Being a writer, when you're reading someone else's work, what stops you from finishing a book/throws you out of the story/frustrates you the most about other people's books?
Perhaps this question would be the main reason why I don't read modern books. From years of studying writing, I do know experts advise to read modern books from modern authors within your genre. I've been recently trying to just see what is already out there for Fantasy books, since I'll be publishing a Fantasy book once I'm done rereading it over again. The same applies to manga how you're advised to just see what's out there that's similar to your work. I'll publish a Shonen manga first and so I've been trying to read other Shonen manga series.
With this stated, with both writing formats, I'm always annoyed by female characters and how many writers choose to develop them. Either the slutty type or the annoying wallflower type. Well, both are annoying to me. I feel when it comes to female characters, they only have one or two traits, cardboarded. For male characters, I see more details in their development, more varied aspects of their personalities are thought out more so for males than females. It came to the point where I actually preferred to read manga and books with male leads, and mostly all male characters. Male characters are developed more so to get the job done, while female characters fall short; are unable to complete the things they must do. If female characters are developed so they do get things done, I ran across books and manga where mostly these are the slutty types. I'm a no nonsense person, which is why many books forced me to like male characters over female characters.
I remember running across a writer who said his job was to taint the minds of the youth. This is the primary reason I dislike modern books, and one statement I disagree with. I started writing Polar Qimuktis and my other projects as a teen, but now I'm in my 20's. During my reading, I am still considered the "youth", but I know younger readers would read my work. So, I just don't believe in corrupting young minds; I couldn't conscientiously do this knowing that younger people are mimicking things from their entertainment. When it comes to me as a reader, I don't like surprises. This is when you don't know what's in the book until you actually read it, and then I find material I didn't want to read about. I feel there should be some sort of warning to let you know about the book before you buy it.
I guess these are all of my thoughts on this...
Taint the minds of youth? Aren't they screwed up enough without dumping on more?
ReplyDeleteMost of my main characters are men, but I do have one strong female lead who has strong values and beliefs and is not afraid to voice them.
Yeah, I read it through my Google feed. I wondered, what's his problem? Very interesting. That's great. I'm glad to see others develop strong female characters.
DeleteI agree on the development of female characters. I don't like them being slotted into stereotypical weak characters. That would make me put the book down fast. Best of luck on your writing!
ReplyDeleteThis is the reason I stop reading a book as well. Good luck with your writing as well.
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