I’m not very patient. I thought that with the advent of mummyhood, my patience might be extended, or that I might at least learn to manage my impatience better. It didn’t happen. And now with a couple of writing projects out in the world with editors and the like, I’m waiting. And waiting. The easiest option to distract myself is to start something new or to read. I’ve started writing a bunch of things, but I’m superstitious and don’t like talking about it till it’s a) ready and b) actually going to make it into the world rather than sitting forever in a bottom drawer. I have friends who write books at a phenomenal rate but who if they are rejected, ignore them forever and move on. I think I love my characters too much to do that, either that or I just don’t have as many ideas as my writing buddies.
Either way I thought I’d share some insight into my reading process instead. I’m not talking about the five parts of reading structure (which are by the way, phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension apparently). I’m talking about the -what makes it onto my LARGE bedside reading pile reading process. And I’m talking about romance.
(1) The Cover. Yes, my heart is led by my eyes. Give me good eyecandy and I’m (almost) yours. With the advent of self-publishing taking off, and with more and more of the romance reading I’m doing being of eBooks, there is LOTS out there to choose from. But in all of that melee, there is plenty of opportunity for covers to be both good and bad. For me, anything overly swirly curly and pink usually gets a no, as does anything where the hero looks like he’s just starred in the WWWF. (Of course everything coming out of the Indulgence team’s hands hasn’t had a curly swirly font in sight and all the heroes I’ve spotted on the covers have been swoon worthy. Phew.)
(2) The Trope. Really I like all the standard tropes. I like a good girl/bad boy story with a dash of billionaire, but I especially like it if things are twisted up a bit, a bad girl/nice guy for example, or the billionaire being a woman. I’m not a fan of the trope being forced onto its characters though, for example a Marriage of Convenience that’s dang convenient for the hero but really not all that fabo for the heroine.
(3) The Typesetting. How pompous does that sound? I guess what I mean is that if the “check inside” leads me to a first chapter neatly presented in Comic Sans I’m going to give it a miss, and if there are more than two fonts clashing hyphens on one page, it’s usually a no go too.
(4) The Characters. Okay, so here’s something a little more substantial. I like the characters to be real people. (that includes paranormal types too) Real people, with real feelings and hurts that need real consideration. They can be rich or poor but if the heroine simpers within the first two pages or apologizes for something that really isn’t her fault I’m outta there.
(5) The Humor. Make me laugh and I’m yours.
(6) Previous Book Love. Authors who have proved they have access to all of the above before.
I’ve left off plenty of far more substantial reasons to jump into bed with a good book but I don’t want to bore you and I wanna know, what about you? What makes you pick up a book and stick by it?
X Michele
