Discussion Are readers becoming lazy?

A couple of weeks ago I had this conversation with a translator, He said
"Most people reading the novel he works on just want the good parts. I wouldn't translate a book if it was boring. sure the beginning is slow and I don't update every day, but if they could only reach chapter 30 they will love it!"

What do you think?
for me, I will not read 100 boring chapters before the dang thing begins.

 

Well like most things, we seek instant gratification in our lives. Also there are hundreds of novels currently being translated so something has to have a hook right at the begining to grab attention, and most people here have read enough stuff to predict tropes of a genre. Tropes aren't bad but they become crutches for too many writers.

 

Well, 100 chapter is just too much even if each chapter is quite short. What i really think needed in novel is great premise and balance

 

When I started reading a novel(maybe 5 to 10 chapters of it) I'll read it until it's done or the translators dropped it(still gonna look for news if it revives or not)~

 

If the first 5 chapters of a novel suck to me then I’ll give it maybe 5-10 more but if it still sucks then nope not reading it.

I don’t wanna read through another beginning like Overgeared.

 

I would read 100 boring chapters before the climax. Context matters... a lot!
I mean, you're basically saying you would penetrate before foreplay. This ain't porn, yeah, but spicing things up is a necessity for eating.

 

For me, it really depends on the novel type. If im gonna read this 1000+ chapter CN, im fine reading 100 chapters or further b4 deciding. On the other hand, if its a run of the mill JP novel im more likely to judge it early on. From my expierence JP novels focus on a strong beggining, if that fails the series probably was bad. CN tend to be poorer early on while picking up momentum. KN i find either are epic or a shit stain, rarely any inbetween.
Lastly, ill always read reviews after i decided to drop to see if im missing out.

 

no, at least not before i know it's get better 100 chapter after other people sacrificed themself to review.......

 

WN? consider wn especially cn consist of hundreds of chappy before start to maybe good or bad yeah understandable building chap for binge read~

also please tell that translator, that one free to translate whatever similarly reader free to read whatever~ translator free to drop whenever (unless they bound by legal contract that different thing) similarly reader also free to drop whenever for whatever reason~

please wait? heck no! if it turn to be misjudgment then so be it~
why think too much?


there many type of reader with various background so it puurfectly ok to wait, drop or whatever~


if we talking about review hmm that different topic~

 

it depends for me on what the genre is...like if its a novel that requires more chs to shine then I will stick around or if it doesn't have anything I hate in it.

I almost dropped Lord of Mysteries but I didn't and read through the slow chapters and then I was rewarded with a fantastic book with one of the best lores I have seen in a cn book so the genre and tags determines whether you want to stay or drop I guess

 

I had a writing teacher who empathized that it was important to have a first sentence that grabbed the reader and convinced the reader to keep reading, such as the famous line, “Call me Ishmael.” I try to remember that advice when I’m writing. Likewise, as a reader, if I don’t find the first couple chapters interesting, I’m not going to keep investing my time into it.

 

No, people don't like wasting time on something they feel is of no value. Web novelists are so focused on constant content that what goes out is largely unedited and mediocre. The translator's not wrong, but nor is it wrong to expect something decent for your time.

 

I'm fine with cliches stuff but I will drop the novel if I see the bullshit in it. What I mean by bullshit is like suddenly MC worshipped by their people because he/she able to make a simple thing or the MC going to war using absurd battle formation.

 

I've come to realize that the first half dozen to a dozen chapters is always used to establish how pitiful and tragic the MC's life is and gives the reason for his desire to get stronger, get revenge, get the hell out of the slums, etc. Then there will be a story arc where he gets the chance and has to use 200% effort to seize it while overcoming obstacles. It's only after this that can the MC start traveling to explore or to go to where he/she can start the training montage that it gets interesting.

 

Well, there is a difference between a start of a story being just boring or being boring but showing promise of getting good.
In either case, I don't mind a slow start which I don't necessarily count as boring in the first place, but I might put a story on hold if the translation hasn't gotten far yet.

 

Good writers can make character development and setup interesting, its not like the only choice is boring filler between big exciting moments. But lesser writers who rely heavily on simple plot hooks to create interest will tend to write boring setup and exposition.

 

Thirty is fairly late for a set up isn't it? That's just poorly planned/written at that point. The synopsis should have roughly set the stage already, what reason is there for a setup that takes thirty chapters?

 

it depends? sure there are readers that just want instant action and can't wait for the build up/ background setting, but sometimes the story just sucks lol. You have to hook the readers with and insteresting start, and even if its slow in the build up you have to keep it interesting and make things happen ( even if its just scheming/ planning), otherwise the story's just slow lol

 

Just because there is no action it doesnt mean it has to be boring, right now the guy who writes He Who Fights Monsters is on a downtime arc and its still pretty engaging
So i say there are many writers who simply try to copy the tropes and make stories by accumulation of stuff, instead of by development of the stuff already there
Its an easy way of pumping out chapters by simply adding new stuff all over the place and a factor on why so many novels are so generic

That said, there are some people who love to complain to make themselves feel smart, in both cases we can see if the author or the reader is in the wrong by looking at the causes and effects, if we had to know the causes to understand the effects that came after then we are dealing with a legit downtime
If stuff simply pops up with no foreshadowing or build up then we are dealing with lazy writing, which really deserves lazy readers

Because yes, if the novel is repeating generic stuff then it makes sense to just skip it and get to the good parts, but if the build up is required for the future stuff to make sense then its the readers who must step up their game and understand the world building

 

I hate the idea of having to endure the start of the novel when I should be having fun and enjoying myself.

If I wanted to grit my teeth and force myself to waste my life on something utterly without a single shred of fun in it, I'd go watch the news. If the story can't grab my attention in 10 chapters I'm not going to waste my time. Why even waste my life wading through 100+ chapters of garbage on the mere promise of a tasty treat when I could, you know, just NOT read 100+ chapters of trash and find an actual treat?

The last one I bothered with was "abe the wizard" where the first 100 chapters were filled with stupid, NOT WIZARDY stuff for some god awful reason. I only finished it because I love diablo 2. It's like... shit, I don't even know. Why was the start of the book almost entirely pointless? Some rubbish is just not worth your time.