I’m reading a novel right now that’s the first in a series, and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out for the longest time what was bugging me about this book. It’s a new-to-me author and the cover is intriguing, so I was really looking forward to the read. But although the author has a good voice and knows how to string her sentences together and has a knack for scene endings, the book isn’t…moving for me. This is when I realized that the pacing suffers in this story. I’m at the halfway point, and I feel like it should have occurred 25% through the book instead of 50% through. I’ve read a lot of what feels like filler, including flashbacks I am finding completely unnecessary (and in fact wonder if an editor asked for them to be included, so clearly do they point to their intention) that then lead up to a great scene ending compelling me to read on…and then my interest lags again until the next scene ending that piques my interest.
My obsession with the pacing of this novel got me to thinking about trends in publishing and how, when a trend in writing is hot and especially if there’s an author out there currently making a killing off this trend (because they broke the ground) and publishers want to cash in, well, sometimes novels are bought that wouldn’t otherwise get bought. I’m not familiar enough with this author’s sub-genre that I can comment on whether or not I feel this book should have been bought. Publishing is subjective, after all. But the big feeling I do have from reading this book is that, okay, just because your novel is the first in a series featuring the same characters does not mean it’s okay to take up the entire first book “introducing” the characters and their world. Because that’s what this book feels like to me. Like the author knew full well going in that the hero and heroine’s relationship would continue in Book 2, and thus the slow build-up. The VERY slow build-up. The completely avoidable very slow build-up. It’s driving me nuts. And yet I’m continuing to read just so I can find out, when I finish the book, if pacing really is the issue with this book…or it’s my limited attention span.
I don’t think a lot of backstory is good in any book. Look at Harry Potter! All those characters, yet it never felt like it was bogged down by backstory, If it had been, I would have stopped reading it.
I can name books in different genres that were part of a series, and they weren’t slowed by backstory. I have a limited attention span too, and would never have continued to read.
I wouldn’t say there’s a lot of backstory in this book, Edie, aside from a few flashbacks that really didn’t need to be in there (in MY opinion). I’ve never read Harry Potter, so I can’t make that comparison, but it sounds like the kind of thing I’m talking about as the way I would have preferred this author to go about things.
The pacing in this novel suffers (to me) more from the aspect of, I did this, then I did that, then I ate this, then I chose that to wear, then a blip of something exciting happened and the reader started the next chapter. Then I did this, and I did that, I ate this, then decided to wear that, then a blip of something exciting happened…. Well, you get the drift. 😉
I think I’m talking about the long-held recommendation to “leave out the boring parts.”
Different strokes, though. I read a lot of literary novels, so it’s not like I need action all the time. I guess I just don’t get the purpose or the audience of this novel. For all I know, I’m in the vast minority of reader responses.