Candice Hughes

Bookmarked: Even Buffett Isn’t Perfect by Vahan Janjigian

After many months (a year or so) of writing, I’m finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for novel 2. I’m in the closing scene, which is one of my favorite parts to write. For me the closing scene is the final confrontation where all the action is. There is more after that, I consider the rest the calm after the storm. That is where the sub-plot and loose ends are tied up. My other favorite part to write is the opening scene where everything is fresh and there are so many possibilities.

Perhaps I turned to a nonfiction book last week though because writing, especially the intense closing scene is draining. I also was attracted to the book because the financial world is so much on everyone’s mind now. But, it’s looking like we’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel here as well. I hope so! I’m hoping the turnaround will lift the publishing industry as well. Then my manuscript will be well timed. Although everyone will tell you, you can’t time the market. So, I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Cynthia Crossen in The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about when and what triggers her to give up on reading a book. From her comments and from those of the person writing into her column, one gets the impression that a lack of enthusiasm or just not feeling “hooked” is a trigger to stop.

Cynthia says she has gotten as far as 300 pages into a book and been unsure of whether to continue (this was a 720 page book- for many other books she’d be closing the back flap by then). Her reader says after page 50 she would stop, although she’s heard some people stop at page 1.

This column and reading a book that I was unable to get through got me thinking about what really makes me or anyone else stop reading. I agree with the lack of enthusiasm concept but it’s so vague I find it entirely unsatisfactory. What causes the lack of enthusiasm? I’ll give you my thoughts. For one thing, it could be plot. A meandering, muddy plot without constant tension and action is a sure book closer for me. Sometimes, the plot has tension but it’s either a totally unbelievable circumstance or it’s the sort of tension that has no resonance with me. For example, a woman stands in front of a pair of Manolo Blahnik’s and a pair of Prada’s and is down to her last $500.00 and what on earth does she do? Sorry, but I’d rather worry about the clerk handing her the shoes who works part-time as a janitor in a nuclear power plant and found the reactor control code in the boss’s trash can last night.

But sometimes, it’s not the plot. Sometimes, it’s the characters. Either I just don’t like them or I am so neutral as to be unconcerned about whether they get blown up in chapter 6 or not. Sometimes, the characters themselves who are unbelievable. For instance, what about  five-year-old who speaks in complete sentences with multisyllabic words and tries to advance new equations for Einstein’s theory of relativity when he’s not in nursery school? Sorry, don’t buy it.

I think some of the reasons people stop turning pages are universal but others are unique to the reader. As a writer, I try very hard to not put in universal stop signals. But, I believe other stop signals are coded in the reader’s DNA- unknowable and unavoidable since the next reader may love that part of the book. For example, some may love reading about shopping crises and some may attack a 720 page book with enthusiasm whereas others may run from the room screaming….

Happy Reading!