I’ve been reading more than writing lately, and it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. Some books have been great, I loved them. Some have made me roll my eyes until I have headache. Because of that I’ve noticed something change in my reading habits. My patience and tolerance level has lowered a lot. Not too long ago I’d have been able to say It was rare for me to not finish a book I’ve started. It’s not so unusual anymore.
The thing that’s really frustrating me is when I pick up a book by a fave author, and find I can’t get past the blurb because it sounds like it’s a regurgitated story. It not only frustrates me, but saddens me too. I feel like new story ideas and original characters are becoming harder and harder to find. Is anyone else finding that? Or am I just being picky?
One good thing about feeling this way about many of the stoires I’ve read is that they make me want to write more. Make me challenge myself to come up with original ideas and characters.
Random Reader Thoughts
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Sometimes it is hard to find variation in romance books. Whether it be erotic romance, historical, or contemporary. I think therein lies the writers biggest hurdle. How to make their book stand out among the others. And the truly amazing writers do just that. It might take a little hunting around, but there are some out there. Recently I actually came across a historical where the hero was a doctor. Not a titled man, or a rake. It was a nice accepted change of pace for a historical I thought. Sometimes you just have to dig to find the buried treasure.
Me too! Back in the day when I picked up a book I read it. Period. Lately it’s been hit or miss for me. Paranormal (which I’ve read for YEARS) isn’t holding my attention much lately. I just picked up a book from a NYT bestselling paranormal author – that I adore – and couldn’t finish the book. The book was part of a series that I used to gobble up, too. Strange.
I just bought a few HQ Blaze books and those have been fun, quick reads.
I’m beginning to think I’m just jaded. Next time I find myself in the book store I’m going to buy a few straight fiction books. Maybe the shock of not having a happy ending will slap me out of it. 😉
Heather, it’s more frustrating when it’s an author I know I like, but when I read the blurb of the new one I think…”God, that again”
Not that that author already write that storyline, but that it’s one thats been done so many times already, by so many. Part of me knows the writers saying “All good stories have been told, just not by you.” which means, even if it’s been told, you can make it your own, and make it shine. Yet, in order for me to see if that author did so, I have to get past the blurb..and sometimes thats just not gonna happen. ❓
Dawn, thats exactly it. It’s authors or series that you’ve always enjoyed, but now seem to be falling short…
Is it because those authors are becoming dull..or maybe it’s that other authors/stories have been so good it makes the auto-buys start to look like stand buy’s?
Maybe it’s because they’re expected to shit out a book every five seconds. The author I was referring to had no less than four or five series going at one time, and from what I understand she bounced around from one series to the next trying to keep her fans happy.
When I really fell in love with romance I was in my early teens. It very well could be that the ‘newness’ has worn off over the years. When I started writing I couldn’t read a book without picking it apart in my head – unless it was REALLY good – and then I’d start to doubt myself as a writer. So it was a no-win situation for me. lol
Unfortunately this “been-there-read-that” attitude I have toward romance lately has filtered into my writing. I find myself writing something and deleting it because it’s either not good enough or I think it’s been done ten thousand times before.
Wow…I’m taking this little convo all over the place. LOL
“Maybe it’s because they’re expected to shit out a book every five seconds. The author I was referring to had no less than four or five series going at one time, and from what I understand she bounced around from one series to the next trying to keep her fans happy.”
I can totally see this being a reason for it, but I firmly believe it’s up to the author to deice if they want to go for quantity over quality. That’s not to say some can’t spit out fantastic quality stories in a fast and furious manner, but not everyone can. Authors have to take responsibility for knowing when to put their foot down and say, I need to slow down, or I need time to make this right.
Maybe I just feel strongly about this because of my own personal experience with realizing I was burnt out tot he point that the quality of my stories was starting to suffer. I chose to take a break even when my agent and editors wanted more from me because I just could not think of anything exciting to work on. I wanted to write, I wanted to keep my name out there, my stories out there, but at the same time I decided I wanted to put my name on the best I could do, and at that point in time, I didn’t think I could do my best.
It’s all about choice, authors choice, editors choice, and readers too.
of course now that I’ve had that break I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I produce quality to bring my readers back…maybe too much so…hmm..I sense another blog topic coming on…lol
I’ve dropped a few auto buy authors because of regurgitated stories … or at least they seem to be the same story/different names. My book budget is too tight for me to waste time on stuff like that.
I’ve also been putting down books a lot. I don’t call them a DNF book right away though. I’ll put a book down and come back to it another day. (Unless it was JUST THAT BAD lol) Sometimes you just have to be in teh right mood for a book. Changing the genre can make a huge difference if you’re feeling kinda blah about reading. IMO
Erin, I agree about changing genre. I ‘m a pretty eclectic reader, and I switch it up a lot, which helps. It also helps to have different choices so you can see what suits the mood, because you’re also right that mood can make a difference.