Hi All,
I've recently started reading cozy mysteries because I have been working on a series. My background is literary fiction and the classics, so I'm reading in a totally different genre than I'm used to.
I'm finding that I like the stories and the characters of the books I'm reading but the writing is really hard to get used to. I totally get that cozy mysteries are not supposed to be Shakespeare and not pretending to be, but as an English major and a reader and writer of literary fiction, it's sometimes tough going. I sometimes have to grit my teeth when I read through some of these books.
For example, I'm reading a cozy right now where I like the setting, characters, and story so far, but the author does some things in the writing that I think most professional writers would consider amateurish, such as being obvious with filling in information rather than letting it come smoothly from the story (i.e., "Well, you know, Bob, when the mayor had that scandal last year with his secretary" kind of thing), switching suddenly to another point of view for a few paragraphs and then back to the MC, and ending chapters in an awkward manner.
So how do you get past the writing when you're reading in your genre, especially when you like everything else in the book but the writing itself?
Sorry if I sound conceited here. I don't mean to imply that anything but literary fiction is not good writing or that all cozy mysteries are badly written. I recently read another historical cozy that was written quite well. I just never really encountered this before. Usually, when I don't like something in a book, I stop reading, but I consider this kind of reading research for my genre and my writing, so I don't want to stop.
Djuna
I've recently started reading cozy mysteries because I have been working on a series. My background is literary fiction and the classics, so I'm reading in a totally different genre than I'm used to.
I'm finding that I like the stories and the characters of the books I'm reading but the writing is really hard to get used to. I totally get that cozy mysteries are not supposed to be Shakespeare and not pretending to be, but as an English major and a reader and writer of literary fiction, it's sometimes tough going. I sometimes have to grit my teeth when I read through some of these books.
For example, I'm reading a cozy right now where I like the setting, characters, and story so far, but the author does some things in the writing that I think most professional writers would consider amateurish, such as being obvious with filling in information rather than letting it come smoothly from the story (i.e., "Well, you know, Bob, when the mayor had that scandal last year with his secretary" kind of thing), switching suddenly to another point of view for a few paragraphs and then back to the MC, and ending chapters in an awkward manner.
So how do you get past the writing when you're reading in your genre, especially when you like everything else in the book but the writing itself?
Sorry if I sound conceited here. I don't mean to imply that anything but literary fiction is not good writing or that all cozy mysteries are badly written. I recently read another historical cozy that was written quite well. I just never really encountered this before. Usually, when I don't like something in a book, I stop reading, but I consider this kind of reading research for my genre and my writing, so I don't want to stop.
Djuna