02-09-2023, 10:17 AM | #16 | |
Wizard
Posts: 1,102
Karma: 9177222
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: USA
Device: sony prs-350,Nook HD+, Kindle 2nd gen, kindle keyboard
|
Quote:
|
|
02-09-2023, 10:21 AM | #17 |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 76,002
Karma: 134368292
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
I just need to like the story and/or the characters. I do not need to connect with anything.
|
Advert | |
|
02-09-2023, 10:54 AM | #18 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,356
Karma: 52612287
Join Date: Oct 2010
Device: Kindle Fire, Kindle Paperwhite, AGPTek Bluetooth Clip
|
Though plot is most important to me, I do choose genre books based on characters and setting, so, yeah, I guess I do need to "connect" in some way. I look for some element of familiarity. Maybe it's just a fake familiarity from TV/movies, or maybe it's an actual familiarity from life experience. But this is a matter of the selection process. Once I'm reading, I care about the plot.
|
02-09-2023, 12:39 PM | #19 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,315
Karma: 29121666
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: UK
Device: Kobo Forma, Icarus, iPad Mini 2, Kobo Touch, Google Nexus 7
|
I think to me the important thing in a story is that I want to know what happens next. I don’t have to connect to a character for that to happen. If that sense of dramatic possibility isn’t there, then I need to be able to invest in some other aspect (like engaging characters) for me to read the story, let alone finish it.
|
02-09-2023, 12:57 PM | #20 | |
Wizard
Posts: 2,667
Karma: 43102409
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Ohio
Device: iPhone 7+, iPad mini, 2021 iPad Pro 12.9",Paperwhite 6.8"
|
Quote:
Best example of that would be "Divergent." I could not have cared less about any of them, and don't even remember if I finished the book. No way was I reading the next books in the series. I don't think I finished the movie either. The characters were so flat and one dimensional. I'd love to know what happened next to Macon Leary and Muriel Pritchett. And those wacko Leary siblings from "The Accidental Tourist." |
|
Advert | |
|
02-09-2023, 03:27 PM | #21 |
Bibliophagist
Posts: 39,737
Karma: 154147706
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Vancouver
Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos
|
A quote from Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain) that pretty much says what I feel:
The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble with most fiction is that you want them all to land in hell, together, as quickly as possible. |
02-09-2023, 03:29 PM | #22 | |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 76,002
Karma: 134368292
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Quote:
|
|
02-09-2023, 03:41 PM | #23 | |||
Wizard
Posts: 1,274
Karma: 65533396
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Norway
Device: PocketBook Touch Lux (had Onyx Boox Poke 3 and BeBook Neo earlier)
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
But this doesn't mean they have to be people I'd like if I met them in real life! Terrible people can be written in a way that make me root for them while I'm reading, and admirable people can be written to be deadly dull. An example: In Colleen McCullough's "First Man in Rome" series, Lucius Cornelius Sulla is an amoral, egoistical, cruel person. For instance, he murders several people because they will be more convenient to him dead than alive. But the author still manages to describe him in a way that makes me root for him. Later in the series, Gaius Julis Caesar becomes the main character. He is described as an over-the-top superhero, which makes him boring and annoying, and I abandoned the 6-book series somewhere in the last book because I didn't really care about what happened to him. |
|||
02-09-2023, 04:17 PM | #24 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,188
Karma: 227607846
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Estonia
Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2
|
I agree. Most people I like in real life would make pretty boring fictional characters, and the most interesting fictional characters I've read about would be no joy to know in real life. I'd probably go out of my way to avoid most of my favorite characters in real life.
|
02-09-2023, 09:29 PM | #25 |
Bibliophagist
Posts: 39,737
Karma: 154147706
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Vancouver
Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos
|
|
02-10-2023, 01:42 AM | #26 |
cacoethes scribendi
Posts: 5,812
Karma: 137770742
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Australia
Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650
|
^ in reaction to the last few comments...
It is quite common for me to enjoy the "other" characters in a story more than the main protagonist(s). It seems that quite often a story is told through a fairly bland, but ostensibly likable or relatable, main character in order to appeal to (or not offend) the maximum audience possible*. There may also be the argument that the more interesting characters only work in contrast, that as the main meal (so to speak) they would be too much. * If anything this striving to avoid offence is getting more pronounced as authors try their hardest not to be linked to some form of prejudice. Apparently some authors not only have beta-readers, but dedicated "sensitivity readers". Not quite sure how that works. |
02-10-2023, 05:45 AM | #27 | |
Zealot
Posts: 136
Karma: 721208
Join Date: Dec 2022
Location: Not in an English speaking country
Device: (Too many) Kobo(s)
|
Quote:
Or, as my friend keeps reminding me: if I like a character, there are good changes they won't reach the end in one piece, nor with their body still over ground So, back to the OP's question: I don't need to identify myself with any characters of any story, but a story or characters within need to be able to communicate me something, to pick up my interest, to make me curious/care about what's happening next. "To connect" to a story means "to be interested in what the author wanted to show" to me. |
|
02-10-2023, 10:04 AM | #28 |
Guru
Posts: 738
Karma: 7025494
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Italy
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Elipsa, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Inkpad Color
|
|
02-10-2023, 10:16 AM | #29 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 27,947
Karma: 198500000
Join Date: Jan 2010
Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD
|
Life can't plot for crap. Plus there's waaaaaaaay too much Mary Sue-ing and deus ex machina going on for my taste.
Last edited by DiapDealer; 02-10-2023 at 10:20 AM. |
02-10-2023, 11:00 AM | #30 | |
eReader Wrangler
Posts: 7,738
Karma: 50255637
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Boise, ID
Device: PB HD3, GL3, Tolino Vision 4, Voyage, Clara HD
|
Quote:
There's a reason why so many children's stories focus on orphans (or the half orphaned). |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Making "invisible"characters visible? | Phssthpok | Editor | 4 | 02-11-2016 01:40 PM |
Stress tests with unicode "special" characters | arspr | Editor | 7 | 02-19-2014 10:08 AM |
"Send to Main Memory" greyed out after "Connect to folder" | myce | Calibre | 16 | 01-15-2014 04:03 PM |
PDF to WORD/HTML conversion, "special characters and marks" errors | chengyibo | 3 | 11-06-2010 12:43 AM |