Reader Rejectables: Happy Folks in Happy Land

This is actually a term I adapted from James Scott Bell. He explained in one of the classes I got to attend that stories can’t be about happy people in happy land. Folks is more a “Marji” term, but the point remains the same. And it looks a LOT like the picture here. In fact, the only story I’ve ever read that was about a happy little girl who got even happier was one “written” by my then 5-year-old daughter.

Reader Rejections: More Repetition

I was watching late night TV last night – Diagnosis Murder and Perry Mason – and I got to watch the same commercial over and over. Every time Valerie Bertinelli said, “Don’t turn that channel,” my girls would beg me to fast forward or switch to something else – even the Weather Channel.

Truth is, the day I posted last week’s article about Repetitive Writing, I put down a book that contained two new types of repetition. These warranted more discussion.

Readers’ Rejectables: Repetitive Writing

I’ve been going through a few things that get on my nerves as a reader. What started as a simple list of things I disliked in a novel I was reading, turned into a series of articles addressing reasons why a reader will lay aside a book.

I confess, I planned to start this article with a drawn-out paragraph that kept defining the notion of repetitive writing. But it bored me to just think about it. I couldn’t do that to you. You know what I mean, and if you don’t, you’re going to see three different types of repetition.

Reader Rejectables: Inappropriate Content

I’ve had folks ask me if I’ve ever read a book I didn’t like. Um … yeah! Usually, I don’t waste my time finishing those that can’t hold my interest. And I never review a book that I can’t give at least 3 stars – “It was okay. I liked it.”