Question How to deal with the unpleasant feeling when you try to read a new novel?

Have you ever felt a strong repulsion whenever you try to read a new novel? I don't know how to explain it properly. It feels like something is trying to push me off and get me back to the novel I used to read.

I assume this happens because the characters are complete strangers to me, because I don't feel this repulsion at all if I try to continue reading a novel I had dropped in the past.

I usually have two ways of dealing with this:

1. Continue reading the novel while holding the unpleasant repulsion with sheer will. The repulsion will eventually disappear after I'm quite familiar with the characters, especially the MC.
   
   
2. Jump straight to chapter 50. I'm not sure why this works. I'm guessing it's because I don't have to deal with all those prologues/introductory chapters and I get to see an action immediately.

Speaking about number 2, I recall reading Cultivation Online and I get used to it pretty quickly because it jumped straight into an interesting scenario right from the beginning. No 10 paragraphs long monologue or 1 chapter full of world description.

What do you think?

 

You have some questionable choice in novels or you're an M with a questionable choice in novels

 

most of the books throw tons of unnecessary information about the world during starting chapters , that's the major reason which causes this feeling of repulsion. try to find some sort of manhwa/manhua adaptation and read 10-20 chapters from there and then continue with the novel.
unless the book/MC isn't utter trash , it usually takes around 4 chapters for this feeling to disappear.

 

I'm sorry, what?

Exactly, I'm tired of these unnecessary information. But I feel like there's more to this repulsion than this, because I don't feel this repulsion when I see another bunch of info dump later on in the story.

 

It depends, sometimes this is a result of bad writing, sometimes it's because you aren't invested in the story yet. Usually this is less of a problem with properly published novels that go through an editing process.

When I start new webnovels and start feeling like this I'll often just skip the first few chapters, especially if it's a setting I'm familiar with. You can always go back and reread the first few chapters if you think you missed anything important, but in a lot of cases you aren't missing anything.

 

Makes sense. I only read webnovels so that's probably why.

Yup, I always take a note whenever I skip a chapter, along with the information I might've missed. The funny thing is, I almost never needed to come back.

Exactly.

 

I've been feeling like this for weeks, like wanting to read but not attached enough to read past the first chapter, but last week I tried to read a new novel with the same plotline (kinda like plagiarism but maybe not?) as my favourite novel and I think it worked well to arouse my reading habit (idk how to explain this). Now I'm trying to read new novel with a completely different genre as what I used to read, and I'm having a good time with this novel !

 

I like reading the beginnings of new books, so it's the opposite for me. Heck, one of the reasons why I read fantasy and science fiction in the first place is to have new worlds that I can explore and can get immersed in. And a lot of the time, the beginnings of books are the only thing worth reading in them. It's pretty much how I read most Japanese webnovels - read the opening to get what's worth it out of them, and then dump them as soon as the premise runs out.

I would hate the idea of reading so many samey novels that the setting isn't worth reading about. It might be a sign that you should move onto better books.

 

I read a lot of transmigration and rebirth novels. It's pretty common for the first three chapters or so in these types of novels to go, "I died, let me tell you about why my death sucked," or, "here's the entire setting I transmigrated into!" Which tends to either be 1) irrelevant or 2) explained in depth further in the novel.

The things that make the settings different and individually interesting usually aren't introduced up front. I do end up dropping a lot of the novels I read, but I don't drop them based on the first few chapters because of how common this type of setup is.

For the novels I read that aren't in those settings, infodumps in the first few chapters sometimes contain too much information about the world and the characters don't get a chance to hook you. Sometimes skipping the first few chapters will get you past this.

Sometimes there's a lot of focus on melodrama in the first few chapters, which doesn't always work for the story. If I run into this I'll usually skip past the first few chapters to see if it's a one-off face-slapping situation that's meant to launch MC into their proper adventure.

The point being, I read a lot of webnovels, and a lot of webnovels have bad introductions but that doesn't mean the rest of the story is uninteresting. (Of course, a lot of them are just bad overall.) If I can't get into it right away I'll just skip the first few chapters to see if there's more interesting stuff later. If there isn't, I drop it.

 

I absolutely love fictional worlds filled with flavor and detail, so it's pretty much the opposite for me. If the setting is rich enough then not only do I not mind infodumps, I crave them. One of my favorite writers would even stop the story and just tell the reader a whole bunch of peripherally related information. It would be information like dining practices in Medieval Europe or what wedding dresses looked like during the Tang Dynasty. But again that goes back to the difference between good books and bad ones. Or more accurately, good writers will be able to do interesting things with just about any topic whereas bad writers can ruin the best material.

Personally, I sort of like reading bad books so I've seen a lot of really weak world building. Even so, I've never felt the inclination to skip the early chapters of a book. If it actually is that bad, it's better to just drop it nice and early instead.

 

I definitely feel that way with some new novels I read, although not all. The first chapter is usually what makes or breaks my will to continue reading, and info dumping in the first chapter is probably what puts me off the fastest because I just don't have the attention span to compartmentalize all the information immediately. I'm a bigger fan of when novels slowly weave the world building and character building through the story rather throwing it at me all at once.

IMO, it's detrimental to info dump in the first few chapters because most readers don't care enough about the characters to give two flying bums about all this information they're being given, though my guess is that authors do this because they're hoping if they throw enough stuff at the wall, the reader will find something intriguing enough to keep on reading.

Of course, I'm not painting with a broad brush. Some novels that are on my good readings list have pretty iffy first chapters (or even first 20 chapters) but I persevered because of one (1) plot hook that was mentioned in the summary or the first chapter, and the novels ended up turning out pretty fun so I really try to give certain novels the benefit of the doubt if I'm really curious about something. And personally, I'm not fond of jumping around-- I read through or I drop.

I'm definitely the sort to power through and wait till I like something rather than jump forward to take a quick peek. If it hasn't gripped me in a reasonable about of time and whatever it was that intrigued me initially doesn't seem worth it anymore, then clearly the novel just isn't for me and I skip.

 

FWIW, I'm only talking about infodumps in the first few chapters. Infodumps later after the reader has been primed are a different story.

I like stories with interesting worlds, too, but leading with infodumps usually ends with me only retaining a portion of the information that isn't relevant for a lot of the story yet. The author will usually repeat that information when it becomes relevant later. Infodumps at the beginning of a story are a bit like putting out a 12 course meat meal when you're not hungry yet. It's better to start with an appetizer.

Skipping the first few chapters works for me in this case. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution, of course if you enjoy authors that lead with infodumps, definitely keep enjoying them.

 

I feel the same repulsion too when I start reading a new novel, especially if I know nothing of the novel beforehand. I don't know whether the novel will be good or bad, and I don't want to waste time reading a bad novel. What goes through my mind is usually this: "Oh god, I have to go through another 10 boring chapters of the author introducing the world, plot and characters?" But after that, the repulsion will disappear if the novel turned out to be good, else the repulsion will only grow stronger if the novel is bad.

 

It's because it's new to you and you feel uncertain to the happening in the future.

You're not familiar with the mc and the characters in that novel. Like meeting people for the first time, it might feel awkward or being in a new place.

Reading further ahead make it better for you because now you know what will happen in their future and provides some security and you doesn't have to be so uncertain or on the edge if something happened to the characters.

You're probably an emersive reader, so the best thing to do is to assure yourself.

 

Never happened to me O_O. I go straight to reading.

 

I often force myself to read through the early parts of a novel , just because I was told it was good. It might take some time to get into the story but the result is often worth it
Might be the environment where I'm reading but I'm not a fan of being thrown right into the story too hardly

 

My motto is not continuing anything if it frustrates me. I often go to the ending and see if there is any plot point that I want to see before dropping it. I read novels to de-charge, there is no need to absorb anymore negativity as I have enough negativity in real life.

 

After reading a lot of Asian webnovels (here), I've noticed there's a pattern. The first half dozen chapters are used to describe the new world and to establish how pitiful the MC is. This maybe due to being transmigrating into a bullied body or having no resources after being transported or summoned. Then the next dozen or so chapters is about how the MC deals with and resolves these initial challenges so they can leave the starter area. It's their journey that leads to the main story.

In my decades of reading western published novels, I had never noticed this pattern. I'm sure that some authors did do the same, but I guess it was handled more subtly or perhaps that there were enough of other techniques that it didn't stand out. Less copy and paste, and more originality.

 

This actually happens all the time because it essentially describes the Hero's Journey. The protagonist starts off young and naive about the world, and then has to leave his backwater home for adventure in the greater world. It's the basic building block for adventure stories of all kinds, and it's especially noticeable in stories like the Lord of the Rings. What's interesting to me is that the reason why these stories are popular in China is literally because the authors who popularized them there were originally inspired by Western fiction to begin with!