What turns us on or off in reading...that question plagues me, especially after I read a post this morning about someone who said if they read about a certain thing they would absolutely not finish the book....as a reader and writer I was astonished...
I know everyone has preferences...some don't like romance...others don't like sci-fi...others shudder at the sight of non-fiction....and that is what makes us diverse...
That is not what I mean....what I am talking about is this...
If you pick up a book in a genre you already love and are enjoying it and discover that one of the characters, particularly the main character is doing something you don't approve of...
say having an affair....dating someone from out of space and you can't stand aliens...
Then no matter how enjoyable the book is, you will close it and not read it....WOW....
I was under the impression that true readers were quite open minded...
But I am learning that is just not so..
For me as a reader I am looking to be so caught up in a story that I want to know what occurs...
good, bad or indifferent....
Not only that....but I absolutley LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...to know the whys and the wheretofores...
That makes for a splendid read for me...
As a writer, I have discovered that people make books relative to their own lives....
If you have a cheating character....you can almost see the distaste on the face of a reader who has been cheated on...
If there is an interracial love situation....folks who don't believe in that kind of thing...will look as though they had lemonade without any sugar....
If you mention spirituality, agnostics shudder at that, rolling their eyes....
My goodness....what is a writer to do...
When a story is just burning in their hearts and souls and won't let them go?
Do they listen to what a handful say about what is palatable to them....
Hell to the No....
I almost got caught up in that when writing Cinnamon's Universe....
I wrote the current book...
Then I let a few voices infiltrate my head for a minute and I actually wrote a completely different book...yes ya'll there are two versions...
But Cinnamon got in my face in all her glory saying, "You will not dilute me in order to make me easier to swallow for some people. You will rep me just as I am, with all my imperfections, damn it...and those who can will, and those who can't won't. Now acVernon Menchan, handle your business..."
Ya'll know she said it....and I said...
Yes Ma'am...the muse has spoken...
angelia
