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Every novel is boring until it isn't

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Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#21

Post by layman51 »

Tanoc wrote: post #11
tinkelenberg wrote: post #4

The key to enjoying novels is to read them in long enough sittings to get into the flow state. If you only read a couple pages at a time between doomscrolling sessions, it will feel like a chore. Anything would.

There was a rule a fourth grade teacher of mine had that she used in her English class to try and get some of the less literate kids up to par. That rule was embodied by the name she gave it, "Thirty minutes thirty pages." She gave them thirty minutes to read thirty pages of a book. A minute a page. Considering most of them were choosing things like Goosebumps that were only a hundred and twenty pages or so it was an…

I consider myself a slow reader so I am interested in this pacing rule. Do you remember how the pacing was enforced? Were there like minute sandtimers or was it just kind of like a 30 minute timer and you either met the pace or didn't?

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#22

Post by tomjen3 »

andrewflnr wrote: post #14

If you want to tell reading-skeptical kids about "the volta", please don't phrase it as "the volta". Just say that a lot of good novels need you to read them for a bit to see what's going on, and then it will get good. They might already be familiar with the idea from TV shows. But also, it's extremely possible to write a novel that grabs you from the first page. Thriller writers are the most obvious case. A gripping…

It took me more than a week to go through the first chapter in the first Harry Potter book.

It took me 4 days to finish the rest. This is because the pacing was wrong - the first chapter should have been the last.

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#24

Post by default-kramer »

I value writing style and pacing way more than any volta. Pride and Prejudice is hardly my genre, yet I remembered it grabbing me immediately. So just now I checked to see if I remembered it correctly, and within the first minute I laughed and I'm hooked again.

Life's too short for novels that might get good halfway through, especially when there's plenty Austen I haven't read yet.

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#25

Post by chistev »

tomjen3 wrote: post #22
andrewflnr wrote: post #14

If you want to tell reading-skeptical kids about "the volta", please don't phrase it as "the volta". Just say that a lot of good novels need you to read them for a bit to see what's going on, and then it will get good. They might already be familiar with the idea from TV shows. But also, it's extremely possible to write a novel that grabs you from the first page. Thriller writers are the most obvious case. A gripping…

It took me more than a week to go through the first chapter in the first Harry Potter book. It took me 4 days to finish the rest. This is because the pacing was wrong - the first chapter should have been the last.

Really? I thought the first Harry Potter book was very engaging. The second book had more dry spots for me.

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#26

Post by iLemming »

default-kramer wrote: post #24

I value writing style and pacing way more than any volta. Pride and Prejudice is hardly my genre, yet I remembered it grabbing me immediately. So just now I checked to see if I remembered it correctly, and within the first minute I laughed and I'm hooked again. Life's too short for novels that might get good halfway through, especially when there's plenty Austen I haven't read yet.

Yes! The opening line of Pride and Prejudice alone is already immediately captivating. And then makes you re-read it again, after you finish the book and it suddenly shines differently.

I feel enormously fortunate for being fluent in Russian, reading Bulgakov and Tolstoy in original is pure joy, any translation removes subtleties - it's like listening to Bach through the car stereo, you still can enjoy it, but it won't make you want to cry, like listening in symphony hall might. If I had no other reason for learning English but to understand the prose of Austen, it'd still be worth it. And I'm just discovering the simple elegance of G.G. Márquez in Spanish. He does a similar trick in the first line of Cien años. "Había de recordar" is a future seen from the past, and Spanish carries it without strain. English has to choose between "was to remember" and "would remember", and both just miss it. The sentence sets up the whole book's time scheme in five words, and the beauty of it has to be contemplated.

Sometimes, reading a single passage from a book, I mean truly, deeply, honestly letting it sink into your subconsciousness makes up for all the insufficiencies in the story.

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#27

Post by teekert »

tomjen3 wrote: post #22
andrewflnr wrote: post #14

If you want to tell reading-skeptical kids about "the volta", please don't phrase it as "the volta". Just say that a lot of good novels need you to read them for a bit to see what's going on, and then it will get good. They might already be familiar with the idea from TV shows. But also, it's extremely possible to write a novel that grabs you from the first page. Thriller writers are the most obvious case. A gripping…

It took me more than a week to go through the first chapter in the first Harry Potter book. It took me 4 days to finish the rest. This is because the pacing was wrong - the first chapter should have been the last.

Yeah same. I recently read the whole series to my son after he had begged me to stop after a couple of pages about 2 years ago. I told him: just keep your mind open for 100 pages.

The start is so cold, and weird. You can only feel the warmth and beauty that is coming on your second read, and part 1 takes some time to pay-off. What I like about Harry Potter is that many things are not what they seem when later looking back. It's clever like that.

On my own, 20 years ago, I couldn’t stop after starting. Sure the first chapters are a bit boring and different from the body of the books, but I have always given books about 100 pages to grab me, never consciously though about a Volta though, just almost always started to enjoy books after some time.

The follow-ups in a series can be enticing because of part one, but sometimes, as I had with 3 body problem, they disappoint so much or are so different that I just stop.

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#28

Post by teekert »

default-kramer wrote: post #24

I value writing style and pacing way more than any volta. Pride and Prejudice is hardly my genre, yet I remembered it grabbing me immediately. So just now I checked to see if I remembered it correctly, and within the first minute I laughed and I'm hooked again. Life's too short for novels that might get good halfway through, especially when there's plenty Austen I haven't read yet.

For me there are novels with such big pay-offs that they are worth 100s of pages of setup to me. I usually only start them when I read online that they are worth it. I had this with Atlas Shrugged (500-600 pages of setup?).

Some are simply such a nice world (and indeed writing style) that they don’t even really need a Volta. I had that with the Commonwealth Saga by Hamilton. I just wanted it to go on and on (and it does for >2400 pages). (I was sadly disappointed by the follow-ups which are much less "sci"). Same with the Bobiverse books, eagerly awaiting part 6, although I still want to be in that world, it also feels like it should come to some beautiful end before dragging on too long...

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#29

Post by skrebbel »

andrewflnr wrote: post #14

If you want to tell reading-skeptical kids about "the volta", please don't phrase it as "the volta". Just say that a lot of good novels need you to read them for a bit to see what's going on, and then it will get good. They might already be familiar with the idea from TV shows. But also, it's extremely possible to write a novel that grabs you from the first page. Thriller writers are the most obvious case. A gripping…

For years my youngest kid (10yo) showed no interest in reading. He would very sometimes try, but give up after a few pages.

But then he read a book that opened with the sentence “I thought I was being followed.”, and that was his gateway drug.

I fully credit the author, Maren Stoffels, for getting my boy into reading. Every book by her is exciting from the first page. If you’re Dutch and have kids, I warmly recommend “De Wisselaar”.

Re: Every novel is boring until it isn't

#30

Post by bananaflag »

tomjen3 wrote: post #22
andrewflnr wrote: post #14

If you want to tell reading-skeptical kids about "the volta", please don't phrase it as "the volta". Just say that a lot of good novels need you to read them for a bit to see what's going on, and then it will get good. They might already be familiar with the idea from TV shows. But also, it's extremely possible to write a novel that grabs you from the first page. Thriller writers are the most obvious case. A gripping…

It took me more than a week to go through the first chapter in the first Harry Potter book. It took me 4 days to finish the rest. This is because the pacing was wrong - the first chapter should have been the last.

I started as a kid with the second book, as it was the only one in the bookstore on that day
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