The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly Hop hosted by Billy @ Ramblings Of A Coffee Addicted Writer. Every week there is a new question/prompt to write about.
This weeks question is:
When you start reading a novel, do you prefer to be plunged right into the action, or do you prefer a slower, more descriptive introduction to the plot and characters?
This is such a hard question. I don’t really know honestly. I think a little of both. I love being introduced to the character but if you wait to long the story can get quite boring but if you plunge to fast into the action I feel very lost and not like I can feel for the characters as much. I think when you develop the characters people can be more involved in the story because they are involved with characters. You get to relate to a character which can give a personal feeling into the novel. You can hate a character where all you want is that character to have all bad things happen to it. You can also develop an interest into the book. If you dont have an interest in the character I dont know how you are gonna have have an interest in the book. I cant like characters if I dont know them and I cant give a good review about a book if it is terribly negative about the characters. Characters are a major part of the story so you need to develop them.
That being said, plot is a major part of the story. You cant have a slow drawn out plot. I usually critique novels for slow pacing in the beginning. I dont like when I am 100 pages in and I am still learning new things about the character. But I also dont like being ten pages in and being thrown into someone else being thrown into a time passage without really knowing who the character is and only how their mom is (#shade). Slow stories and no character development is not all right. I have to have both of these things so the answer to this question is that I need them both. With out both or only having one you will get at least .5 less stars than you would if you did have both. If you dont develop the characters and you never plunged me right into the plot until page 300 then well you have no book you just have a really long exposition.
I hope that made sense. I guess my answer would be leaning towards more character development but it has to have action within 300 pages or at least some rising conflict and interesting things happening.
I also want good character development but for me I gotta have something going on and get sucked in right away to the events. I am not finishing a book “The Bear and the Nightingale” because, frankly I am bored. Yes there are interesting characters but there doesn’t seen to be much story, or it is just wandering around so much I can’t stay interested. I just don’t have time for a plodding story no matter how great the characters are. I need action and drama.