February 22, 2019 ~ Readers Who Skip Over Parts of a StoryFebruary 22, 2019 10:10 pmRead Every Word? Shouldn’t we as readers, read every word a writer writes? I think we owe it to writers to do so. Some authors seem to disagree. I read a lot. Books (fiction and nonfiction), magazines, newspapers, links on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, email newsletters, on and on. Recently in my reading travels, I saw something that gave me pause, again. I say again because I’ve paused over this before. And that’s the notion that fiction readers skip over parts of a story. A story in a novel or short fiction. Those skipped over parts are setting or weather details or other descriptive items. Words that hold lesser importance to the plot. Pieces of information that if unread still allow the story to unfold. The Reader’s Agreement I find this practice odd and a thing I never, ever do. I’m a read-every-word-the-writer-wrote reader. It’s only fair to her, him, or they. It seems sacrosanct. I mean isn’t there an agreement between writer and reader that the reader will eyeball each and every word? If there isn’t, there should be. Why would a reader skip over whole sections? What if something is missed? A turn of phrase describing the clouds in the sky so extraordinary as to take one’s breath away. It’s possible. (more…) |