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What was your favorite and least favorite thing about the last book you read and why? And what did it teach you about writing?
The most recent book I’ve read is Spinning Silver, which is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin.
My favorite thing about it was the atmosphere. It was like a magical winter wonderland and the author did a really good job at immersing me in the world. I’ve never read anything quite like it, so that was pretty cool.
Now for my least favorite thing…The characters’ reactions. Or, lack thereof. Lots of really interesting things happened in the novel, but since the characters NEVER had a single reaction, a single drop of emotion, a single hint of something other than, “okay then, now that that’s over let’s move on to the next plot point!” it never felt like the interesting event even happened!
(Like, you just accidentally killed your father and now are being separated from your siblings, and what? You don’t feel anything?! Huh?!)
So yeah, all the characters felt like psychopaths. The lack of real human reaction made every event in the story not feel real. I never felt anything but frustration while reading because all the supposedly human characters were acting like robots.
So yeah, this taught me that I could have the most interesting, epic plot, but if there are no reaction scenes, the events of the story have no impact, and the whole story is boring.
And the same goes the other way around. Don’t underestimate the power of well-developed characters, realistic reactions, and set up and pay off. Those elements have the ability to turn a relatively simple plot into something memorable.
So what about you? What was your favorite and least favorite thing about the book you most recently read? What did it teach you about writing?
@kathleenramm Well, I’m in the middle of The Brothers Karamazov, and I haven’t quite finished it yet, so… Other than that, excluding all the manga and books I’ve read for school, the last book I read was… The Summer of the Swans, by Betsy Byars. It won a Newberry Medal. My favorite thing was how nostalgic I felt reading it. The copy I have is from quite a while ago, and the style and everything reminds me of the books I read when I was a kid. It’s been a long time since I’ve read something in the ’90s or ’80s style.
On the other hand, the title didn’t feel quite fit. It’s called a “summer”, but the story takes place in about the timespan of a day. And the swans weren’t overall that relevant, though they were there for symbolism and such. But this didn’t really bother me too much. It wasn’t really quite what I was expecting, that’s all. But I enjoyed it.
Hmm…I guess that kids books from a few decades ago are actually quite good? Is nothing new that I’ve learned, but I think that we don’t really have to read heavy material all the time; reading old books and exploring the themes they hold really can help shape what we write.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysInteresting question! The last book I read was The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, which I finished yesterday! I think my favourite thing was how fleshed out the two main characters (Vin and Kelsier) were! I loved reading about them and rooting for them!
My least favourite thing was how long it was. That put me off reading it for years, and I still didn’t like how long it was once I actually finished (and how is it one of his shorter books? The Way of Kings audiobook is over 45hrs long!). and the plot was so simplistic that I thought the book could have been half the size. Anyway, that’s just one of my pet peeves in general, I dislike long books (the longest book I ever wrote was just over 100,000 words. Most of the books I write are around 80,000).
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
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@kathleenramm Well, the last book I read was The Yielding by Tamara Leigh. It’s an inspirational medieval romance, so naturally I enjoyed it.
My favorite part? The heroine! I usually prefer to hero to the heroine in a romance (which is understandable, I suppose), but I loved the development and personality of Beatrix Wulfrith, the heroine. She was strong, but not in a overt, I’m-so-tough-and-way-better-than-you kind of way. She learned her own strengths and weaknesses, developing ways to get around her speech impediment (which was caused by a head injury in the beginning of the book). I loved how the author made her grow and seem realistic and believable, even for all of the strange and horrible things that happened to her. And her sarcasm? She had me laughing out loud when she’d make snide comments to the hero!
But my least favorite part? Probably the hero. Like, I understood his motives and goals (even if they weren’t always good and were against the heroine), but his personality never came through his anger, and his growth wasn’t very defined. I think he had a lot of potential, but the author never fully tapped into it.
I think I’ve re-learned a lesson I’ve been taught multiple times (and have failed to implement in my own novels sometimes), that you can have a great character with real struggles and clear motives and goals, but if you don’t put as much attention into their personality apart from their struggles and help them through them in a clear, authentic way, then all of that character’s good aspects have been for naught.
Yes, I definitely agree about not having to read heavy material all the time. Sometimes, if I read too much heavy stuff it weighs on me and even gives me insomnia. Not that heavier books are bad, (they can teach you a lot of things), but too much of anything isn’t good.
So yeah, I too like to read a good children’s book here and there, (I’m reading and very much enjoying Anne of Green Gables as of now), especially after reading something on the darker side. Can you ever be too old for a well-written children’s book? I don’t think so. Both types of books have their place in good fiction.
Do you ever write children’s books?
45 hours??? Wow. It would be hard to have a book that long without at least a bit of filler. And if I’ve learned anything from editing, the more I cut out the better the story is. XD
Have you read any other of Brandon Sanderson’s books? Do you have a favorite of his?
@gracie-j
I love it when I read a book with a good heroine! Mainly because for me it’s hard to find a female character who isn’t either a potted-plant, or just straight-up annoying. So I can’t help but really enjoy books with great heroines.
Oof, yes, what you just said about characters’ personalities. You could everything “right” about a character in theory, but if you not able to portray it effectively? It kinda all falls flat.
This is especially hard for us writers because in our heads, our characters are the most interesting, complex people who walked the earth! But then we forget to actually show that in the story. So to readers our characters are as flat as ever. *facepalm* Yeah, sadly I’ve done that before.
@kathleenramm No, I haven’t tried. The time that I did try writing a story for a kid it ended up being kinda dark…thank goodness she couldn’t read…
My sister did write a kid’s book when she was a kid though! We’re probably all used to writing books for our age groups, haha…
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@kathleenramm I know! I can rarely ever find a heroine I can relate to or enjoy reading about, so I was super excited about having such a fantastic heroine in The Yielding!
I hadn’t actually intended for that to sound so profound when I wrote it, but I’m glad it had that affect. XDI know I’ve struggled with that myself.Actually, the exact OPPOSITE happened to one of my charries, Xavier. Like, he has no personality, no goal, no motives, and my portrayal of him? h o r r i b l e . . . I mean, I don’t even like him and I made him up. BUT my readers have gushed about how much they like Xavier and what a great character he is and I just sat there like wwwwhhhhaaaatttttt?????? So I guess the less you like your charrie, the better and more vibrant they are. Reverse psychology. XD
Now for my least favorite thing…The characters’ reactions. Or, lack thereof. Lots of really interesting things happened in the novel, but since the characters NEVER had a single reaction, a single drop of emotion, a single hint of something other than, “okay then, now that that’s over let’s move on to the next plot point!” it never felt like the interesting event even happened!
Haha, maybe it was supposed to be left up to your imagination! I wonder if there are books out there written specifically in the fashion of sharing facts, leaving the emotions and interpretation up to you.
@devastate-lasting Hmm…I guess that kids books from a few decades ago are actually quite good? Is nothing new that I’ve learned, but I think that we don’t really have to read heavy material all the time; reading old books and exploring the themes they hold really can help shape what we write.
Eloquently put Linyang! There’s something about the old classics and kids’ books that have a more meaningful story behind them, they may not be very deep on the face of it, but going in just a little bit further they seem to tell you life principles!
Great topic! …now I have to remember what I read last! 😆 I’m pretty sure it was The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. My favorite thing was probably the MC, Sage’s, personality. He was street-smart and sarcastic, but also noble. My least favorite thing was the pace. A lot of the time it was super slow, with occasional fast-paced scenes.
what we do in life echoes in eternity
-gladiator, 2000@kathleenramm I’ve only read two of his superhero sci-fi books and they were all right, but not brilliant. So far, that’s been my impression of Sanderson, all right but not brilliant. I will keep reading though!
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@kathleenramm What an interesting topic!! Though now I’m going to have to wrack my memory for the last book I read for fun… #Englishmajorlife
Okay, I think the last book I completed (or audiobook anyway) was Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, which is a (sadly no longer canon) Star Wars. There were lots of things I really enjoyed about it–one big one being that it made me super hyped for the possible re-introduction of Thrawn into the Star Wars universe–but I think my favorite was how well Zahn balanced all the different POVs he had going. As someone who writes in multiple POVs with most projects, I appreciate when it’s done well, and it was certainly good in this case.
My least favorite thing is a bit odd, but nevertheless something that bugged me–one of the main cast of characters is pregnant in the book, but it almost felt like an afterthought in a lot of ways. Like, every so often a character would mention it, and I would go “oh I forgot that was a thing,” and then the narrative would move on. Idk; it just seemed like a waste of potential. Then again, I still have two and a half books left in the trilogy, so we’ll see what happens there. 😛
“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”
@gracie-j
That’s really interesting how you thought Xavier was awful, but everyone liked him! You must be a better writer than you think.
That was one of my favorite books when I was nine! I haven’t read it recently, but I still have fond memories of it and of course Sage.
Interesting thought! I guess there might be people who may enjoy that type of story, but I personally like to read books in order to get inside different kind’s of people’s heads, understand their thoughts, feelings, and worldview. I feel like a story that just tells you of events and dates is more like a history book.
But more than that, for this particular book, the real thing that troubled me about the characters’ reactions was the fact that they failed to act realistically and humanly. Thus, they felt like robots and the story flow and plot felt forced and unrealistic.
In brief, it took me out of the story, and that is one of the last things you want to do as a writer. 🙂
Interesting thought! I guess there might be people who may enjoy that type of story, but I personally like to read books in order to get inside different kind’s of people’s heads, understand their thoughts, feelings, and worldview. I feel like a story that just tells you of events and dates is more like a history book.
But more than that, for this particular book, the real thing that troubled me about the characters’ reactions was the fact that they failed to act realistically and humanly. Thus, they felt like robots and the story flow and plot felt forced and unrealistic.
In brief, it took me out of the story, and that is one of the last things you want to do as a writer.
Haha, I totally agree! People’s emotions, inner thoughts, hopes, mission, and purpose really make a good book, a good book! The same applies to life at large, though it gets much more complex and in-depth because you get to choose every moment and the future holds things that are unknown and don’t have definite conclusions as a book would.
I’d better cut it off there before I write multiple paragraphs on the subject, but it’s super interesting to see connections between fiction books and how people act 😀
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@kathleenramm Definitely interesting! I must be! XD
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