A Reader Gives Her Opinion--Not April Fool!

Hi --Watch yourselves today! It's the day of--Look on your head--a spider! Don't fall for that--or any other prank.

Yesterday I read a very good comment on a blog titled Callapidder Days, a "mom" website and blog by Katrina. Here's the link

http://callapidderdays.com/2010/03/the-book-i-didnt-like.html#comments

The Katrina, leader of Callapidderdays, launched a discussion about reading a book which had no likeable characters and wishing she hadn't. As an author, I am always sensitive to this. If my reader doesn't care about my lead characters, they won't buy my next book or check it out at the library. I can make many mistakes and be forgiven, but NOT THAT ONE.

Then another blogger Lisa commented:

"Things that irritate me in a novel (a few among several):
*Too much perfection. The heroine is perfectly dressed, perfectly beautiful and falls in love with a perfectly handsome guy. Bleh.

*Gratuitous, unnecessary language, violence and s*x. With only a very few exceptions, I maintain that including such elements only shows the laziness of the author. True talent can tell the story without resorting to crudeness. That’s my opinion, anyway.

*Characters without any depth, kind of what you’re saying here. A flat, cardboard characterization is very difficult to sympathize with or identify with.

*Easy, generic, everything-is-roses faith that lacks realism and depth. I like redemptive, Christian fiction. I do not like caricatures of Christianity.

Guess you could say I’ve got an opinion! Great food for thought!"

I agreed completely with Lisa's points and then visited her blog http://lisaspence.com/

And found it interesting also. So this was not an April Fool prank. There is a blog titled Callapidder Days--really!- DO YOU HAVE ANY PET PEEVES ABOUT NOVELS YOU'D LIKE TO VOICE????--Lyn