But for me, reading is about pure escapism. Including escaping from the real world need to care/worry about the characters I meet. They may make me laugh from time to time, but if they die, I don't mourn them. I don't shed tears. I just hope their death makes the story better. I don't care about them-- because there is no them. I care about how they propel (or drag down) the story. Last edited by DiapDealer; 02-11-2023 at 02:16 PM. |
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02-11-2023, 04:57 PM | #52 | |
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02-11-2023, 05:26 PM | #53 |
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Those are two very different approaches to reading - intellectual and emotional. You and Diap seem to be enjoying books solely on an intellectual level, while I read fiction mainly for emotional involvement. I don't care whether I learn something from a fictional book or not. If I want to learn, I'll usually read nonfiction.
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02-11-2023, 06:58 PM | #54 | |
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I know a lot of people that mostly read non-fiction, and I had been assuming that that's what happened when people were unable to find emotional involvement in fiction. Turns out I'm wrong ... again. * Recognising what the author is doing as I'm reading** is something that I've always thought of as a problem. In most horror books I see and recognise the author trying to scare me and it's like watching a "The making of" documentary - it's not scary. Similarly, when I see a fantasy author doing "world building" then I think of it as a failure - I shouldn't be able see it, it should just exist and grow around me. ** I separate my reactions. There is what happens while I'm reading the story as a story, and there is what happens when I think back over what I've read and recognised it as fiction ... and sometimes recognise it as absolute rubbish that I enjoyed immensely. Last edited by gmw; 02-11-2023 at 07:00 PM. |
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02-11-2023, 07:23 PM | #55 | |
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For me characters do come "alive." Sometimes when I write, I've changed the plot because a character (whom I've gotten to "know" better) could no longer do what I originally planned they would do. They've changed and I have to respect that. At any rate, that's how I look at it. Stories, in my opinion, are primarily about people (characters) -- the world they "inhabit" (though important) is secondary. |
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02-11-2023, 07:26 PM | #56 | |
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02-11-2023, 09:34 PM | #57 |
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It's ok. You don't have to understand it. I love fiction and almost never read non-fiction. I just don''t read for emotional involvement with the characters. I find doing so as weird as I'm sure you find my approach. To me, it's akin to having an emotional connection with my potato peeler. I have more than enough emotional connections with real people. I'm not going to seek them out with fictional people.
I do word puzzles as well, but I prefer reading. Last edited by DiapDealer; 02-11-2023 at 09:37 PM. |
02-11-2023, 10:49 PM | #58 |
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I enjoy fiction too, and sometimes learn more from it than from nonfiction because stories can illustrate things that simple recitation of facts cannot. So maybe that is the connection people are talking about? I tend to feel manipulated if I sense an author is trying too hard to establish an emotional connection. It's interesting to see the different viewpoints on this (and probably explains why fiction that gets rave reviews sometimes falls flat for me).
Last edited by icallaci; 02-11-2023 at 11:40 PM. |
02-12-2023, 03:15 AM | #59 | |
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02-12-2023, 08:03 AM | #60 | |
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