What is the longest novel excerpt you'd be willing to read?

He's been formally warned. He knows mods are watching.

Sigh.

 

I don't like to put a cap on it, but it's only in recent months that I've started reading unpublished work.

I would say if a story has me hooked I'll just want to keep on going. But a big block of text can be daunting especially if it doesn't grab you early on. As a general rule of thumb, it's probably better to start small and maybe post more if people respond to it well. Then you can see how much you can get away with. I've done this recently actually, with people preferring the second part more than the first, with the exception of one or two who liked all of it, which was nice!

There are a few stories on here I've read that I'd like to see all the way to the end potentially. What might put me off is if a story feels too much like a rehearsal for a better story or something. What I mean is you've seen it all before but it's just less good. I'm all for trying to help people with their writing, but I will generally only read if I like it. Also, I am always more loyal to people who's read my work than someone who hasn't, just as a matter of courtesy.

 

@Jupie doesn't sticking to a set group of repeat readers create a bias of
consistency in those offering up their opinion, because there is a lack
of outside opinion to weigh against the others?

Personally I think offering to read an excerpt for someone should not be
limited to what you like/dislike. At the front you are trying to offer helpful
advice and opinions. I am not big on Fantasy, but I don't shy away from
critiquing it. I feel the less involved I am personally to a genre, the more
likely I am to be more objective in my critical analysis on it. Then at the end
offering up whether I thought it was something I liked/disliked/neutral.

 

But if you don't like the genre, doesn't that make you a bad person to judge what will work for someone who does like the genre?

Like, if someone hates happily ever afters, that person is going to hate Romance novels. So the best Romance in the world would still be crappy to that person.

I can't stand elves. If I read a book with elves, I will almost certainly hate the book. It's not because it's a bad book, it's because of my personal (and deep-seated) animosity toward the forest people. My best advice for someone who wrote a book with elves, if the goal was to make me like the book, would be to get rid of all the goddamn elves. But that's not really good advice, is it?

 

I can't even explain it. Totally irrational, but I just hate 'em.

 

I join you in your hatred.

 

I am one of those idiots that is trying to find other genres to enjoy outside of my favorites.
What better way than by actually reading them. Also I use to like Fantasy growing up
so it is not like I hate it, just not as into it as I used to be.

I hate badly written Romance, which involves the supernatural elements for some strange
reason beyond my understanding.

Elves must have done some pretty shady shit to earn your hatred of them. LOTR must have
been a pain in the ass for you when it was a big thing a few years ago.

 

I have to agree with @BayView , I don't think I could effectively critique an excerpt written in a genre I don't enjoy, aside from obvious spelling and grammar issues. I don't like Fantasy and never have, so anything that involves elves, dragons, quests, etc. makes me glaze over after the first couple of sentences. Someone could be the next coming of George R.R. Martin and I'd be unable to identify it as decent or not; I have a feeling that bad Fantasy and good Fantasy would read very much the same to me.

It's kind of like my husband is a huge heavy metal fan and can apparently tell quality metal from crappy metal, but it all honestly sounds exactly the same to me. BOOMADA BOOMADA BANG BANG BAG AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Lord knows he can't tell one pop song or artist from another. Is this Katy Perry? No, it's Demi Lavato. Didn't we just hear a song from her? No, that was Ariana Grande. and so on.

 

Oh yeah, I totally agree with you Cavetroll. I will read anything if I like the feel of it, but if it feels too hammy or grossly overdone I may shy away from it. Don't get me wrong, I'll still read new writers on here all the time but I remember those who make an impression. I guess it's more there's not enough time in the day. So if it doesn't draw me, I'll go somewhere that does.

 

The smugness is definitely a part of it with the damn elves. 'oh, look at me, I'm so wise and ethereal. You can never understand, silly mortal, blah blah blah.'

I'm not having it.

 

Sounds PERFECT.

 

If I imagine Tolkein characters in my kitchen, I imagine the hobbits and dwarves eagerly gobbling up the cream scones and the panko-crusted chicken fingers and delighting over the novelty of the fizzy Coke. The dwarves are stealing the leftover hard cider from the last barbecue, while the hobbits are paging through Joy of Cooking because we're almost out of scones.

The elves are standing with widening horrified eyes, and eventually they ask if they could have some of the cucumber salad, but without any dressing, and in a wooden bowl, please?

 

@Laurin Kelly it usually stems from around puberty when we find our
music tastes haunt us for pretty much of our lives. While I would be in
your husbands camp, that doesn't mean that Pop is bad. It just lacks
something that draws us in. Not all Metal is about blaring guitars, and
super fast blast beats.
It is something that we can relate to, and it is unarguably more masculine
than being a hardcore sports fan. Some bands talk about things that the
average person can relate to, like depression, abuse, and even grief. Then
there is the raw aggressive stuff that gets your adrenaline pumping and
hyped up. It is a community full of genuinely decent people who have
something in common, that promotes individualism.
Pop is in contrast because it is meant to be catchy, simplistic, and on
some level tell you about all the things you want to hear to make you
feel good. It is like auditory crack, that is full of lies and pure nonsense.
It is simplistic dribble that is catchy and mind numbing.
Metal is the Blues angry child.
Not that I am trying to convince you that it is a better genres, but
if you compare some Metal lyrics to Pop's, you might be surprised
of the level of difference in them if you happen to find a song with
a message to relay. Fear Factory's Fear Campaign speaks louder
than whatever the latest plastic surgery mistake with autotune
vocals talking about how great being rich and famous is.

 

I doubt the fey bastards would even deign to enter my kitchen. My house has a lot of wood trim and shingles and I assume the lumber probably wasn't harvested according to the ritualistic needs of their namby-pamby ideals, and they'd just stand out in the forest, bracing themselves against the trunks of their still-standing brethren, aghast at the dwarves and hobbits (who are having a damn good time!).

 

I don't like Elves either, unless they're played by Hugo Weaving and happen to be called Elrond. Then you're invited into my kitchen any time. (In case you happen to be reading this, Hugo.)

 

"If an elf is being tortured in a field, and no one is around to hear them scream. Does it still hurt?"

 

I did? I am pretty sure I got rid of the duplicates.

 

Well, I loved elves 'a few years ago' —specifically 1967, when I first read LOTR — but I've developed a dislike of them since, as I keep encountering them in just about every piece of medieval-style fantasy I try to read. Familiarity does breed contempt, I'm afraid.

I'm with you on trying out new genres. I've tried a few here on the forum, in the Workshop critiques I've done. However, if I truly dislike a genre, I probably won't attempt to critique it. I'm not the target audience FOR THAT GENRE—no matter how well-written the piece may be. I'm not the person that writer needs to please.

 

We can only hope.

 

I make an effort to read, for critique, stuff that's outside of my genre from time to time for two reasons. First, it might help me get some new ideas and new directions for my own work, and second, I think that I can sometimes spot problems that might not be immediately apparent to someone immersed in the conventions of their genre. I've had critiques here (and elsewhere) from people who told me "Horror isn't my thing, but just why does he want to kill her?" and realized that I'd kind of assumed that it was more obvious than it turned out to be.

But I'm still not reading anything with Elves. I've made my feelings clear on those little monsters in Last Run, and, like Forrest Gump, that's all I've got to say about that.