Saturday, February 18, 2017

Do You Skip Parts of a Book?


The latest topic for this group is another interesting one. What is your saturation point? What is not enough? How do you decide what to include and when to hold back to allow the reader to fill in the blanks? Do you ever skim description when reading a book? If so, what description are you most likely to skip? 
I don’t know about you, but yes, I do skim through parts of some books. My saturation point depends on the book. JD Robb grips me with the plot, the characters, even the setting. She holds my interest, switches scenes and I’m willing to read it all. Some books dwell on setting and go on and on about the room and the furniture, or the rolling hills. Does it contribute to the story? Is the information important in moving the story along? If it is I read it and write it. If not and I read the first or second description and I realize it’s just filling space – I skip them.

If it’s a sex scene, and once again I read JD Robb’s, but if it’s written purely to write a sex scene I’ll skip it. Or if it goes on and on, page after page, for me it becomes slot A into slot B and I skip it. If it’s written to add a dimension to a relationship and help move the relationship along, or to add a few bumps to the relationship, I’ll read it. And I use the same relationship basis if I’m writing it. I can see this could be different when writing erotica.
I’m looking forward to reading what other people think about the topic. Check out these authors and add your comments.

Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Dr. Bob Rich  https://bobrich18.wordpress.com/2017/02/18/description
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

12 comments:

  1. Hi Beverley, I agree - I skip sex scenes. Love the build of tension until you know an action (sex/violence/angry outburst/laughter) is inevitable. Details of tab A into slot B unnecessary. Possibly unless you write erotica, but even then, I want the story and the characters to be paramount. anne stenhouse

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    Replies
    1. Anne, even in erotica, I think the details of the sex need to be relevant to the plot of move it along. Thanks for dropping by.

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  2. Agree with everything since we seem to share a viewpoint on this. Yet, I also think this changes reader by reader according to their age and interests. I can also see where in mysteries detail might become very important to giving the reader hints without exposing the plot.

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    Replies
    1. I agree Rhobin, there are times you need some details, but it comes down to - is it necessary to the plot. If it is - put it in.

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  3. Interesting take, Beverley. These weren't sex scenes, per se, but in Cassandra Clare's books, it's incredibly usual for various couples to sneak off into the shadows for romantic time, even though there is all this magic, tragedy, and war going on. At times it was so superfluous I would just skip those parts because it was entirely unnecessary to the plot!

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    Replies
    1. And that's the point, isn't it? It was unnecessary to the plot.

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  4. I skip many of the sex scenes. They don't move the plot but show the couple in love which is great but I don't really need to be in the bedroom with them.

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  5. Whether I skim scenes depends mostly on the characters. If I truly love a particular character, I'll read every word involving them, often multiple times. Characters I don't love as much I'll read through their scenes normally or sometimes skip, depending on what's going on. Regarding love scenes, if it's one that really pulls me in, I'll read every word. To me, books are like movies in that way. I'll pay close attention to my favorite parts of certain movies no matter how many times I've watched them and not pay as much attention to other scenes.

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