# What makes you stop reading?



## Andrew Kaufman (Jun 16, 2010)

As a writer _and_ a reader, I was just wondering if you all could share some of your opinions with me. The one thing I work very hard to do while writing is to keep the reader turning pages. Even better, I want them to go to the next chapter...and the next. The one thing I _don't_ want them to do is put the book down and never come back to it. I have certain techniques I use to keep the reader glued to my pages. However, I'm always striving to learn more about how to do this. So I want to know if you could tell me: When you're reading, what makes you cringe, roll your eyes, or just plain throw the book down and not want to come back to it? What drives you crazy? For me, it's a story that builds well and then falls flat with a no-payoff ending. It feels like I've wasted all my time getting there.

What about you?


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## HeidiHall (Sep 5, 2010)

Boredom is usually the only thing that will make me NOT finish a book. If the characters are flat or the storyline drags or the situation is unrealistic...all of this causes boredom and at some point I have to walk away (or fall asleep). I always give a book the chance to redeem itself, but if 200 pages in I'm not feeling it, I put the book in my "take to the second-hand bookstore and pawn off on some other fool" bag.   I read a book every two days or so and have only not finished 3--I'm fairly easily entertained.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Characters I don't care about (i.e., I don't have any driving desire to find out if they succeed or fail)
Plot driven by characters being stupid, stubborn, obtuse, etc.
Stereotypes, whether characters or plots
Poor writing that just describes the plot and the characters rather than using the power of words to draw me into the story and subtly manipulate my emotions and perceptions


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

When I conclude the book isn't interesting, and I don't see any prospect of that changing.

When there is nobody (or nearly nobody) in the book I can identify with.  Bonfire of the Vanities was the classic example of that for me.

Characters or groups behaving in ways that don't make sense or are uncharacteristic of that sort of person(s).

Protagonist has a key personality trait I find irritating or self-defeating.  I recently read a police story that interested me, but the main character had a persistent habit of unnecessarily antagonizing everyone who was in a position of authority over him.  I did struggle through that book, but no way I'll ever read the rest of the series.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

*Bad editing:* It makes me feel like the author is over his head, makes me feel like the author doesn't respect me, takes me out of the story. Of all the reasons to lose a reader, this is the one that should never happen. I can deal with a mistake or two, but no more!

*Taking me out of the story, authorial intrusion:* I remember reading a murder mystery with a judge character. This character makes a weak joke and the author describes him as hitting it out of the ball park. The writer essentially complimented herself. Um, she could have certainly said the joke was well-received, but telling me that the lame line I just read proved that he, and by extension she, is witty? Nuh uh. Of course, the bigger sin was that she took me out of the story and reminded me of her existence in front of computer somewhere, laughing at her own jokes.

This is related to, no pun intended, letting me be the judge of that or the cliched phrase: show, don't tell -- consistent show, don't tell. I hate to be told a character is great with the ladies and then every interaction with a female is awkward. I don't want to be told someone is brilliant and have them be TSTL. (Too stupid to live.) If you say something, it had better be true. Or, better yet, don't tell me a character is something -- just go ahead and have them act like it. If I think, "Wow, Don Juan DeDraper is smooooooth with the ladies!" -- yay. If I don't think it, well, you're still ahead since you never claimed it.

*Been there, done that:* I hate loving a book by and author and then finding out they write that one story very well ... over and over again. Same spunky heroine. Same handsome hero. Whoa, did the author really recycle that bit of banter from the first book?

You can't escape your own brain. Writers are people and so they tend to have topics they're interested in and recurrent language choices. There are always going to be similarities in language, because a writer will filter exposition, dialogue, plot through the same piece of equipment -- the one between his ears. This is to a certain extent a good thing if it made a reader fall in love with an author's skills, but a writer has to be aware of the patterns and work to still surprise the reader and mix it up.

Okay, I'm bored with typing now.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Andrew Kaufman said:


> I have certain techniques I use to keep the reader glued to my pages.


Be careful with that - there's an author who, in his first books, he had the bad habit of ending every chapter with comments like "Little did he know what was about to happen next" or "Had he known what was going to happen, he never would have done (x)..." I guess he was trying to keep the reader thinking "What's going to happen next?!" and reading on but when he was using this technique every single time, it just came across as amateurish, cheesy and over-dramatic. He has since learned to stop that and his later books are better though. I'm not saying this is what you're doing, I have no idea what kind of writer you are - I'm just pointing out that sometimes, an author may think they are being very clever when actually, their techniques are very see-through.



> When you're reading, what makes you cringe, roll your eyes, or just plain throw the book down and not want to come back to it? What drives you crazy?


Things that just aren't believable. I mentioned a few in the topic about what we look for in an opening or sample. Also, boredom or a misrepresentation of the book. For example, I once stopped reading a book which was being marketed in the historical/archaeological mystery/thriller genre like Da Vinci Code or Indiana Jones. Except the book seemed to spend more time trying to be poetic about the main character grieving for his dead wife. But it wasn't written well enough to really pull that off. So it was a total misrepresentation and frankly, pretty boring. I stopped about half way through so it's not like I didn't give it a chance.


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## Linda S. Prather Author (Jun 25, 2010)

Poor editing also turns me off.  I may still finish the book if it's interesting, but it has to be really interesting.  Misuse of words.  There's a real difference in wary and weary and leech and leach.  Throwing in a chapter that has nothing to do with the present book, or character that has nothing to do with the present book.  Story goes on too long in one respect or another.  Recently tried to read Dean Koontz One Door Away From Heaven.  Great book actually, writing is beautiful, but there are three distinct, different stories to follow and after 200 + pages he still hasn't brought the three together.  I stopped reading it and started reading something else.  The constant story switching became irritating to me.  That's truly a little odd because POV switches don't bother me.  I can follow three or four different characters at the same time within the same story, but I had problems following three distinct stories (that I loved all three) with no apparent connection to each other.


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## LCEvans (Mar 29, 2009)

I recently stopped reading a book because a few chapters in, one of the main characters did something so stupid and out of character I couldn't continue to have any faith the author would give me a good story. Other readers might not have minded, but to me it was a major turn off. I don't like poor editing, either, but if the story is good I'll continue. Usually, though, poor editing goes along with poor story. As far as keeping me reading, I'd say the main thing is lots of conflict. 

Linda


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## L.J. Sellers novelist (Feb 28, 2010)

Here's a list from a blog I wrote on this same subject.
* Too much day-in-the-life detail or too much backstory (I like it when a novel makes me think _Oh shit_ in the first few pages)
* Protagonists who do stupid things (especially before I start to like them)
* Stories that jump back and forth in time for no good reason
* Characters who have cutsie names or are obsessed with their pets (Sorry!)
* Detailed gratuitous graphic violence
* Detailed graphic sex scenes (I may just skip them and continue with the book)
* Characters who bicker with their siblings or spouses (I've seen a lot of this lately!)
* Too many characters introduced in the first few pages with no real explanation of who they are
* Pages and pages with no dialogue
* Protagonists who engage in immoral acts, like harming an innocent person (I need at least one person to root for)
* Long, meandering side stories that take me out of the main plot
* Serial killers (No offense if you write them, I'm just burnt out)


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Just about the only thing that will make me stop reading is if I can't follow what's going on. If I have to keep re-reading a section and can't follow what the characters are doing, or why they're taking some action, then I'll eventually give up and pick up something else. Unless it's utterly boring from page 1, I'll probably still try to finish.


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

If it's dull and I have to start forcing myself to get through it, eventually I will just put it down and never pick it back up again.

Dawn


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## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

What takes me out of a story is when the author starts telling me what happens instead of letting the story unfold with action. Don't tell me the character is sad, show me. 

Otherwise, I think LJ Sellers list pretty much covers the rest of my criteria.


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## kansaskyle (Sep 14, 2010)

I've stopped reading a few books that other people recommended that I just didn't find that interesting.  A friend or family member may have really liked the book, but it didn't speak to me in some way to keep me involved.  

If it is a book I bought because I thought it would be a good read, I'm usually much more likely to stick with it till the end.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

L.J. Sellers said:


> Here's a list from a blog I wrote on this same subject.
> * Too much day-in-the-life detail or too much backstory (I like it when a novel makes me think _Oh sh**_ in the first few pages)
> * Protagonists who do stupid things (especially before I start to like them)
> * Stories that jump back and forth in time for no good reason
> ...


And I'd add anything about street gangs or drug cartels. 

Mike


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

*For Kindle editions:* Bad Formatting. If the sample has poor or non-standard formatting, I won't bother with it.

*Written for Hollywood or TV:* Sometimes I can sense authors who have written a book all giddy with a movie or TV playing in their head. No good: I stop there most of the time. I once stopped at the deduction when the author hoped his readers could imagine his story as a movie.

*Lacking Detail: * Someone else mentioned too much detail as a show stopper, but for me it is the opposite, I like details over faster pace and don't mind back story. Good stories build upon plot and characters to a crescendo and not flit from one peril to the next as chapters progress.

*Simple Writing:* I've heard that modern writing should be targeted to an eighth grade level with an average word length of 12. For me, it's kind of jejune and pointless aiming so low, and possibly related to the fact that I detest Hollywood/TV style of writing.


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## Sandra Edwards (May 10, 2010)

I don't have a list of things that will make me stop reading. Keeping my interest is just as easy as losing it. If I'm bored, I'm gone--that and bad formatting.


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## Andrew Kaufman (Jun 16, 2010)

Man, these are great answers, you guys; every single one of them. I'm going to print this list up after everyone's added to it and keep it as a reminder. Anyone else who wants to add more, please do. I'm loving this! Thanks!

Drew


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## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

NogDog said:


> Characters I don't care about (i.e., I don't have any driving desire to find out if they succeed or fail)
> Plot driven by characters being stupid, stubborn, obtuse, etc.
> Stereotypes, whether characters or plots
> Poor writing that just describes the plot and the characters rather than using the power of words to draw me into the story and subtly manipulate my emotions and perceptions


These are really the biggies for me too.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Sometimes I stop reading because I do not want to inhabit that world anymore. I'm experiencing that right now. Joyce Carol Oates is a superb storyteller, and I bow in her presence, but I cannot get motivated to continue reading "The Gravedigger's Daughter." I just don't like being there.

Has that happened to any of you before?


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I agree that bad editing is a killer. If I'm going to let your voice into my head, I want it to be literate!

Clumsiness -- awkward writing, bad word choices, characters doing stupid things because the author couldn't think of a better way to move the plot along.

Cliches and wish-fulfillment.


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

KarenW.B. said:


> Sometimes I stop reading because I do not want to inhabit that world anymore. I'm experiencing that right now. Joyce Carol Oates is a superb storyteller, and I bow in her presence, but I cannot get motivated to continue reading "The Gravedigger's Daughter." I just don't like being there.
> 
> Has that happened to any of you before?


Yes, definitely.

Dawn


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I will read things that are deeply unpleasant and disturbing if they're good enough, even though it's not exactly enjoyable. I think Tim Cahill's book about John Wayne Gacy was one of the most upsetting things I've ever read ...


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

When the plot just seems to fade out and I lose interest.  If a book lies on my nightstand for more than three days and I don't pick it up, then I usually never finish it.


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## Carolyn A (Jul 25, 2010)

I was recently reading a book by a well-known author whose work I've enjoyed before, but this time the book was full of repetitious interior monolog. It's okay to give me the main character's thoughts, but once I've read them, I GET it, okay? the author doesn't need to drill it into my head.

Carolyn


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

I find any more that in a lot of books all of a sudden I get to where I realize I just don't care how it comes out. That can happen in the sample, the middle, and recently in a thriller I was so unthrilled I put it down only a couple of chapters from the end. Flatness in the story at that point can do it, but more often it's something so silly or unrealistic I no longer believe in the story and I'm gone. In the thriller I was actually at the point the good guy was confronting the bad guy, which most readers wouldn't have thought was flat. But the dialog between them and the situation in which they having that dialog was so ridiculous it got a pft! and I was out of there.


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## Steven L. Hawk (Jul 10, 2010)

Boredom or indifference.  If I'm entertained, it's easy to keep reading.


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## CJ West (Feb 24, 2010)

The things that really grab me are a complex plot, interesting characters, and realism.

When my BS meter starts going off too frequently, I have trouble sticking with a book.

I also gave up on a book recently because I just couldn't connect with the characters. Someone said something about letting the writer into their head. I felt like I was in someone else's head and there wasn't an sensible thought to be found. This is what the author intended, but I could not stay in that jumble any longer.

CJ


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

Very little, but if it's anything it's 1st person POV in present tense (and not always - King does it and I bore through - Meyer's does it and I couldn;t get past Chapter One).  

Edward C. Patterson


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## harpwriter (Sep 28, 2010)

The one book that really stands out that I stopped cold, it was due to an 11th century Welsh knight having attitudes and reactions that were clearly modern ideals, thoughts and reactions that virtually no one in 11th century Wales would have had.  It was so far afield that it ruined the suspension of disbelief, and the characters slipped from being 'real' to being the author speaking on paper through them.


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## SidneyW (Aug 6, 2010)

It's boredom for me too. I'll push through if I've heard, or if I know, it's a really good book and there's some reward. Often, though, I'll give up if it's putting me to sleep.


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## lorezskyline (Apr 19, 2010)

A few that can really put me off:

1.) Excessive stupidity from a character, ok everyone makes mistakes and thats usually how they get into the adventure in the first place but repeated mistakes especially when the character is supposed to be intelligent is annoying.  Example in The Lost Symbol Robert Langdon is repeatedly duped by believing everything he hears on the phone no matter what evidence there is to the contrary. 

2.) Out of time / out of place characters - for example in historical fiction sometimes the heroes are just to atuned to modern attitudes to be real.

3.) Really bad editing, i'll forgive some errors but have read books where a character is refered to by the wrong name on several occasions

4.) Last minute appearances from characters who have not even been mentioned in the book before but appear to conveniently fill a plot hole.

5.) Linked to the above using an unmentioned piece of tech/artifact/magic to get the characters out of a sticky situation i.e. Trapped in the tiger pit our plucky band of heroes were in mortal danger until Arterias rememberd he'd packed his clock of levitation which until this point and despite several risky situation he hadn't used!

Ok rant over despite the above I usually just get so far into a book I usually end up finishing it, although I still cant believe I finished the Lost Symbol that belonged in the tiger pit with Arterias!


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## LDS (Aug 4, 2010)

Stalling for length, repetition, sappiness, or the author beating to death their own personal fascinations when I'm not into it. These things are what stopped me from reading more Anne Rice when I was young...the beauty of New Orleans, and of every single vampire, over and over, for pages....


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## Fireheart223 (Oct 3, 2010)

Not having a reason to care about the characters.


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## a7dk (Jan 17, 2010)

For me there are a few things. First, if the characters are simple or one-dimensional, and I'm not really interested in what they do or what happens to them, it's hard to get into a book. 

But what will make me put a book down even faster is a very intrusive style of writing - for example, sometimes an author uses some stylistic mechanism (or what I call an affected writing style) that consistently pulls me out of the story to wonder at the phrasing. William Gibson's  Pattern Recognition is an example of this. I'm constantly being pulled out of the story to re-read sentences not necessarily because they're difficult to understand, but because they're phrased in this very affective style that just detracts from the story. It feels sort of like when you're watching a movie and the characters are supposed to have been born and raised in, say Indiana, but they have a slightly Australian accent. I just can't stop noticing it. 

Good thread, btw.


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

1. Pacing - I need to see some momentum, however subtle.  Doesn't mean the story needs to move at a frenetic pace, just move forward chapter by chapter.  I once put down a book that had lovely writing, but 80 pages into the story and it was still on the first day because it was bogged down with backstory.

2. One-dimensional main characters - They should have strengths and weaknesses, fears and ambitions, just like the rest of us.  I want to know they're struggling over decisions, so that the story isn't predictable.  If I don't care about the hero, I likely won't keep reading.

3. Strereotypical characters - I like my villains to have an admirable quality or two, so I know they're not a caricature; my heroes and heroines to be flawed, so I know they're human and have their own issues to overcome.  If the characters are cardboard cut-outs, I don't expect the story to have much depth either.


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

Cliches in general, and repetitive use of words. I was reading The Book of Night Women recently and had to put it down. I got so sick of the repetitive use of a certain word. Used a dozen times in a book, it might have had some power, 47 times in the first 3 chapters (isn't the kindle search great! I got the exact number for the post instead of estimating  ) just got obnoxious, to me anyway. The book has good reviews, and I think even won some awards, I may come back to it, I may not. I decided to put it aside when I couldn't turn a page without seeing the word and rolling my eyes.


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## theraven (Dec 30, 2009)

The big ones for me are:

1) Coincidences driving the plot of the story rather than the main character's decisions moving the plot forward, especially in the mysteries. I really dislike when the big clue or the turning point of the reveal comes about because the heroine/hero just happens to come across the key piece of information by chance. 

2) Hypocrisy. I read a book once where the heroine is described/set  up in the story to be sweet, loving, the ideal sister/daughter/good girl everyone in town loves but yet behaved in the same manner as another character (heroine's sister) and the sister is protrayed as mean-spirited, selfish, and the 'understandable' black sheep of the family. 

3) Over use of a word, whether it be a curse word or any other word that is used so often that it pulls me from the story. (I read one book where the characters trundled everywhere)

4) Bad editing.

I also really dislike the 'evil' first wife syndrome (as I call it). This is something I see more often in Christian romance books where for some reason the widower hero's first wife has to have been 'evil' in some way (tricked him to marry her, drug addict, neglected their children, etc.). Yet, it's okay for the widowed heroine to have had a first husband that was a loving, decent man.


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## Danielleqlee (Jun 21, 2010)

I can't stand too much description of the landscape. Gratuitous sex, violence or swearing annoys me. Slow plots. I have a lot of pet peeves. lol


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

Partly stolen from other lists above:

Too much backstory 
Too Stupid To Live
Stories that jump back and forth in time for no good reason
Graphic violence or torture of any kind--especially animal torture
Graphic sex scenes
Contrived scenes -- I just put down a book because for the third time I felt the author pushed the characters into a situation that made no sense for them to be in (could have walked away).  I realize that sometimes the author wants two characters to interact in a certain way or show off certain talents--but the scenes have to make sense and be real--they have to further the plot.  If it's a mystery, you can't just stick the characters in a situation unless a clue is there or there is a person I need to know about. If it's obviously contrived, you might get away with it once, but by the second and third time...I've got better things to do with my time.  If I like the characters enough, you might get away with it more--but if the contrived scene also involves a bad decision on the part of the main...or unexplained illogical choice by the main...the book is over.


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

lorezskyline said:


> 4.) Last minute appearances from characters who have not even been mentioned in the book before but appear to conveniently fill a plot hole.
> 
> 5.) Linked to the above using an unmentioned piece of tech/artifact/magic to get the characters out of a sticky situation i.e. Trapped in the tiger pit our plucky band of heroes were in mortal danger until Arterias rememberd he'd packed his clock of levitation which until this point and despite several risky situation he hadn't used!


#4 is a big no-no for 3 act or 5 act structures. Never introduce an important character in the last 1/3rd of the book. It's an instant wrecker.

#5 is an easily avoidable error. If the draft includes being saved by an artifact (which is perfectly fine), in the revision, you make sure to track that relic and demonstrate its powers before it becomes the turnpin. 

Just the old author in me reacting. BUT, such things will not stop me reading. Again, the only thing that does is 1st person present tense, and also incredibly _odd _ (and I say _odd_, not_ bad_ or _shallow _ or _disjointed _ etc.) writing style. One person's _shallow _ is another person's _depth of field_. Even then, I'll give it a chance.

Edward C. Patterson


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## kcmay (Jul 14, 2010)

When things don't line up -- say the gun was on the table in one paragraph, and it's on the desk in another with no explanation for it being moved.

Also, credibility problems: guns never running out of bullets, etc.

And the usual: sagging middles.


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## Labrynth (Dec 31, 2009)

Wow, I guess I've never really thought about it on this level before.  NogDog summed a lot of it up for me...

- Bad editing or writing style.  I desperately tried reading The White Lady Murders and didn't get past the first chapter because it had obviously not had an editor.  The main character's name was used more than a dozen times on one page, and he was the only one ON that page.  The sentence structure was horrible as well and some of them were so clunky that I stumbled over them as I read.  Even tho the story seemed interesting I just couldn't get past all the bad Feng Shui.

- Characters I can't connect with.  This happens for many a reasons, usually, for me, it's that there is no part of them I find even remotely likable.  CJ West's Sin and Vengance is written very well.  But there wasn't a single, solitary character that I even remotely liked in it.  And none that was interesting enough to me that I wanted to learn WHY I didn't like them.  On the flip side, I'm willing to ignore some bad prose if I find a character's story interesting enough.  Hannibal Rising (I Think it's this one... where we learn why Hannibal Lector is the way he is...) is horribly written IMO.  But Lector is a pretty fascinating character, so I finished the book.

- Heavy religion.  I read Cape Refuge and had to slog thru it because of all the god stuff.

- Too Stupid To Live.  LMAO I have never heard of it put that way, but yeah I've got to back this one.  After a while a character is so damn stupid you WANT them to die.  I remember in the first two seasons of 24 (Which were the only 2 I watched) I wanted the daughter to just DIE already because she fell into this category.

- Sort of goes into the one above, but characters that consistently make the same mistakes over and over again.  I enjoy Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, but the last few books have been kind of meh.... Rachel consistently makes some bad decisions, especially in her men and it's frankly getting old.

- The b^tch is in the details... either too many or too little.  I read a book a while back, Forbidden The Sacrifice I think, that was a few hundred pages of nothing but dialogue.  Annoying.  On the flip side, Stephen King wears me out because he's wordy as all get out.

- Formulas.... if I can figure out the ending before I get there, I'm probably not going to stick with the author.  I got this way with King and rarely read his new stuff anymore.

- Glaring errors.... I guess this goes back to editing.  I'm not a stickler for details, but when you tell me the character is wearing a skirt on one page and a few pages over you talk about her jeans, I find that distracting after a while.

- Meandering plots.  Yeah i want some build up, the climax and resolution, but very few books need 700 pages to do it.  The plot should be tightly woven IMO, including any subplots going on.

- New characters that serve no purpose.  Or if you're Laurel K Hamilton, they're just there for Anita to have sex with...

- Which brings me to my final one I think.  I don't mind reading sex, just write it well for the love of Vhaerun.

Hmmm... I think that's it for now...


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

Books with plots.


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## Jeremy D Brooks (Sep 27, 2010)

I stop if I don't care how it turns out, or if I'm pretty sure I know how it turns out and it's not worth the effort to get there the long way. Taking the mystery out too early is a spoiler...Straub's "Ghost Story" was so incredibly scary, so compelling, and then as soon as the ghost became this identifiable, tangible thing (still about 50 pages from the end), it wasn't scary anymore and I was about ready to put it down.

Also: when the detail slogs the pace. Hate to pick on Straub again (and I do love Ghost Story, but it's on my mind this week with Halloween coming up and all), but the middle part when the protag was a college lit teacher and was philosophizing on his favorite authors, blah blah blah...writer porn, no bearing on the story.


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## Kathelm (Sep 27, 2010)

Things that will make me stop:

1. Aimless, dull narration.  If it lacks wit, or a sense of direction or purpose, I'll stop.  I've stopped because because of action sequences that somehow fall flat (maybe the narrator takes a time out from the action to describe glistening abs one too many times, or gets caught up describing the scenery when people should be punching each other), or maybe a character's inner monologue because tediously angsty without any sign that they have the strength of character to work through a problem.  The narration needs to be a vector or I won't read it.

2. It can't patronize the reader.  This is espeically bothersome in a mystery, when a character has a revelation.  If the writer feels the need to pat the character on the back for figuring out such a tough one, it's insulting to the reader.  If the reader hasn't figured it out already, the author is telling them not to feel bad because it was a hard question; if the reader had already figured it out, the praise feels hollow.

On top of that, if the writer feels the need to constantly recap what happened before, I get annoyed that he has no faith in my memory.  It's fine for a series, where years pass between volumes, but only in the beginning to refresh the reader's memory.

3. Stupid plot twists.  How do you avoid the problem above?  You withhold crucial information so that the reader couldn't figure it out anyway, of course!  When the author is obviously restricting information just to have a big reveal and jerk me around, I lose interest rapidly.

4. Telling the reader what to think.  This can range from presenting villains so evil that you can't possibly agree with any of their actions ("Evil Overlord Zzakkimal conquered the North Lands and enslaved all the peoples.  What a jerk.") to having a character philibuster in favor of the author's philosophy.  Show a little subtlety, and don't try to force your reader to agree with you.  One of the worst examples I can give is Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels (which are one of the reasons I started writing my first novel).  He got into a mode where the main character would give a 7-page boilerplate  speech espousing Objectivism.  The response by other characters was always "Wow, Richard, you're so smart and awesome, I can't imagine ever letting anybody but you tell me what to do with my life," and they would immediately swear themselves to his service.  Because he was so perfect.

5. And finally, the opposite of 4: Not knowing what you think.  I expect my authors to understand what point they're trying to make, or at least what happens in their books.  If you're being deliberately incomprehensible, the only way for the reader to win is not to play.


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## SarahBarnard (Jul 28, 2010)

Edward C. Patterson said:


> Books with plots.


 

and too many words and not enough pictures...


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

SarahBarnard said:


> and too many words and not enough pictures...


and sentences longer than three words, and words more than 3 syllables.  Dontcha hate it when the pop-up gets stuck and when the fonts spill out of the thought bubbles.   

Edward C. Patterson


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## Guest (Oct 5, 2010)

Edward C. Patterson said:


> Very little, but if it's anything it's 1st person POV in present tense (and not always - King does it and I bore through - Meyer's does it and I couldn;t get past Chapter One).
> 
> Edward C. Patterson


I have to force myself to read past the first paragraph when I see a 1st person present tense story these days. I get a lot of them in submissions for the journal, and I reject 99% of them. But once in a while I find an author that does it right, but when you find such rare gems it merely reinforces the rule.

Also on my list, a lot of what others have said. Bad grammar and spelling that gets in the way of understanding the book. I can forgive typos or the occassional missing comma, but when it actually interfers with my ability to understand what the heck you are trying to say, I put it down. Gratuitous sex and violence. I don't mind sex and violence in my books (heck, I write horror stories!) but when it serves no point other than to be "controversial" it comes across as lazy writing. Another would be data dumps--just dictating information to the reader instead of allowing it to flow naturually during the story.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

- Amateur writing. Whether it's unnecessary viewpoint switches (like jumping to the security guard right before the BBG kills him), pointless prologues, excessive "telling" narrative, trying too hard to make the viewpoint "seem like a child" or whatever.

- Clanking of the plot. This is my variation of "too stupid to live". This happens when the characters do something for no other reason than if they don't then the story ends now (or dodges the author's planned story). It's not always something stupid, but it's always something that goes against the character as he has acted so far.

Those are my biggies. If there's nothing something else in the story that I'm enjoying, then either of those will end it for me. On the other hand, if I'm enjoying certain parts of the story, I'll probably just skim the crap until I get back to the part I wanted to read.

-David


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## WilliamEsmont (May 3, 2010)

In no particular order:

Too much detail & backstory
Poor editing
Losing the ability to suspend disbelief (like reading the A-Team.. lots of bullets flying and noone dying)


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## daringnovelist (Apr 3, 2010)

There is only one thing that will get me to stop reading your book on the very first page, and quite possibly get me to throw it against the wall (if it's a paper version):

I do not like being forced to spend time with people I wouldn't spend time with in real life.

For instance: You may have your protagonist in a situation where she has to kow tow to her bullying (or screeching or whining) aunt. Maybe she has to stay there for some reason. I may believe in that reason, I may even sympathize with the person... but *I* don't have to spend time with the aunt, so I won't. If I don't see right away that your character knows how to escape (at least temporarily), or take revenge or in some other way relieve us both of this situation right now, I won't read any further.

Of course you can also give me relief by giving ME reason to stick with the aunt. Make her interesting, give her some moral or ethical standing. (For instance, even if she is a bully, let her turn her bullying skills on bigger bullies.)

If there is no screeching or whining on the first page, I'm reasonably tolerant in letting the story develop for a bit before deciding if I'll like it.

Camille


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## gone (May 8, 2010)

Someone on Twitter asked me to read their book. I didn't get past the first chapter because with all the characters, the author alternated between the character's name and the author's description of the character.

Jane/the writer (this is made up, I don't want to identify the author). Joe/the blond guy, ad nauseum. The author literally just switched off in every other sentence. Made me crazy, I had to stop reading it. 

That's the first time I've seen it done in such an obvious manner, but I've come across authors who love certain phrases so much that they repeat them endlessly. I can't stand to see the same words used over and over and over again. Get a thesaurus!

I really enjoyed The Bells, but even in that book, the term 'frilly muslin' was overused. I shouldn't have seen that term 8 or 9 times in the book.


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

dfigueroa said:


> Someone on Twitter asked me to read their book. I didn't get past the first chapter because with all the characters, the author alternated between the character's name and the author's description of the character.
> 
> Jane/the writer (this is made up, I don't want to identify the author). Joe/the blond guy, ad nauseum. The author literally just switched off in every other sentence. Made me crazy, I had to stop reading it.
> 
> ...


Tagging characters with multiple name, even by attribute is okay, but not a a bandwagon, but as relief, variety and sometime clarity. (I have Chinese characters and nicknames are a necessity for legibility). I've never encountered tagging the way you described it however and would also stop reading \, but not after the first chapter . . . BEFORE.

Edward C. Patterson

PS: Thesaurus is the Antichrist (  ). Never seek one out, I say and I agree with Uncle Stevie. If the vocabulary isn't in your top draw of your toolbox, don;t use it. You can add words to the toolbox, but not for the sake of your current writing. For technical writing, vocabulary is added from research, but a Thesaurus should only be viewed in Dinosaur Hall at the Museum of Natural History.


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## Carolyn J. Rose Mystery Writer (Aug 10, 2010)

Stilted dialogue, information dumps, and huge logic flaws will make me stop reading. I'll also quit when characters act out of character without a foundation being laid with thought and emotion.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

dfigueroa said:


> That's the first time I've seen it done in such an obvious manner, but I've come across authors who love certain phrases so much that they repeat them endlessly. I can't stand to see the same words used over and over and over again. Get a thesaurus!


I read a book once where the characters talked about drinking Dr. Pepper about every third paragraph. . . .this went on for the first half of the book. . . . .really annoying. I wondered if the Dr. Pepper had given the author money for product placement. It happened less frequently in the last half of the book, but was still obvious, and still annoying. And then, one of the things someone had to know to resolve something was that this one character loved Dr. Pepper -- the key to something or other was reached by clicking the Dr Pepper icon on his computer. . . . .I'm not clear on all the details though because the plot was really convoluted -- there was much switching of viewpoint, right before someone got hurt or killed usually -- and the formatting was horrible: no paragraph indents or spaces between paragraphs. . . . .Now that I think about it I'm actually surprised I read as much as I did. . .but I still don't know how things resolved. . .and don't much care.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

> PS: Thesaurus is the Antichrist ( ). Never seek one out, I say and I agree with Uncle Stevie. If the vocabulary isn't in your top draw of your toolbox, don;t use it. You can add words to the toolbox, but not for the sake of your current writing. For technical writing, vocabulary is added from research, but a Thesaurus should only be viewed in Dinosaur Hall at the Museum of Natural History.


IMO a thesaurus is just dandy for jogging your memory when you're groping for a word -- it is pure poison if you assume that all the words listed will be exact synonyms and you don't understand their connotations or entire meanings, so you just pick out an unfamiliar word and drop it down on the paper. But apparently one person in 100 will use it the first way, and 99 others will use it the second, and you get results like "Gosh, you look pretty today, Mary Jane," Joe insinuated (or scoffed or articulated or mentioned or asserted) ...

If you don't have a good ear to begin with, I'm with you and the master -- burn your thesaurus!


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## shalym (Sep 1, 2010)

a7dk said:


> But what will make me put a book down even faster is a very intrusive style of writing - for example, sometimes an author uses some stylistic mechanism (or what I call an affected writing style) that consistently pulls me out of the story to wonder at the phrasing.


This. Or, anything else that brings me out of the story, if it's done too often. I can read a story where the characters speak idiomatically, but if the whole story is written like that, I can't read it. I also have a hard time with first person present tense, as others have mentioned--it just reminds me that I'm reading...instead of letting me immerse myself in the story.

Shari


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

dfigueroa said:


> That's the first time I've seen it done in such an obvious manner, but I've come across authors who love certain phrases so much that they repeat them endlessly. I can't stand to see the same words used over and over and over again.


I agree, I read a "best seller" recently and got to the point that every time I saw the phase "sweet spot" in his book I wanted to laugh. Now I see people use it in posts and it makes me nauseous, it has become a cliche  in such a short time. What is really funny is I see "writers" using it now and I can't help but think how un-unusual it is


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

LauraB said:


> I agree, I read a "best seller" recently and got to the point that every time I saw the phase "sweet spot" in his book I wanted to laugh. Now I see people use it in posts and it makes me nauseous, it has become a cliche  in such a short time. What is really funny is I see "writers" using it now and I can't help but think how un-unusual it is


Ah, you gave me tomorrow's Jargon entry, which will be *cliche straying*, of which _*suite spot * _ will be the example. 

Ed Patterson


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

hahahaha..**snort*


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## Basil Sands (Aug 18, 2010)

What makes me stop reading?

Hrm...several things can and do.

1. Por Speling adn, pucntuaiton!
2. Too much description
3. Excessive vulgarity (ie F-bombs in every other sentence)
4. Explicit sex that is not required by the story
5. Cliche
6. Changing POV too often
7. Getting hit in the head with a long wooden pole
8. Being stuck in the eye with a fork.

While the list is not at all exhaustive, these will definitely do it for me.


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