So the story I'm reading really has me fired up for all the wrong reasons. If you looked at #9 you heard me go off on a rant about staying on topic, but now I have another. POV changes or head hopping. Just NO. The most POV's a story should have is 4. Hard stop. FOUR. Having more POVs than that creates confusion and breaks apart any cohesion in a story. The book I'm reading right now, is up to 9. NINE. So far.
Look, I get it, you want to tell all aspects of the story. The problem is, you're not doing that. You're just creating confusion, and you're splitting your story into too many parts. This is especially true and relevant on Wattpad, where there is an enormous, extremely young audience. I'm not young. I've been an avid reader since my age was in single digits and I'm no spring chicken now. If I'm having trouble reading your story, someone in 10th grade, is not going to be able to follow it. You do want to attract young audiences, right? You do want to inspire young authors, right??
Back to my critique of the current story, so far 9 POVs, and 3 have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. Nothing. They are not telling backstory, they are not explaining events, they are not adding significantly to the story, they are extra words to make meaningless chapters. I'm assuming the author is doing this so they can put down that they have so many words, or chapters, or add length to the book. The only thing they are accomplishing is to create confusion and drag the story out.
It makes it hard to follow the plot and the reader is left in a state of anxiety wondering if the meaningless bullshit they're reading is relevant or if they are just wasting time. I personally think it's wasting time. I stopped reading them. The last 3 added POV's, I have read the first 3 paragraphs and completely skipped the rest of the POV.
Books don't have to have 50+ chapters to be good.
You can tell multiple stories in one book, but those stories have to be broken up, and organized. You can't just throw 9 POV's into one chapter, especially, if all of those POVs are on different topics and timelines!!!
See #1 and #9. Tell the story. Get to the point. Stay on topic. Stop wasting our time with crap.
**Hour and a half later...**
So...I gave up and quit the book. Just couldn't do it anymore. So good job there author!
This is the third book I was reading by this author. The first book I read was a stand alone, but the second was the start of a trilogy, and the book I just quit is the second book of the trilogy. But I won't be finishing number 2 and I won't be attempting number 3. I don't know what happened to her. The first two books I read were so good, but I guess she got ambitious or something and decided she needed to add too much...junk. Killed the story. And I can't tell you how disappointed I am, it was a great plot, good characters, and it had so much potential. But it's just not worth the irritation and confusion.
Totally disappointed. :(
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Advice from Readers
General FictionI'm a huge fan on Wattpad and other writer platforms, and I am a super-fast reader and I go through a lot of stories so I have a few pointers that I really feel some of you should know about. These are things that really, really, irritate me (and...
