Monday, October 21, 2013

Speed reading - don't do it!

I've been getting an AWFUL lot of messages from folk via email and the official Wereworld Faceache page who have read War of the Werelords and are dismayed by certain deaths, one in particular. Firstly, I'd just like to say war is cruel, it's tough, it's heartless and people can and will die. Not everyone escapes unscathed. More importantly, though, can I ask you to please RE-READ the final chapter again, only this time, soak it up, take it easy, read carefully what is said.

Either I've been too clever by half and far too subtle or there are a great many people who just speed-read these days. You miss so much when you skim - authors use all those words for a reason, you know? ;-) I don't want to get too preachy here (I do, actually), but so much of what characters think and feel is often hidden within the way they speak and think. It's the little things that can give away so much.

As an example, I got a message from one reader the other day exclaiming they had received book six in the post. They'd been very excited about the prospect of receiving it as had been clear from their updates online. However, later that SAME DAY I saw an update saying they'd read it and loved it... IN ONE DAY??? I expressed my surprise and disbelief, to which they happily replied they prided themselves on being a 'quick reader'. No, that's nowt to be proud of. Skimming a book is just that: you're catching one in every twenty words, you're absorbing the merest details from a page as your eyes scan over it. You're not enjoying the book as the author had intended. It's like ordering a seven course meal and only taking two or three bites from each dish.

Please don't speed read and then ask why certain things happen in my books or why so-and-so character snuffed it. You could be heartily sustained by a banquet. Instead you're settling for a happy meal. ;-)

3 comments:

Spartacus said...

This makes me feel like I've missed something... I've read that chapter....let's just say a lot. I don't know what I missed!
Although, I can't read it without crying, so that might account for something.
I get the idea that Bergan knows something Drew doesn't, but that's it.
I'm going to use this comment to cheat and ask if there will be any more books in any way relating to Wereworld, and if so, if they'll contain any characters we already know, specifically Casper, who is my favorite because he's awesome. Also, how old is Pick?

Anonymous said...

Take you time to read the books People!

Anonymous said...

As an alternative for owning a sizable number of affordable usual purses which were unachievable to look after not to mention is required to be thrown out subsequent to only two holidays in the centre, fake rolex you'll want to have only a couple from superior purses you can actually trust as soon as. gucci replica A lot of women will keep some handbag for not to mention need it usually free of fearing it may split, whether they include the braveness to pay a higher cost in any trendy pouch. replica gucci For everybody who is hesitant that you will give an ideal sum of cash even on a pouch which may go out of type in under a twelve months, you can actually consistently try typically the classical patterns. fake chanel handbags You can find purses who have invariably been classy. replica chanel Well over who, type consistently goes back not to mention locks onto drive in your general trends of this last, allowing you to comfortably slip on your handbag ever again, if you have had to be patient not to mention look for it again to generally be modern ever again.