Comments on: What makes me stop reading

By: The Skill List Project: Scene Design at SF Novelists

The Skill List Project: Scene Design at SF Novelists — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:50:41 +0000

[...] hard in pursuit of their goals. I don’t mean you should invent artificial nuisances—I hate it when authors dump on their characters gratuitously—but “How will this all turn out?” demands that your characters [...]

By: Layong

Layong — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:03:22 +0000

Hi.. i just blog walking and arrived at yours.

nice blog.sometimes some bad books make us stop reading, but out there still a lot of good and worthy books to read.

thx.

By: Josephine Damian

Josephine Damian — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:42:00 +0000

James, I hope you’re not buying these books. I stopped that a long time ago – wasted too much money on clunkers.

Boring-ass flashbacks (which are really thinly disguised autobiography) are big stoppers for me as well as information dump.

Being able to figure out “whodunit” half-way through a mystery is a big turn-off.

Just plain bad writing – too much “to be” form and adverbs.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:34:58 +0000

I totally agree. Another thing that kills me though, is when authors subtly try to insert their political views for no reason. It just irks me.

by the way, Nicole, caps lock is not cruise control for cool

By: Dennis

Dennis — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:11:59 +0000

Some books just talk to you when you pick up, a mystical experience something I have yet to figure out why. Here is what turns me off; an author that thinks we want to be an elite technocrat. The details are mind numbing. Sex at every turn, and in full detail. Some small detail that forces you read all the sexual details. Child rape, enough said. Book covers that look dated. No book details, but endless glory pages from other authors. A book that should have been good, but just does not have the right stuff. Lastly the endless series.

By: nicole

nicole — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:01:24 +0000

JAMES I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANKS FOR WRITING THIS BECAUSE IM THE EXACT SAME WAY WITH BOOKS!!! IT WAS A FUN AND TRUE READ

KUDOS
NICOLE

By: Paul J

Paul J — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 02:31:23 +0000

An author writing in a character’s accent, and overdoing it to the point of making the dialog difficult to understand.

By: Timmy Mac

Timmy Mac — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:39:52 +0000

John Rogers (kfmonkey.blogspot.com) writes for TV and calls this the Idiot Ball, as in “Which character is going to carry the idiot ball this week?”

By: The Evil Eyebrow » Blog Archive » The Idiot Plot and Other Things

The Evil Eyebrow » Blog Archive » The Idiot Plot and Other Things — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:22:44 +0000

[...] This man says many things I agree with concerning my reading of novels. No idot plots. Less Deux ex Machina. As I get older, I find myself less and less inclined to read stuff that I used to like. I guess this is me maturing as a critical reader; I demand more out of my escapism. [...]

By: Mit letzter Vorstellungskraft « m.arschflugkoerper

Mit letzter Vorstellungskraft « m.arschflugkoerper — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:43:46 +0000

[...] auch mal aufs schriftstellerische Abstellgleis. Aber einen guten Namen, den haben sie zumindest: The Idiot Move und der Diabolus Ex Machina. This entry was written by Mark, posted on 10 April, 2008 at 6:43 vormittags, filed under [...]