Why someone gives up on your novel and how to stop it.
How the focus on character needs to be the driving force. make the reader care.
There are some novels you love reading no matter how many pages. You can read them all night. You feel compelled to quickly turn the page to see what happens next. You’re caught up in the characters and their struggles. You want to know how the main problem will be solved.
You live and die with the protagonist’s every decision. And then there are novels you stop reading after a few chapters. You had no interest in the characters. Had no idea what the problem was, or where it was going. What causes this? Why do we feel compelled to keep turning the pages on some novels but give up on others?
In this blog, we will be looking at Why someone gives up on your novel and how to stop it…
WHY SOMEONE GIVES UP ON YOUR NOVEL AND HOW TO STOP IT
Table of Contents
Some novels simply have no feeling of movement. You cannot sense the story going anywhere. It’s as if time is standing still, but not in a good way. You have no idea what’s it’s about. Who’s in it, what do the lead character want, what’s the conflict. None of these questions are touched upon much less answered. Yes, the characters are talking to each other but nothing really important is being said. You can’t figure out why the conversation is happening? Is it to move the plot forward? Reveal character? You’re just not sure.
No matter how hard you try, you can’t understand. As you read along you find yourself wondering “What do they want?” You can’t get into the novel because it appears nothing is happening.
YOU KNOW WHERE THE STORY IS GOING
When you read a Stephen King novel you sense you know where the story is going. What the lead character wants, their emotional motivation. In some cases the protagonist will flat out tell you what their goals are. In “Dolan’s Cadillac” the lead character “Robinson” right from the start tells you he wants revenge on Mr. Dolan for killing his wife.
Mr. Dolan is a crime-boss, Robinson’s wife was going to testify against him at a trail, but Mr. Dolan had her killed making it look like an accident. But Robinson knows differently. Now he sets out for revenge. He try’s thinking of ways to get Mr. Dolan back. Therefore throughout the story you know what Robinson is planning. Why he’s doing it.
WHAT IS THE EMOTIONAL MOTIVATION
After seven years he figures it out. He plans on trapping Mr. Dolan in his Cadillac by digging a deep hole on an empty road and having the Cadillac fall into it and then bury him alive. If the story had started off with Robinson digging without us knowing why, we would’ve lost interest in the story. We would not care about a man digging a hole on an empty road in the desert. Why would we care to read on? But Stephen king made us care by making us care about the lead characters wants and needs. Knowing his motivations. Robinson has a goal and we know what it is. We learn about his emotional motivation. Not by being told, but by seeing this play out.
We are now given an arrow to follow. We can try to guess an outcome. In some novels, the desired outcome of any character is not mentioned. We don’t know “why” they are doing what they’re doing. Therefore we have no sense of direction of the story. We have no investment to keep reading. Stephen King has this way of letting the reader know who’s in the story, what they want and where the story is going. Letting the reader guess the outcome. You might be right or wrong, but you have an idea of where it’s going. And a desire to see how it ends.
HE IS AWARE OF THIS WHILE HE WRITES
Stephen King has this unique way of making the reader feel as though something is happening or will happen. As though the story is a car moving forward. There is no standing around when reading a Stephen King novel. He is aware of this when writing. Knows to make the reader want to turn the page. He doesn’t leave his stories to drift without direction. Characters standing around chatting without any meaning. Leaving the reader bored.
In “Lord of the Rings” it’s three books about 400 pages each. It would be very easy to get bored reading so many pages not understanding the mission. Feeling confused as to who everyone is and where they’re going. The three books could’ve failed easily. But Tolkien made the mission very straightforward. He had Gandalf tell Frodo he had to throw the ring back into Mount Doom where it was forged. We knew he had to leave the Shire and travel to Mount Doom. Even though the books are three in total we have a sense of what is expected. We don’t feel the books are standing still leaving the reader confused as to what’s happening.
IT NEEDS A SENSE OF MOVEMENT
All successful books need a sense of movement, not a story standing around. Chances are if you stopped reading a book it’s because you had no idea where the story was going. You had no emotional attachment to any character. You had no idea of the objectives. Are the characters traveling from point a to b? You don’t know. Do they have to save someone? You don’t know. Is there a bad guy with a goal? You don’t know. Some books leave you in the dark as to what is going on.
However, after you have an idea of the story and objectives you can keep reading. As a writer, you want to give the reader an overall idea of what’s happening. Is there a time limit where something bad will happen? The reader should know, instead of finding out on the last page leaving the reader confused as to why they were not told at the start.
THE READER NEEDS TO KNOW THE OBJECTIVE
Like Alfred Hitchcock said, “If there is a bomb under the seat the audience should know it’s there.” That way the reader will sense tension, think ahead. As a writer you can do the same giving the reader a sense of where the story is going. What is the plot, what is the objective of the hero and villain?
All stories need to feel like an arrow moving forward. As though the reader can sense where the story is going. They may not know how it will end but they will read on. No one wants to read a story where they feel as though nothing is happening. As though the protagonist has no goal. Where the antagonist has no objective.
WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT’S AT STAKE
The antagonist doesn’t have to be some evil person wanting to tale over the world. If you’re writing a drama or romance you do not have to include some evildoer wanting world domination. You can have a story where the antagonist can be nature, family, inner self-confidence, a spouse, a neighbor or war, It’s not like you’re forced to write thrillers where someone wants to take over the world. You can have anything being the antagonist. But we need to have some idea of what the antagonist wants. What’s at stake.
Even something like “Marry Poppins” has a driving storyline the reader can sense. The kids are in need of a nanny and the father needs to find happiness. Mary Poppins comes along and helps with both issues. The need is stated where the reader can understand it. There’s no villain in the story wanting to take over the earth, but the story still works. We are not left wondering what the story is about. It’s about family and how Marry Poppins helps the family find happiness again. It’s a straightforward storyline, but it works because storylines do not have to be major for a story to work.
EVEN THE CHARACTERS SEEM BORED
As a writer you want your story to feel like an airplane moving forward down the runway ready to take off. The reader will sense it. You do not want your story feeling like a helicopter spinning in the air not moving. As a writer you’ll lose a lot of readers when they do not sense movement. Look back at all the books you’ve given up on. Chances are it’s because you felt “nothing was happening.” You did not know the character’s wants and needs.
You did not connect with their emotional needs. Not only did you feel bored But in a story with nothing happening even the characters seemed bored. If the characters have nothing to do, the reader will stop and close the book.
you might be interested in these blogs…
HOW TO HOOK A READER THROUGHOUT YOUR NOVEL
HOW TO GET SOMEONE TO READ YOUR NOVEL AGAIN
HOW INTENT AND OBSTACLE CAN SELL YOUR NOVEL
