A question for readers: what makes you lose interest in a story ?

Grammar errors. Especially when they're chronic. It's distracts and irritates me so much that I lose interest. That includes spelling.


If a story doesn't have the paragraph breaks, I won't even read it. My eyesight's bad enough, and I'm not going to strain to read something that'll probably not be the best. (This is a judgment I make based on the times I have strained to read one.)


If there's too much cussing or blaspheming (my tolerance threshold for the latter is much lower than for the former), then I'll drop it. I'm a visual learner from words and don't want to remember those things, thanks.


Another factor in my losing interest would be unreality. If the author insists on speaking about things he doesn't know a thing about and doesn't know how to hide his ignorance, I'm extremely annoyed. At least research your topic, if you don't know.

That's not to say that a misuse of knitting or crochet will make me drop a story. But if the author doesn't build his story well enough that I can give him at least some benefit of the doubt as to how likely to happen his story is, I'll drop it.

That also applies to when there's a mild plot inconsistency twenty chapters in, and I get plastered by writer and fellow readers alike for politely pointing it out.


DRL doesn't make me lose interest?he just makes me unable to find some stories I've enjoyed and want to continue, so I lose them.

 

It's funny to me that i'm posting in this thread, as i have lost dozens of readers in the time my stories have been on the boards.


1. Author Notes- this is just a pet peeve of mine, but i hate it when you're in the middle of reading a post and then there is a (a/n) right in the middle of the post. Some authors i've read (mostly on other sites, not so much on this one) do this, and i will stop reading the story right then and there; No matter how good it is. I mean i know one story i was reading it was like:

she did this blah blah blah (A/N: isn;t the anticipation killing you)She Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah {A/n: Don't you love how this character is so fiesty?)

There was an author's note every third sentance in her story, and none of it was info i needed for the story. It was just the other making comments on her own work. It disrupted my flow of reading, and it drove me insane.


2. Length between posts- i seem to be cursed. I will wait to read a story until it's 6-7 posts in some times, and the minute i review it will be another month before the author posts again. The author would post like every 3 days before i review, as soon as i review the author falls off the face of the planet. I will lose interest in a story if it doesn't get updated every month or so. Otherwise, when it does get updated i don't remember what's going on in the story. Then i have to read the whole story again, and most of the time i just don't


3.Too many Oc's - now i'm actually almost guilty of this. I've had 3-4 Main Oc's in my story, and probably 10-15 minor Oc's (characters that are only in for 2-4 posts). I try to rotate the 3-4 main Oc's in a way that there not too hard to remember, or if you don't remember who they are it doesn't matter to the story that much. However some authors have 8-10 main Oc's, and some can write them very well so that they're easy to distinguish, but most authors can't. If i need to keep a Listing of the Oc's names, ages and relevance to the story, i'm doing too much work for me to be reading it. This more or less the reason my next story is going to have significantly less Oc's in it.

 

DRL, definitely. Forget what the story was called and who wrote it? Yep.

Thread disappears? I forget to go digging.

The only thing that's ever actually turned me off from a story that wasn't my doing, so to speak, was that certain parts just seemed really long and too drawn out. Kind of a "Move along, already!" feeling.

When that happens, I usually step away, wait for a few posts, and then go back and skim through to catch up. And things are fine. So that's why I might disappear for a while.

And then sometimes I'm just too lazy to reply. Sorry.

 

I agree with MistiWhitesun, the swearing gets to me. They managed to get through the movies without swearing (especially the f-bomb, I can't stand when people use the f-bomb, and of all places I most often see it in romantic stories! Yeah, now I'm in the mood! )But I'm not bitter.

Anyway, swearing, blaspheming and spelling/grammar. Those are the big ones for me. I have a real pet peeve about words/phrases that get repeated alot in the same sentence, paragraph, or chapter.

I have a decent attention span so I tend to stick with a story, even if it takes a while to wrap up, as long as I like it anyway...

 

I have to agree with a lot of what you guys are saying. My fic peeves are:

1) No paragraph breaks. I wear contacts, and my eyes get fatigued easily by reading stuff on a screen. I really get headaches when I read a story that's one continuous run-on paragraph.

2) Grammar/Syntax. Now, I understand there are many people for whom English may be a second language, but a fic should still be proofread enough to be coherent, otherwise I get a rebound headache from all the thinking.

3) Language. Call me old-fashioned, but one doesn't need to go overboard on cussing to get their point across. After all, Lucas didn't need more than "damn" and "hell" through all his movies to tell his story.

4) DRL. Life gets in the way, fics don't get followed. 'Nuff said.

 

Believe it or not, unoriginal titles chase me away. No, hear me out before you say I'm nuts. If I'm trying to watch a story and there are fifteen fics with similar titles (say, they all have the word Betrayal in them) and I only like ONE of the fifteen, I'll frequently give up trying to look for it, I'll get tired of waiting ten minutes for the wrong story to load.

 

pokey: If I'm trying to watch a story and there are fifteen fics with similar titles (say, they all have the word Betrayal in them) and I only like ONE of the fifteen, I'll frequently give up trying to look for it, I'll get tired of waiting ten minutes for the wrong story to load.

Ditto, to an extent. I hate to admit it, but I've gotten to where I look at the author column first before I look at titles. There's some authors I'll read no matter what they write, but finding titles is just too dang difficult with the sheer number of fics on these boards. *sighs* I wish there were a function for highlighting a thread or author you want to keep up with. The active topic notification never seems to work for me, so I left tracking them down manually, or bookmarking those threads.

As far as the title goes, I don't know about the title itself turning me off of a story, but an original one is usually easier to find.

 

lack of time - I don't really lose interest as much as lose enough time to read. I have so many fics I want to read and its hard to read through all of them.....I wear glasses and its hard to sit and stare at the computer screen to read like 10 pages of posts that I lost track of......so for me its more of a lack of motivation and time.....eventually I hope to not lose interest anymore. Maybe when the boards move I'll have more time.

 

Rightly or wrongly, I always feel that there's some arrogance in a writer who feels he can just come back and pick up the threads of his readership after leaving them hanging for almost a year.

While I can understand that, you really need to know that some people are very slow writers (I'm one of those that takes a month to update and I work on my next post every day). I do agree that authors whining about losing readership are inappropriate; I expect to lose readers updating so infrequently and am just thrilled that anyone sticks around. But it may not be arrogance that is the problem... just so you know.

 

Well I tend not get annoyed with fan fics with a lousy name....

I begged someone on a different site to change their story's name to something more.. interesting.

 

Arin As far as the title goes, I don't know about the title itself turning me off of a story, but an original one is usually easier to find.

I suppose that's what I meant. Though the frustration factor cam make me truly dislike a story. I read fanfic because it's fun. Having to work too hard takes the fun away.

 

: Having to work too hard takes the fun away.

Yeah, that's the core of the matter, I think.

 

What makes me lose interest:

1a. More than two named character's biting it. This bugs me to no end, especially if they built a character up for so long, and just kill them like that. This is why I almost torched SBS, and if my ex-GF hadn't spoiled the death, I probably would have.

1b. J/D or J/T make me ditch a fic like a hot potato. No offense, but I'm a die-hard J/TK'er. Certain plot points ('ships, deaths, etc.) will turn some readers on or off like a switch. It's not fun, but neither's reading about something you dislike. Someone abandoning a fic may just be an issue of choices.

2. DRL. The boards are the last thing on my mind if I've got a test, a paper, a major event, or a hot date. It happens. We all (hopefully) all have a life elsewhere that prevents our immediate response.

These are normal. I expect these to happen and assume no insult to the writer is intended. A falloff rate of 20% is typical for most fics. If it's an epic, you post infrequently, or you do something controversial with little warning, I say 30% fallout is expected.

These are problem losses, where I say the writer is at fault:

3. Excessive profanity/blasphemy. I understand that fictional characters are bound to cuss and swear now and then, esp. in stressful situations, but if a character cusses another out, please don't put the entire tirade in. There are ways to say, for instance that Mara lost her temper and lit into Han, without putting every four letter word in the post. And cusswords not uttered by a character (either aloud or mentally) count double. Ditto for characters using obscenities they wouldn't ordinarily use.

4. Characters acting severely out of character without good reason (i.e. being on vacation or other special context, AU, personal growth) is a major turn-off. Seeing Jacen pre-NJO deliberately stomp furry woodland creatures is too far, while TK emoting when alone with Jacen, is not only normal, it's welcome.

5. Serious inaccuracy. I can understand people screwing up relatively obscure facts like how long it takes a human in average health to run five klicks (30 min., BTW), or the vocal range(as in Alto, Soprano, Tenor, or Bass) of a character never seen in the films, and all too little in the novels, but unless it's an AU(and saying as much right out), saying Luke married Gaeriel Captison is a no-no.

6. Excessive Spelling and grammar issues: I know we all make mistakes, but seeing rampant errors makes me wonder about the writer's intellect. One error per every 100 words is as high a ratio as I'd go.

The effects of 3-6 are an issue of degrees. They define the point of no return. I enjoy stories that have these factors in moderate amounts, but once it crosses the line, no can do. And as for #'s 4 & 5, I will seek an explanation (i.e. it's AU, or so-and-so is affected by such-and-such circumstances) before ditching the fic. I seldom vanish without a trace.

 

I thought this would be an interesting topic! The best ones seem to arise out of conversations.

I?ve been around these Boards and posting stories long enough to understand that when you post a story here, you have to make a pact with yourself along the lines of ?whatever will be, will be.? You throw your story out there and hope that it will find a readership and some favor, but it?s really best not to have any particular expectations. When you do manage to detach yourself somewhat and allow the natural ebb and flow of readership to take place, you begin to notice some patterns in readership among those who respond on a long story thread. It?s quite interesting to see some of those articulated here.

A quick read-through of the responses on this thread so far yields the following general categories of things that readers react to, consciously or unconsciously:

1. Darth Real Life. It affects everyone, authors and readers alike. So be it. It?s a good thing we have real lives, eh?
2. Length of time between posts. The general consensus seems to be that the more time goes by between posts, the harder it is to stick with a story.
3. Length of posts. For busy people, or people with limited computer time, it?s a lot easier and more satisfying to read a shorter post or a viggie than a long, involved post.
4. Style, grammar and format. A clear style, unmuddled format and good grammar make it a lot easier for a reader to get into a story and to want to stay with it.
5. Stories that begin with a promise, but then never seem to fulfill it.
6. Too many comment posts, chatty or otherwise, between story posts.
7. Competent handling of plotlines and multiple characters in a longer story.
8. Characterization of favorite characters.
9. Too many OC?s and minor characters.
10. The story doesn?t live up to initial expectations.
11. Assumption of prior knowledge.
12. Too much swearing and blaspheming.
13. Unoriginal or otherwise poor titles.

That?s quite a list, isn?t it? But I think it?s one that most of us can identify with, although I have to admit that the issue of titles is new to me!

There are a couple of points that I?d like to comment on. To begin with, the business of ?chatty? threads. In my experience, for authors and a certain group of readers, that?s one of the main reasons for returning to these Boards in the first place. For another group of readers, they seem to be an annoyance, and an off-putting one at that.

From an author?s POV there are lots of places to post fanfic stories out there on the web, but I haven?t found one that?s as interactive as these Boards are. They provide feedback, pure and simple, and it can be fun not only for the authors but for readers as well. It?s also a major motivation for authors. I can tell you honestly that I would not bother with the hard work of writing and posting stories if no one ever commented. So in that sense, the ?annoying? chatters make possible the stories that are consumed by lurkers. No comments, no story. It?s that simple. (Having said that, I do think it?s the author?s responsibility to ensure that the discussion on the thread remains focused on the story and the issues it raises. Once it becomes personal, it really is inappropriate.)

I found the points about post length quite interesting. As a reader, I prefer in-depth posts that leave me with more than just a single image or a plot tease. I must bear in mind that it is not the same for everyone.

I've mentioned writers' expectations, and how it's best not to have any. It occurs to me that a number of the points on this list have to do with readers' expectations. Fanfiction is vastly different from other kinds of fiction in that those of us who read it already know the main characters and have a very clear idea about what we are looking for in a story. I mean, let?s be honest, people, most of us look for stories that will give us a kind of ?fix? ? a fresh shot of our favorite char