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Developing story . . .

 

  
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Are you willing to allow a story to develop? What dictates whether or not you'll stay the course if a story begins to drag? Can you pinpoint when or how the development of a story turns you away?

Most who stop here stick with novels and enjoy story development. They don't mind a few extra incidentals in the story that could be left out and instead appreciate the extra flavor which tends to add to the bigger story.

We're picky readers in our own ways. Some of us read specific genres and don't waver from that short list too far. Others will read all kinds of genres but insist upon a good story. Short or long, they're not at all intimidated by the different lengths and prefer good development of characters and story to bare and sterile styles that celebrate fewer words.

What will cause you to give up on a novel? 

 

Father, help us to be just patient enough, to acknowledge that our opinions are not always shared, and to be intent on writing what you have for us to write. No matter what. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

 

 

 

 

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4 responses to “Developing story . . .”

  1. BK Jackson (@BKJacksonAZ) Avatar
    BK Jackson (@BKJacksonAZ)

    Hmm…. I’ll have to think on that. I’m so particular about filtering books that I always finish what I start.
    I can tell you of one incident that literally made me mad (I’ll omit the title/author) and if I was a book thrower, I would have thrown that book into the Pacific. But still, I finished the darn thing because I started it.
    The gist of the problem with that book was that it was historical fiction (good start), set in the American West (awesome!). The back cover blurb read like it was about a real and significant issue a male character faced (even better yet) and did not give indication that it was a smarmy romance (a godsend).
    Even the opening chapter of the book gave every appearance that here would be a book that was different from the rest.
    Much to my deep and abiding disgust, the story quickly became about the female bimbo and her issues, and the man’s much more interesting story was a sideshow in the whole thing. I felt sold out in the worst possible way and I will never read another book by that author. Ever.

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  2. Brenda Anderson Avatar
    Brenda Anderson

    It is rare that I give up on a story, and I don’t know that I can pinpoint specific reasons why. I suppose each story has reasons of their own. But, I’ll give one example:
    For a book group, we were reading The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. I slogged through maybe 50 pages before I set it down. I tried skimming, then skipping pages, then even reading the ending. Nothing helped. Nothing told me that reading was was worth it.
    There were a number of things that bothered me. (1) The entire ensemble cast were extremely unlikable (2) The language / situations were raunchy (3) There was no plot movement–I had no clue what the goal of the story was. I’m certain there were other issues, but those (3) stand out. All of those problems combined made it very easy to put down. Within our book group, I believe only (1) person finished the novel, but she didn’t care for it either.
    So, when I put a book down permanently, it’s likely a combination of issues, not just one.

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  3. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    Characters and the story/non-story rise to the top of the list in these two comments. We three are book finishers for the most part. We WANT to finish novels, but, let’s face it, for us to put books down and assign them to “unfinished”, they’ve got to have failed in developing story to personally endurable satisfactions. Lousy, unlikable characters, a misleading, an under-developed, or a pointless story top our lists.

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  4. BK Jackson (@BKJacksonAZ) Avatar
    BK Jackson (@BKJacksonAZ)

    Good point, Brenda A. I really wrestle with the unlikeable characters thing in some books. It’s very significant that so many in your group had the same reaction.
    I tend to doubt myself when I have that reaction because, let’s face it, I just don’t have the same tastes as the majority of readers. But if so many people are in agreement, that’s a big red flag.

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