Words related to writing

Writers Chatting Again

Here is another half-hour video chat by three regulars from Writers Supporting Writers: Berthold, Mark, and me. This one rambles a bit among several topics: story structure, the role of the reader, and does fiction need a meaning? You can find it HERE.

Featured image prettysleepy1 from Pixabay

10 comments

  1. I just read Berthold’s post about meaning in writing, and it raised so many questions for me. Such as – why does fluff get millions of fans, but good books, strong meaty, memorable books barely rate a mention?

    I admit, part of that is me trying to work out why my own books don’t do better, but reader-me is also puzzled, and disheartened, that most of the books I absolutely LOVE seem to be ignored by ‘fans’.

    There are exceptions, obviously, but then what is it about those exceptions that make them both excellent works of fiction AND hugely popular?

    I guess that’s the one question none of us seem to be able to answer. 😦

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I guess fluffy books are sort of like junk food for the brain. Meaty books take more mental energy to read, but stick with you.
      The way readers interact with books is really interesting. I would bet it’s been studied scientifically–having people read with electrodes stuck on their heads to show which parts of the brain light up–but I haven’t seen any cited in the stuff I read online.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yes, great analogy. I admit to reading the odd bit of fluff, especially if I can’t find a hearty meal to get my teeth into. Trouble with fluff is that I forget everything about it soon after ‘the end’. Seriously! I sometimes go through my Kindle, puzzling over books that show up as ‘read’, yet I can’t for the life of me remember what they were about. 😦

        Liked by 1 person

  2. It has been my experience both as an artist and a writer, that people like what they know. The more familiar something is, the more comfortable people are with it, and thus, the more popular it will be. Kind of a circular argument, but things are popular because they are familiar. And they’re familiar because they’re popular… and around we go again.

    When it comes to ebooks on Amazon, it’s the avid readers who drive the sales of books. They know pretty precisely what they like, which is what they’re familiar with. In the pastures of my grandparent’s dairy farm, back in the day, there were deep ruts in the field – the cow paths – worn by the cows who habitually walked on these very narrow paths back and forth from the barn. A lot of readers are like those cows. If you write a book that lands in their paths – you’ll sell a lot of copies. But if you write a book that lands in the weeds. Well, you probably won’t.

    I rarely remember much, if anything, from a book. But then that means I can re-read the best ones again.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You’re probably right about the familiar being popular, Chuck. It certainly applies to genres like romance and mysteries.
      You must remember enough about the best books you’ve read to identify them as such.

      Like

      1. Well, Audrey, I know the authors I enjoy reading. I get a lot of my enjoyment from how writers use the language. With a clever, witty writer, (often English writers) the story isn’t all that important to my enjoyment of the book, so I can reread and enjoy stories even if the plot becomes familiar as it goes along.

        Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.