I’m generally a picky reader who experiences an unhealthy amount of second hand cringe reading quite a lot of books which don’t cater to my particular weird sense of informal writing rules. I had to give up on The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and Ready Player One most recently due to this within less than a chapter each.
However, I can easily get through any terrible writing in **relatively concise, conventionally plotted whodunnit murder mysteries** (6-12 suspects with varying levels of dodginess, there are interviews in the beginning and a big ted talk reveal at the end unnecessarily detailing the entire thought process of the detective) because I get sucked into the challenge of finding out who did it and start analysing the author’s words as clues as opposed to bad writing. I can even tremble and tolerate the authors shamelessly gassing up the detectives instead of showing their competence through some dialogue or action.
On the flip side, nothing grinds my gears more than a murder mystery which doesn’t center the question of the murder as the core plot issue and only moral center of the book even if it’s a great book. I want the characters to exist Agatha Christie style just as fodder for clues not to explore some deep moral themes. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco and the Knives Out movies are examples of times I got annoyed by decent works which didn’t meet this itch. Sign of the Four by Doyle is a book which is terrible due to this problem.
None of my top 10 books would be in the murder mystery genre yet it is the most consistently enjoyable for me because I can read basically any book of the genre.
What is your genre like this?
by k-seph_from_deficit
6 Comments
I can read any romance. And I like the ones that people say are cheesy and poorly written or whatever. I just want to have fun
Romance. I’ve endured some truly awful writing just because I enjoyed the basic theme.
Show me a crappy schlocky adventure space opera from the 80s or the 50s and I will show you my new favorite late night read. Love that shit.
Romance, would just skip to the smut scenes.
Im curious. What would be your top ten?
Personally if i dont fancy the prose, writing style, structure, etc i usually just stop reading. First things first, it has to be enjoyable. A good story by itself is just sad.
Smutty romance. I expect as much decent writing in those books as I’d expect in a porno. Sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised, though!