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Nov. 22nd, 2018 02:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI'm reading a book that is going very slow because I keep bouncing out of it.
I think the author is a guy, cause the lesbian lead character keeps doing that thing where she looks in the mirror and thinks about her boobs, or has a shower while worrying about her womanly curves, or... you know, that thing.
I'm not saying women never think about how they look, just, I'm not wondering about it, and yet the story keeps telling me.
Also she's dating a woman for the first time and is dealing with a lot of internalised homophobia. Which, okay, is a story, that you might choose to read, I guess. But I keep not wanting to read about it. I mean, what is meant to draw me in here? What about this character is meant to make us want to spend time with her? She needs therapy and she's kind of a dick to everyone, why do I want to spend hours in her company?
And whenever I once again run out of answers I put the book down and do something else.
I keep picking it up again because I thought there would be an adventure plot with swords in too, but I seem to be a third of the way through, and so far several unpleasant things have happened to her and she responds by driving to her job and being cranky. Like, that's it. I still await adventure.
So I guess I have issues with the character design, setup/payoff, and managing expectations.
When designing story, give reader a reason to spend the day with the pov, and some actual interesting events the protagonist makes a difference to, early enough to keep reader around.
Or label the thing so people expect angsty lesbian relationship drama not swordfights.
I think the author is a guy, cause the lesbian lead character keeps doing that thing where she looks in the mirror and thinks about her boobs, or has a shower while worrying about her womanly curves, or... you know, that thing.
I'm not saying women never think about how they look, just, I'm not wondering about it, and yet the story keeps telling me.
Also she's dating a woman for the first time and is dealing with a lot of internalised homophobia. Which, okay, is a story, that you might choose to read, I guess. But I keep not wanting to read about it. I mean, what is meant to draw me in here? What about this character is meant to make us want to spend time with her? She needs therapy and she's kind of a dick to everyone, why do I want to spend hours in her company?
And whenever I once again run out of answers I put the book down and do something else.
I keep picking it up again because I thought there would be an adventure plot with swords in too, but I seem to be a third of the way through, and so far several unpleasant things have happened to her and she responds by driving to her job and being cranky. Like, that's it. I still await adventure.
So I guess I have issues with the character design, setup/payoff, and managing expectations.
When designing story, give reader a reason to spend the day with the pov, and some actual interesting events the protagonist makes a difference to, early enough to keep reader around.
Or label the thing so people expect angsty lesbian relationship drama not swordfights.