Today's letter is Q.
Questions I'd Like to Ask Authors
Why must you hurt my feelings by writing cliffhangers?
I can not stand cliffhangers. I despise cliffhangers. If I finish a book and I am left hanging there without the next book immediately available I say bad words. Very bad words.
Why must you end your ebook at anything less than 90%?
If you are an author (and if you have control of this) if I am reading away on my Kindle and I see that I am at 75%, I expect a ton more story to come. Imagine my frustration when the next 25% of the book is advertisement for your other works. What a let down!
Why must you invest so much time in a character, have me adore them....and then kill them off. Why? Why? Whhyyyy?!?
Of course I know the answers to all these questions but they needed to be asked. Are there any questions you'd like to ask?
Questions I'd Like to Ask Authors
Why must you hurt my feelings by writing cliffhangers?
I can not stand cliffhangers. I despise cliffhangers. If I finish a book and I am left hanging there without the next book immediately available I say bad words. Very bad words.
Why must you end your ebook at anything less than 90%?
If you are an author (and if you have control of this) if I am reading away on my Kindle and I see that I am at 75%, I expect a ton more story to come. Imagine my frustration when the next 25% of the book is advertisement for your other works. What a let down!
Why must you invest so much time in a character, have me adore them....and then kill them off. Why? Why? Whhyyyy?!?
Of course I know the answers to all these questions but they needed to be asked. Are there any questions you'd like to ask?
I love these questions and I'm going to be brave enough to try and answer them :P I hope I can put your mind at ease a bit. ;)
ReplyDeleteFirst, the 90% question. There is control over it and there isn't. If the book were to stop at 100% there would be no acknowledgements, no about the author page and no preview for the next book. Often times authors put these things at the end of the book because it will take up so much space at the beginning (what's known as "front matter") and mess with the previews on sites like amazon and kobo. Have you ever tried to preview a book and scrolled through pages of copyright and disclaimers only to come to a line that says "Your preview has ended. Please purchase to continue." ? So annoying!
As an author, I'm still confused as to what is considered a cliffhanger. I've been accused of this and was actually surprised, because I thought I'd wrapped everything up. Cliffhangers that literally leave you hanging are pretty annoying though. I.e. "they were arguing in the front seat of the car and didn't see the tractor trailer jump the median"--the end. What do you consider a cliffhanger? I guess the only reason people do it is to turn you on to the next book in the series. Also, it's sometimes difficult to tell the whole story in one book, it would be far too long. Some of them can seem very cruel though. I.e. "There is no more district 12". :P
The death of a character? I think it's just a creative thing. Most authors know how a book or series will end before they've even started writing it. Sometimes the end changes and sometimes it doesn't. I once saved the life of a character I couldn't bring myself to part with.
Sorry for the long comment! Hope I've answered some of your questions! :)
Oh I am with you on ALL of that. I get so ticked off when they try to say the book is 200 pages and really it's 60 pages with a ton of filler junk in the back. That to me is not acceptable and really makes me want my money back.
ReplyDeleteAnd cliffhangers. Gah! The only time they're really okay with me is in Urban Fantasy but they're done different there than they are in romance. There you get a full storyline but it ends with a cliffhanger into another storyline. But you still have a complete book. Can leave off and not feel like you've been cheated.
This cliffhanger mess in romances really is annoying. Put it all in one book and be done with it. I don't buy the excuse of it would be too long. There are some massive books out there well over 600 pages and people gobble them up and don't complain.
Still crying over Prim. Seriously? Why? ;)
ReplyDeleteLike the post! Happy A to Z month. We're getting closer to done :)