04-26-2018, 05:26 AM | #76 |
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I dislike greatly when an author tends to repent something along the book, like the recap in the mystery that was mentioned before, sometimes authors like to repeat some description or the connection between some characters or whatever, I found it annoying, it was said before so why repeat it? For me the only reason to do so is to write a longer book so the chances that I’m going to read another book from that author are greatly diminished.
I read fiction and sometimes I also skim the scenes that are to descriptive, when it is about something that I don’t really care about and that ads nothing to the book, like the detailed wardrobe of someone, also don’t want to read about sports, I’ve come across some books where the character played some kind of sports, I don’t want to read a scene detailing a sports game , with all the rules and whatever, when they talk about innings and goals, I can’t make sense of it has I don’t know the sport and let’s face it I don’t care enough to try to understand it, so I jump right through that. Someone talked about architectural details, for me it a bit the opposite, if I read that the house was a cape cod house I wouldn’t know what the house looked like, so I need a little more detail than that to envision it, that being said I don’t expect the author to detail the house in several pages, just a paragraph with a description is enough for my imagination. |
04-26-2018, 09:04 AM | #77 |
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I don't consider myself a bookworm, but I have been reading more books lately. I read to relax. I don't watch much T.V. only once in a while if I see something on Prime. I cut the cord on cable years ago. So I read at night mostly.
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04-26-2018, 10:53 AM | #78 |
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04-26-2018, 10:59 AM | #79 | |
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I realize that's not to everyone's taste, but I appreciate it. I do notice sometimes when reading a book that I have no clue what the characters look like. For me, that's worse than having their clothes, etc described. |
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04-26-2018, 11:35 AM | #80 | |
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However, when reading someone like Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, where he sticks names like J'ao E'Tuni'kai'i throughout the story (and then, 500 of them), it does tend to drop my reading speed. PS: I actually dislike this. Just call the city Jao Etuni Kai or something, so my eye doesn't catch on the apostrophes as if they're thorns. It saves me a lot of sorrow and memory. Last edited by Katsunami; 04-26-2018 at 11:38 AM. |
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04-26-2018, 12:33 PM | #81 |
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04-26-2018, 02:10 PM | #82 | |
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I'm allergic to unpronounceable words with apostrophes. No amount of Clarinex will keep me reading. |
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04-26-2018, 02:19 PM | #83 | |
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04-26-2018, 04:32 PM | #84 | ||
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04-26-2018, 05:43 PM | #85 |
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I am completely unable to visualize so I tend to skim detailed descriptions for connotation/implication and any non-visual detail (I do enjoy a author that includes all the senses).
From my point of view a good description covers as many senses as feasible and either sets a mood (say grim&gritty or happy&cheerful) or provides information that the reader of that genre can be expected to be interested in. |
04-26-2018, 07:07 PM | #86 |
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04-26-2018, 07:08 PM | #87 |
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My only real complaint about long descriptive passages is when they are being used as filler. One Amish fiction book I read had a description of their characters clothing on almost every page. 5-6 times in one chapter, I was told about the male character's dark blue broadcloth pants and shirt. He wore the same thing all the time, it wasn't necessary to mention it over and over again. The only purpose was padding.
If the material for the book isn't full enough for a full book, write a short story or novella. Don't turn a 120 page novella into a 230 page piece of padded fluff. I skim long segments of descriptions that I don't understand. The Martian had many passages concerning math & science that I didn't understand, and I did skim those. |
04-26-2018, 08:40 PM | #88 | |
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Although I am currently cat-less until I move. Even if I could, I don't think I would want to sit all day. And bon bon's would have to be low carb. Maybe cheese sticks and salami instead. My legs fall asleep if I sit to long in one spot. Its something that happens at times when I get caught up in a book and forget to move. Doesn't take long either. |
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04-26-2018, 10:10 PM | #89 |
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Oh my yes. I tried to follow the chemistry explanations the first few times, with little success. My enjoyment of the book increased immensely once I start just glossing over the science details. I have no idea if the explanations were pausible or not and I never cared a bit.
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04-26-2018, 10:21 PM | #90 |
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I don't consider descriptions as an aid to visualizing--I don't visualize--but the words themselves are important to the mood the writer is creating. I would never skip descriptive passages; doing so would be like reading an abridged book.
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