Don't You Hate When People Knock Something Because Of A 'Confusing Plot'?

As a reader, if a plot is complex enough that I probably have to make notes to remember who's who and who's met whom. . . .well, the writing/characterization better be exceptional.  I'm supremely lazy and am not likely to make the effort otherwise.  Which means, while I might read the book to the end, I'm not going to rate it particularly high.

I'd also suggest basically calling people wrong because they found it confusing when you didn't is not particularly productive.  Everyone comes from a different background.  Maybe you're used to reading that particular style/genre/subject but this is the person's first try.  They probably are going to be confused when you're not.

An anecdote:  It was near the end of 8th grade:  In the US, High School is very different -- you move around and go to the teachers rather than the teachers comign to you; you have a locker to keep stuff in, you are not automatically escorted everywhere.  And of course the classes are a bit harder.  Anyway, we got to go to the HS and sit in on a few classes to get a feel for what they were like.  One of the classes we got to sit in on was Algebra and they were having a test. I had always loved math -- it came VERY easily to me.  Well, I was completely confused and felt really stupid: I couldn't even begin to decipher any of the problems.  Worried me a little, I can tell you!  But a year later after I'd actually HAD the class, I aced the very same exam that had looked so scary the previous year.

Moral of the story: You gotta remember that not everyone has had the same experiences as you have.  When a person doesn't 'get' something that seems obvious, the thing to do is try to move backward in one's understanding to find a place you all have common ground and then go forward from there.  It's absolutely necessary if you want to teach someone; and it's a good thing to remember in general conversation too, so you don't speak out of turn and sound like an obnoxious know-it-all.  I confess to having learned that bit the hard way as a teenager.

Atunah said:

Can there be like one thread like this where romance readers aren't once again insulted? Please?

How about some books work for some and not for others. Not the some people are mentally not capable of "getting" a book.

And if a book has mostly 5 stars and praises and a few low stars and critiques does that really mean to discount the very few dissenters? Or does that mean most that didn't like it just didn't bother to leave a review for various reasons. One maybe they they dont want to be called out on not "getting" it.

We all like different things period. Doesn't make one smarter or better then the other, just different.

Click to expand...

Was I insulting? I didn't mean to be. I'm just commenting on what I see. I once attended a meeting of DARA (Dallas Area Romance Authors), and ate lunch with a group of romance authors who included one who was writing her 47th book. She was about 31 years old, and said she cranked out five or more books a year because she just followed the template and changed the story line with each book. She even shrugged.

You know before you pick up a romance that you are going to have a "boy meets girl, outside forces drive them apart, happy forces bring them together again for a happy ending." I can't recall what page she told me the sex has to happen. It may have been page 72. There are readers who only read books that follow this format, and anything else throws them for a loop. I've also seen them on the Amazon Romance forum, and they get very angry - affronted, even - when an author veers even slightly from whatever pattern they expect from her. If I'm wrong, I apologize, but that's what I keep seeing. It's just an observation.

Personally, I don't read genre fiction of any kind because I don't care much for it - it's too easy to fall into cliched patterns. I very rarely review genre books because I'm predisposed to lower the star rating based on my own preferences.

I also don't like a Ulysses-level challenge. I don't even like a Tolstoy-level challenge. I would not review those either because my boredom is not the fault of those books. So I look for things in the moderate zone that lean toward complex and complicated but don't lose me by going too far. Other people have other thresholds, and that's fine. But it's nice when readers recognize their thresholds and don't blame the author for writing to a higher or lower threshold, and trash a book because it isn't a match to theirs.

I'm not a relativist....so I don't thinks its all opinion and maybe just not my cup of tea. It is possible for an author to write a bad book that is confusing because it just doesn't make sense. On the other hand, it is possible for a genius writer to write a book that is good and yet so complex that I can't follow it (this would be ok because there will be other smart people who can follow, he doesn't have to dumb it down for me.)

I like hard science fiction... my wife who is smarter than I am in many ways, likes mysteries. If she tried to read a book that talked a lot about gravity wells, inertia and the limitations of light speed communications, she would find it confusing because it is complex in an area she does not have enough knowledge in.

On the other hand, I find the recent Star Trek movie plot confusing. The plot holes are bigger than the plot and things could not have happened as portrayed even within the plot itself, not just in real life.  It was not coherent to itself. It was not complex....just incoherent. If I try not to follow the plot and just enjoy the explosions its ok, but I imagine if I read the novelization it would drive me batty.

I find cookbooks very confusing and knitting books..forget it!  But that is because they are complex in areas I don't know enough about.

The grey area for me is a lot of the "literary" genre. Many of these seem to be written in a purposefully obtuse and confusing manner in order to appear like "serious literature" I think they are confusing in an artificial "highfalooting" way but I admit it may just be too complex for me. Many times I end up thinking
"why was this considered a classic? Because the author couldn't just write clearly?"