Discussion It's good, but.....

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Damsell in Distress, Jul 7, 2019.

?

Would you read story with bad start but get better..??

  1. Defenitely gonna read it

    20 vote(s)
    74.1%
  2. Meh... Not gonna waste my time

    7 vote(s)
    25.9%
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  1. Damsell in Distress

    Damsell in Distress Waiting for dashing MC to save me from myself

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    Heyoo...
    So just wondering, I sometimes find someone review like "it's not really good at the beginning but after (insert certain amount of ch.) it would be really good"

    For me personally I will read it, but if it take really long to got me excited about the story the I will still drop it in the end..
    One of the example I can think is the experimental log of the crazy lich, as the beginning of the story mostly consist of info dump, and it take a while to get to the real plot..

    So are you people who will read story with bad start but real good in the later part or nah..??
     
  2. Sadim

    Sadim Well-Known Member

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    Depends on how long it takes to get to the good part. If it's more than an hour worth of reading time (~10 chapters for most japanese WN), then no thanks. If it's just a couple info-dumps to get some worldbuilding in before the story gets going I might consider adding another hour on top of that.

    In case it's really bad though (instant tropes, MTL-quality grammar, etc.) I'll drop it even before that.
     
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  3. Xane

    Xane Well-Known Member

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    Depends how long the bad portion lasts. I've dropped plenty of web novels in the first 10 chapters, for varying reasons.
     
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  4. Maraderchik

    Maraderchik Well-Known Member

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    Tried once, it doesn't go better. So no, if start bad, i just drop it.
     
  5. LordRikudo

    LordRikudo 【Master of YEET】

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    I'm desperate. I've read almost all of the more popular novels on this site, and I'm. Craving. For. More.


    So I pretty much just lower my standard and consume everything that's been promised to be good, just like a clueless citizen during a political campaign o_Oo_O
     
  6. otaku31

    otaku31 Well-Known Member

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    I usually go by first impressions. I'd be willing to wait max. 20 chs 4 it to get good. Anymore than that, and I'm out- no matter what reviews say. Can't tolerate info-dump, snail pace and/or nothing much happening in the first few chs... not 4 long anyway. :sushi_sigh:

    People tend to be very forgiving towards poor starts and sluggish pacing. Not me, tho. :blobpats:

    P.S. I might give it 30 chs if it comes highly recommended and belongs to a genre I love. Might.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2019
  7. Bright_Lucky_Star

    Bright_Lucky_Star [Previously Known as OrdinaryUser] The Blessed One

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    Like it will become better at the chapter 50 or so, if it take hundred chapters then no :notlikeblob:
     
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  8. Sabruness

    Sabruness Cultured Yuri Connoisseur

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    Basically what's already been said.
     
  9. MangoGuy

    MangoGuy Rambling Mango

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    how do i know it gets better? that just sounds like stockholm syndrome
     
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  10. Deleted member 155674

    Deleted member 155674 Guest

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    This is how I decide whether to read a novel or not:
    Summary(plot) + genres/categories(+tags) + chapter1 (+chapter0 if exist)
     
  11. yamibae

    yamibae Well-Known Member

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    I give most novels about 100-200 chapters before I decide if I want to drop it. If the novel only has 100ish or less chapters I'd just finish the whole novel even if it's bad since I read pretty quickly.
     
  12. Amaruna Myu

    Amaruna Myu ugly squid dokja (●´∀`●)

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    i need a maybe option.
    for example, I would read overgeared because I think the translator's translated stories are quite good.
     
  13. OverlyFriendly

    OverlyFriendly I should do something about

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    Invisible Dragon
    you see the synopsis and you think "wtf is this"
    and then after the first few horrible sentences you find that it is glorious.

    Referring to the poll, If the bad start per say is about bad things happening, and the rest is about it getting better and it factors into the plot.. yeah sure. But if its just terrible writing no.
     
  14. flannan

    flannan Well-Known Member

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    Most importantly, I will not trust anybody else's review. Other people are not me, and sometimes they're extremely not me, they like wrong things for wrong reasons, and hate things that I love.

    Second, if I have reasons to assume the story will meaningfully change at a later point, I can read through a boring part to get to the potentially different part. The actual length I'm willing to tolerate seriously depends on my mood (and on how much I hate the bad part). If I know the story is short and fully-translated, I can even read it fully because I don't want to drop it in the middle.
     
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  15. ATrueStory

    ATrueStory Villainesses, Historical Shit, Noble Circuses

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    Yeah. There is a thing called plot and character development. If readers dont want to wait for those two things to develop, feel free to drop it. But creative works, especially stories, takes time to develop. If you (in general) cant wait for that, not my loss .And I am not missing the best part of the story because of a bad start.
     
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  16. ATrueStory

    ATrueStory Villainesses, Historical Shit, Noble Circuses

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    I dunno. Read the story or have it read for you.
    Seriously? What story is keeping you hostage? Drop it if doesn't feel right to you.
     
  17. MangoGuy

    MangoGuy Rambling Mango

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    and what if it gets better?
     
  18. ATrueStory

    ATrueStory Villainesses, Historical Shit, Noble Circuses

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    Go back?
    It's not like very hard to do. Dropping and picking back a series is easy as pie. At least you save some time in the story development. and getting on the good parts.
     
  19. firefox1234

    firefox1234 Well-Known Member

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    For me “The Amber Sword” had the worst start by far. The info dump in the first several chapters was sooo boring but it eventually got better.
     
  20. nickjones672829

    nickjones672829 New Member

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    As it has been said, it all depends on the length.
     
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