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How do you read a boring book?

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Brooks127
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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Bern Pearson wrote:I diagram the scene so it makes sense. I have maps of where things are so if the character went north to get there he goes south on the return. I have a diagram of the buildings so the description stays consistent.
That's a good idea. I don't create outlines. I used to brag I did, but I seldom if ever did and now I write, edit, write, edit, and if I don't like what I have after a week I pitch it. I also keep multiple things going and bounce between them. I try and write everyday if only until I'm bored. That's also how I end a lot of chapters. If I'm bored. I figure the reader will be too. I move on.

When I wrote my novel, Sunset in Sylvan Park (shameless plug) I printed maps from Google Street and kept detailed records on where the characters traveled. I got the idea from On the Road. I liked how the story had a beat and you could pull out a map and follow the characters across country.

Bern, you mentioned you were interested in my writing. Here's a link to my download page. The stories are hosted on the Internet Archive. You can download them for free. They are short pieces but some are longer. http://www.brookskohler.com/downloads.html

Also, if you would like to email me the PDF you had offered up in your blurp post, you can do so using my publishing email [email protected]

I'm looking for authors to promote. When you get a chance, you might check out my publishing site http://www.laptiast.com/
Last edited by Brooks127 on Sat Jun 07, 2014 2:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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In bed, so when I fall asleep I don't fall out of my chair. :lol: :lol:
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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I take it in moderation, and pace myself. That's the only way that I'll be able to get through a boring book.
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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I don't. There are too many good ones out there (and actually, very few boring ones!)
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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May I suggest life's too short to read boring books? That said...if it's a must read for school or work. Sift for content, back in the day we used plain old index cards or sticky notes if you don't want to write in the text itself. If you don't care about writing in the text use a highlighter and notes in the margins. Skim the paragraphs. For example-

"Czar Nicholas was feeling resentful of the new guards assigned to him. But what is a Czar to do? He particularly disliked their seemingly mocking behaviors like pretending to point their guns at him and then merrily high-fiving each other. Was this perhaps an ominous sign of things to come or just the undignified behavior of young men perhaps raised in an urban environment? Should he perhaps consider a new guard detail for the Winter Palace in light of..."

From this ridiculous passage we gather that Czar Nicholas is worried about his new guards. This is foreshadowing of events to come.

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magdamierzeja
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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I just don't read it, whenever the book is boring I put it away and maybe one day I will be so bored and I will grab it again and finish it ( I hope this day will never come)....
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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If it's a have to read and its boring, I take the total amount of pages devide it into the amount time I have to read it. Cutting it down into bite size chunks usually will get me through it pretty efficiently. But if it's a book I am reading for pleasure, I'll give it a few extra chapters to recaptivate me. If after that point I still can't get into the story I'll set it aside.
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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I have a hard time reading boring books in general. I need rich dialogue, a character with something I can feel for or like, and maybe some descriptions which make me forget any other flaws within the text.
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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Usually I just give up. I will give a book every effort I can before I decide to just quit reading it, but if it doesn't catch and keep my attention its a goner.
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Re: How do you read a boring book?

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I tried reading TROPIC OF CANCER two weeks ago, but gave up after 100 pages. It wasn't so much boring as it was nonsensical and full of misogynist, homophobic, and anti-semitic drivel cobbled together with a hipsters pretense.
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