Last week I finished a YA book which I really enjoyed (overall). The only problem was, it was plagued by a serious case of unnecessary "that"s. And I noticed. And no, I won't tell you which book it was (although if you are of a mind to know, you
could always check my goodreads profile).
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| I'm not cool and I know it, Sean Landers |
Normally, I am able to turn off my critical eye. I still notice gaping plot holes or poor writing with my critical eye off, but those are issues I notice as a reader. It's the nitpicky things I don't like to notice when I read for pleasure - overusage of "that" (or any other word, take "just" for example), a repeated/missing word, a small typo, overly-exotic dialogue tags (she ululated), a point of view slip.
But lately, I've been reading a whole lot of unpublished chapters critically, and my critting mindset is spilling over into my pleasure reading. This isn't always as bad as it sounds - sometimes I purposefully read a book critically, but only when it's a book I loved and I'm reading it for a second time to see how the author did something.
So now I'm thinking I might need a sort of break between critting and pleasure reading in order to really experience the book as a reader and not as a critical writer. Maybe I won't crit at all while I'm reading a book, not until it's done.
Do you have the same issue? How do you deal with it?
I think I have always been a critical reader, but it never really lessens my enjoyment of a book - unless the issues are REALLY bad. I can put up with a lot lol!
ReplyDeleteI've always been a critical reader too, but when I get on a critting roll I can tend toward the over-critical. I know what you mean about putting up with a lot sometimes, haha - I'm definitely willing to ignore not-quite-yet-there writing for an amazing story :)
DeleteI think whether you beta or not, just being a writer means you have your 'writer's head' on all the time. I had to put down a book because all the main characters (who were 17-yr-old macho, tough guys) kept saying 'like' All. The. Time. As in, "Let's, like, go down and shoot up some, like, police cars. It'll be, like, totally cool.'
ReplyDeleteI'm a teenager, and NO boys I know speak like that.
I'm okay with poor writing if it's funny, though!
"like" over-usage is annoying enough in real-life so I can only imagine how awful that must have been to read!
DeleteTo put it bluntly, I don't read for pleasure very often. Oh, it's annoying, considering I've been an avid reader for years, but once I really got knee deep in editing, writing and proofing, it became impossible.
ReplyDeleteUnlike you, I find it next to impossible to turn off that critical eye. :(
Oh no :( I hope you'll find a way to enjoy reading again soon - there are so many great stories out there waiting to be discovered!
DeleteI've definitely had problems turning off my critical eye while reading since learning to turn it on for editing and critting. There are some times when I can read and just enjoy the story, but some times I just nitpick every little thing.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I find I can appreciate a particular sentence in a way I might have missed if I wasn't in crit mode - I guess there is a positive side to everything - but ya, sometimes it would be great to be able to just sit back and enjoy the story ,right? :)
DeleteI've definitely had the same issue. It's frustrating to pick up a book to take a break from betaing only to find myself critting everything in the book as well! I haven't tried the separation in time between betaing and reading for pleasure, but that's a very good thought. It sounds like it just might work!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have been doing is listening to more audiobooks. I find it easier to turn off the critical eye that way, because I'm using a totally different sense to experience the book. I couldn't possibly jot notes in the margins when it's not there in front of me visually! However, audiobooks do drive me a bit bonkers in that they're so much slower. And I also wonder how much the way the reader reads aloud is influencing my opinion of the book. I find myself wanting to re-read some of these on paper (well, Kindle really) to see if my opinion changes.
Audiobooks are something I haven't tried yet - I've been worried they would be too slow though, like you say. And true, the reader might emphasize certain words which I wouldn't while reading and give the sentence new meaning. Maybe it's worth trying though :)
DeleteMy critical third eye is usual wide open (but loses clarity when trying to critique my own work, of course).
ReplyDeletehaha, yeah - crazy how that works sometimes - it's so much easier to see the mistakes everywhere but in my own MS ;)
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