Boring Book? 20 Things Writers Need To Watch Out For

There’s nothing worse than diving into some reading only to pick up a boring book. It can destroy your enthusiasm for the written word and may put you off books altogether. 

From a writer’s perspective, the last thing we want is to write a dull book. We want to excite and entertain our readers. We want them to go away and tell their family and friends about your novel or story and encourage them to read it too.

So what makes us grimace and put down a book, never to pick it up again?

What annoys us so much we stick it in the corner of a shelf to gather dust for years before at last deciding to donate it to the charity shop?

There are so many boring books that we simply never finish. And sometimes we can find it hard to pinpoint why. Flat characters, static plot, bizarre dialogue… we could speculate for hours on various reasons.

Or we could do a bit of research. That’s what I decided to do. 

I wrote to scores of book reviewers and book bloggers and undertook polls on a number of Facebook groups: AmWritingFantasy (693 members), Fantasy Writers Support Group (5,447 members), The Phoenix Quill (846 members), and Writing Bad (8,000 members). The results are very interesting and hopefully will be of use to writers worried about whether or not they’ve written a boring book.

First, we’ll look at what the book reviewers say, before taking a look at the poll results with reference to a few voter comments.

Choose A Chapter

1. What Is A Boring Book?
2. Why Do People Like Reading?
3. Why Do People Stop Reading A Book?
4. Poll Results – Why Do People Find A Book Boring?
5. So What Makes For A Boring Book?
6. Learn More About Why People Stop Reading

What Is A Boring Book?

A boring book is one in which the reader finds little excitement or enjoyment in reading.

There are many reasons why books could be deemed dull or boring, which we cover in greater detail below, but some of which include:

• Long descriptions of things that don’t really matter or aren’t relevant to the characters or plot. An example could be passages of worldbuilding-related text, also known as an infodump.
• Characters that aren’t likeable. Readers generally marry themselves to the cause of the characters or try to relate to them in some way. If none of this is possible, chances are they’ll find the book boring.
• A weak plot. If nothing happens in the story, particularly in the first few pages, people can switch off. As we’ll see, this lack of action is one of the main reasons why people describe a book as boring.

Generally, a captivating story and strong character development are two key things that make a book interesting to read.

Why Do People Like Reading?

Just like with people who get bored by books, there are reasons why people enjoy reading too. There’s plenty of research available on the internet that reveals the reasons why people like reading, some of which include:

• To learn something new, to gain knowledge, or to discover information. This reason would be more applicable to non-fiction than it would fantasy, though you can still teach through fictional works.
• Escapism. Many people, particularly fans of fantasy, like to immerse themselves in a new world to provide a distraction from their real life.
• For entertainment. Books are a valuable source of entertainment. People can fly through chapters and books in a few hours just like they would binge a TV show.
• As a form of relaxation. Reading is a great way to switch off from the troubles and anxieties of life.

Why Do People Stop Reading A Book

It’s time to turn our focus toward the research I conducted on why people find books boring.

A million thanks to the bloggers who kindly responded to my query. I appreciate you’re very busy and in taking the time to respond you’ve helped give this research more credibility.

This is the question I put to them:

“I’m just after a short paragraph explaining what your biggest pet peeve is when it comes to books. What makes you put down a book and banish it to the pits of hell?”

Here are their answers.

Charlotte Annelise

Website:          https://charlotteannelise.wordpress.com/

Twitter:           @charannelise

What really makes me want to throw a book I’m reading out the window is when the pacing is slow. Books need action to draw the readers in and make them invested in the story. When the plot is so boring that, I cannot even read for longer than a page, that is when I really feel like returning the book to my bookshelf where it will likely collect dust and never be thought of again. I recently DNF’d a book that had a scattered plot without a clear focus. This also attributes to the plot being mind-numbing and difficult to read. While a book’s plot does not need to be carved in stone, it helps if it includes interesting plot points that the readers know will be solved later in the story. If all the protagonist is doing is their normal day-to-day activities, it is hard for me to find a reason to keep reading. Thankfully, I rarely find books to be so boring that I want to DNF it, so I think most authors are able to make their stories thrilling enough for me to keep reading.

B.B. Morgan

Website:          https://bbmorganblog.wordpress.com/

Twitter:           @BBMorgan_W

The number one reason why I stop reading a book is the writing. I can read anything that’s well written, be it nonfiction about Nebraska or a YA romantic fantasy. The writing needs to be engaging. I’m not just talking about having A+ grammar and punctuation, I’m talking style. I’ll give you the short version (bullet points!) of my turn-offs when it comes to writing: 1) stupid dialog 2) stage-direction narration 3) boring, repetitive sentence structure 4) purple prose that doesn’t go anywhere or adds anything 5) using big words where smaller words would have sufficed and 6) telling, not showing.

Kerry Parsons

Website:          https://chataboutbooks.wordpress.com/

Twitter:           @bellaboobos11

Thankfully I haven’t had to give up on many books. Some are obviously more memorable than others, but I generally enjoy them at the time. Books I haven’t got on with tend not to flow well for me. If it’s too much like hard work trying to keep track of everything and everyone I will lose interest. I always worry that there’s something I’m missing though, especially if it’s a book most people have loved. Characters can sometimes be a turn off too. Not necessarily unlikeable characters, because they can be interesting, but characters I just don’t gel with at all for whatever reason. If they irritate me I might not care what happens to them and lose interest in their story. Then again, some get under your skin, however irritating, and make their stories all the more compelling. It really does vary. Character and place names which are hard to pronounce can be off-putting too, sometimes. If I find myself not really bothered about reading that next chapter then I know a book isn’t working for me and sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint why. Life is too short though and my TBR list is way too long to spend time reading something I’m not enjoying. There’s always an element of guilt though as I know how much hard work goes into writing, but it would be a boring world if we all loved the same things.

TheGirlOnTheGo

Website:          https://wordscantfathom.wordpress.com/

Twitter:           @TheGirlOnTheGo8

Books provide me a secret escapade when I really need a break from reality. But that was before. Now, I can’t go without a book even for a day. And sleeping with a book by my bedside is a must, it doesn’t matter if I don’t read, it just has to be there.

So when it comes to my biggest pet peeve concerning books, I must admit I really hate a poorly written one, and by that I not only refer to the writing style, but also the various proofreading and editing errors that surface every now and then. That just makes me cringe and I feel like shutting the book for good.

Jason P. Crawford (Beyond the Curtain of Reality)

Website:          http://curtainofreality.blogspot.co.uk/ / http://www.jasonpatrickcrawford.com/home.html

Twitter:           @jnewmanwriting

The main thing that makes me banish a book is a clear lack of story flow. This can come in a few forms – if the prose is choppy and ridden with grammar errors, then I can’t keep reading; if the writer drops a huge block of exposition in my lap right off the bat, then I’m going to put it down. I wouldn’t consider myself a picky reader, but if I can’t immerse myself in your story because your errors or style keep me out of it, then I’m not going to give it my time.

Poll Results – Why Do People Find A Book Boring?

At 14,986 the sample size was pretty big. I chose the above-listed groups because they have the most active members.

Polls were open for a week. It’s hard to give a definite figure on how many people took part—people could vote more than once and Facebook doesn’t give much analysis. Voters were allowed to propose their own reasons as well as voting for existing ones. In all, thirty-five different reasons were put forward, some of which overlap.

And in graph form, because what’s a bit of research without a graph?

So What Makes For A Boring Book?

An important thing to remember is that reading is subjective. One person may laud something another loathes. To quote Kerry Parsons above, “it would be a boring world if we all loved the same things.”

But a few consistent trends have arisen and it’s something worth paying attention to. Strong characters and plot make the reader keep turning the page. This is something I agree with entirely. The reason I kept on reading Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind was that I liked Kvothe so much. As one voter commented:

“Plot and characters are everything. If I don’t care what happens to the characters and I have no idea what going on because someone is piling on foreshadowing but solving nothing, it’s unreadable.”

Too much exposition, i.e. the info dump, is another big problem for readers. This is something I discussed back in January with fantasy author Jesper Schmidt of AmWritingFantasy.com. We had a chat about a rising trend of writers taking a minimalist approach to creating fantasy worlds, which I suggested may be the result of complaints of too much detail being revealed about worlds, invariably leading to not-so-sexy info dumps. Here’s what the voters had to say:

“Books traditionally published have a hard time gripping me when there’s a lot of info-dumping, the exposition is too flowery/unnecessary.”

“Some things, like info dumps or bad sentence structures, usually show themselves on page 1, so if I see a lot of those I will put down a book almost immediately”

An unedited manuscript is another big reason for people putting down books. Jason P. Crawford said above: “If the prose is choppy and ridden with grammar errors, then I can’t keep reading.” But interestingly readers do forgive the odd error provided the story has other strengths, as these comments from voters suggest:

“Give me phenomenal characters and most everything else is forgivable.”

“Make the first chapter as perfect as possible so all I see is the wonderful story and characters, then I will be forgiving of errors later.”

“I can deal with unedited provided the story is actually still strong.”

This is not an excuse to skip or rush editing. It’s the most important aspect of the writing process, for me anyway. I understand why writers can get impatient. You’ve finished your story and just want to get it out to the world. But would a painter sell a half-finished painting? Probably not, unless they’re trying to pass it off as modern art.

Learn More About Why People Stop Reading

We’ve nearly finished our look at the reasons why people stop reading a book. And haven’t they proven fascinating? Can you relate to any of them? If so, please comment below with your thoughts. 

Before I leave you, I wanted to point you in the direction of some other great resources you may find useful:

• Click here for a list of 200+ fantasy magazines and journals
• Or head here for a list of fantasy writing groups
• If you’re looking for book reviewers, this page will help you too. There are over 100+!
• Click here for a study looking at the impact of pleasure reading on academic success. 
• Or head here for a guide on reading techniques from Dartmouth University
• And look here to check out the UK government’s research piece on the benefits of pleasure reading

If you have any other questions about the challenges of reading a boring book, please get in touch.

• Author
• Recent Posts

richiebilling

Richie Billing writes fantasy fiction, historical fiction and stories of a darker nature. He's had over a dozen short stories published in various magazines and journals, with one adapted for BBC radio. In 2021 his debut novel, Pariah's Lament, an epic fantasy, was published by Of Metal and Magic. Richie also runs The Fantasy Writers' Toolshed, a podcast devoted to helping writers improve their craft.

Most nights you can find him up into the wee hours scribbling away or watching the NBA.

Latest posts by richiebilling (see all)

• 5 Tips to Help Your Child Learn and Succeed at Primary School - February 26, 2024
• The Advantages Of Using An AI Essay Typer Alternative - February 14, 2024
• Advice On Getting Help With Your Homework - January 26, 2024