Wednesday, January 6, 2021

My January IWSG Post and my turn offs in other people’s books

 

Happy New Year Everyone!

2021 has me excited. I hope and pray we have left the worst of Covid behind us. And with the vaccination starting in some parts of the world, things are definitely looking brighter.

I’m excited to see what 2021 has in store for all of us.

Its time for the first IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) post of 2021. IWSG is an online group of writers posting on the first Wednesday of every month and more often than not, our posts are writing related, though many of us have taken the answering the IWSG question route, building our posts around the monthly IWSG question. January 20, will also see the IWSG Twitter pitch contest (#IWSGPit). So, peeps get the pitches ready. Make them sparkle. Do visit the IWSG website for more details about the Twitter Contest.

IWSG was created by Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh. He is the successful author of several amazon bestsellers: CassaStar, CassaStorm, CassaFire and Dragon of the Stars, with more bestsellers on the way (I’m sure they are lurking around inside his mind, waiting to emerge.)

The awesome co-hosts for the January 6 posting of the IWSG are Ronel Janse van Vuuren, J Lenni Dorner, Gwen Gardener, Sandra Cox and Louise - Fundy Blue!

January 6 question - Being a writer, when you're reading someone else's work, what stops you from finishing a book/throws you out of the story/frustrates you the most about other people's books?

I really get bugged if a writer has not done justice to the plot, or if there are glaring holes through which I can see the gaping errors in the story. I also dislike inconsistency in both writing (sentence structure and grammar) and the story. As a book reviewer for 2 newspapers, I have had the misfortune of reading several books where I felt that the writers didn’t do justice to the story, or the genre or the characters (made them one-dimensional). And sadly, I had to point it out in my reviews, and I ended up making a few enemies in the process. But my conscience wouldn’t let me lie.

I just hope someone else doesn’t find the same flaws and faults in my story.

What about you all? What frustrates you about other people’s books?