do you like authors who describe every single thing in a setting? to the clothes on the person’s back to a bird’s colors on its feathers?
or do you like simple writing that you can read quickly and understand faster?
do you like big words that will help your vocabulary or simple words that you already know and won’t have to look up?
do you like slow burns or fast burns?
i would like to know everyone’s thoughts on this. i have read so many books that are all of this. and i personally like everything.
by bookiefreak
6 Comments
This is a fun question! I normally don’t like super detailed descriptions and prefer a show don’t tell approach.
But I LOVE when it’s used as a stylistic device. Mona Awad for example uses a very detailed description of the protagonist’s daily skincare to exaggerate it and create a (what I call would call) defamiliarisation. It’s just so strange and eerie!
With every aspect you mentioned I would say: if it benefits the story, you can do what you want. I won’t judge a book solely on these parameters.
I would personally love to see someone write a book about victim advocacy in a world similar to the Twilight Clones.
Reducing books to their constituent elements isn’t really a great way to evaluate them. Every story calls will use a different combination of factors to be at its best.
This completely depends on the book and the writer for me. Each writer has his own style, and sometimes very detailed descriptions work well with what they’re creating (Laszlo Krasnahorkai for example is brilliant with long sentences and detailed descriptions), while others have their focus elsewhere, and are masters in minimalism. The thing is to discover per book what works best, and enjoy the authors craft.
The interesting thing about Stephen King is the way he thoroughly describes everything, but two of his biggest literary influences were Richard Matheson and John D MacDonald, whose books were basically “this happened, then this, then this” and it’s over.
Little bit of sex, little bit of family struggle to survive, a little romance, some tragedy.
Pachinko HIT the spot and I grieve that I finished it.