One Person's Meh is Another's . . .
We got into a whole discussion of "meh" yesterday. That a person can dot all the i's and cross all the t's and still end up with something . . . "meh."
And in reality, reading is so subjective that one person's meh is another's WOW. Or one person's meh is another's "I hate this book so much I wanted to burn it"--those horrible reviews you occasionally see on Amazon.
Even in my own FAMILY. This was my mom's favorite book I ever wrote. Oldest Daughter likes this one. Or this one. But my mom's favorite was truly a meh for Oldest Daughter.
If I was going to say why a book ends up as a meh for me, these would be my top-four reasons:
- I've read it before. Oh, not literally. But there is nothing about it that distinguishes it, really, from the last detective/psychic woman in peril/bride with doubts/woman with overbearing mom book I read. I could take the character and transplant him or her in another author's book and end up, with the same book. Sure the sidekicks might be different--but they fill the same role.
- Speaking of sidekicks . . . they're pretty interchangable too. Gay best friend/snarky co-worker/overbearing mother/more adventurous best friend urging main character to take chances.
- I've read the opening before. A writer recently took offense at my criticism of an opening scene. Um . . . if I have to read yet ANOTHER opening scene or prologue from a serial killer's point of view as he stalks someone . . . yes, they are ALL cold-blooded, they ALL wait for the kill, they ALL have patience. I get it. Meh.
- Finally, my fourth top reason for a meh is . . . the most difficult to overcome because frankly, I toss the term around without 100% being able to define it. I just know it when I see it. It has to be organic to overcome the meh. Organic writing is when you don't have four rejections and THEN decide to make your cop/detective have a quirk. A tacked-on element that I never truly believe. People have quirks out of their back story. Not as something they don like a coat. I am very eccentric in real life. But I can tell you that 99.99% of the time, I know where it comes from.
26 comments:
I agree with your four. I've also noted that books that meant a lot to me at a certain point in my life don't mean as much later (or earlier, I suppose, but I have no time machine to prove it).
Sometimes--and a discussion of this is a headache--the voice just doesn't work for me.
Mark:
I generally don't like first person, present tense. It's hard to sustain. Doesn't mean it's a true meh--but usually doesn't work for me. Though I did write Divas Don't Fake It that way--but it was a novella and I think it worked.
E
Yesterday one of my beta readers said my book has killer PTQ (Page-Turning Quotient), which I thought was quite a compliment. The opposite of meh, I suppose.
My idea of meh is where the action comes to a halt for long stretches, where there's lots of exposition and nothing really happening, or when an author goes off on twenty-page tangents about the history of a buliding or something. Meh!
I agree with Oldest completely.
5. No emotional, inner story. You know? No layers or complexity.
Sometimes as I'm writing along, I find myself thinking, "This is meh." Of course I didn't use that term until you introduced me to it.
To me, one of the tricks to writing is to go back and cut out the meh, and if that eliminates the book, that eliminates the book.
And one other point--For me, the best antidote to meh is for me myself to be having fun as I am writing.
I say all this as someone whose situation is a bit different than many of your respondents, but the truth is, I wouldn't keep writing if I didn't have fun when I was doing it.
Jude:
Well . . . that's certainly an endorsement!
E
In addition to your four, I'll say the author's voice doesn't make me want to read on. Many bestselling writers are meh for me, so this is subjective. If a voice is great, the book can commit one or more of the meh crimes in your list and I'll still read it.
spy:
I'm struggling with the inner life of one of my wip's characters right now.
E
Joe:
Last night, I was banging my head on my desk over this wip I am playing with. I asked my group WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF? But I think the answer is I like the torture. It's fun.
E
edie:
I agree. And that's why I named the post what I did. Because that's something that . . . can have nothing to do with not writing a memorable book, but just be about personal taste, some inner switch for the reader.
E
It's like music. Either it (the voice) does it for you or it doesn't.
I agree with your four, plus Edie's comment that some of the bestselling authors' voices don't appeal to me.
Erica, your four mehs sum it up for me. I especially don't like books about animals, unless it's Cat in the Hat. I love animals, but as main characters in fiction and non-fiction, not so much.
Kath, especially if they talk. That goes for movies, too. Except for maybe Babe, the pig.
Yes, it is sometimes knock-your-head-against the wall frustrating. But the whole process is fun for me.
kath:
Hmmm . . . hadn't thought of it, but yeah. I know there are some "cozys" featuring animal narrators but . . . .
E
Tena:
There are a couple of very big names that I don't care for . . . and it's voice, not execution.
E
Hi Erica!
Well I was very Meh on that life of pi book that everyone simply adored. Could never get my head in it. I think my reasons for meh are much more simple. I just couldn't connect with the story is where I have the biggest meh. If I can find any reason to connect with characters, settings, plot, etc, I usually will read it all and enjoy it. I'm not overly critical. But that connection to me is key and sometimes it can be a mood thing too. I might love a book if I'm in the mood for it and be meh about it if I'm not. See I'm just a simple person.
For me, meh is a story that disappoints me. If it's a story I dislike, I don't usually read on. But sometimes I read, and I wait and I hope...and the direction is misleading or the voice is flat. When I see potential in a story and a writer, and it's meh, I get angry (well, moderately so) because I see wasted pages, ink and $$$! Of course it is subjective, I know that.
"I love animals, but as main characters in fiction and non-fiction, not so much."
See, this just proves Erica's point. I love these kinds of books. Especially with cats as main characters.
FF
This is a weird meh, but it's tough for me to be interested if there's no male/female relationship. It can be done (Ya Ya Girls, Joy Luck Club), but it makes it a lot harder.
If there's a moving m/f relationship, I can love almost any genre. I recently read "The Dark Mirror" - a fantasy story about the love of a human man and elf woman. This sounds dumb, but I cried and found it to be one of the most moving things I've read in awhile. Maybe I'm part elf.
That makes sense. Those things do it for me, too. I also dislike too much whining, and if a book has some plot holes that aren't too big but still obvious, it can be a meh. Lazy writing can lead to anything from a meh response to full-fledged disgust.
I'm not sure what defines a "meh" for me. It's just a personal taste thing. I don't always reject a book where I've "heard it before a million times." I have a few topics/themes I'm truly obsessed with, so some things I could read fifty books very similar and still want more. But that's me haha. (And a lot of Buffy fans, hahaha, you really should see the fanfic obsession. It's a funny subculture. We can't help it.)
It is about the voice. I can read one book which starts with a description of the sea and I put it down as boring, yet I could read another and be completely entranced by the images created, yet nothing is happening - apart from an atmosphere being established. Something has to happen pretty soon of course or I could get distracted but at least they have me reading. I went to Nathan's blog where he has the first paragraph competition and I read quite a few. It is easy to see how agents and editors make snap decisions on what to continue reading and what to discard. I kept reading about three and that was over a period of reading of around 40 minutes. I also had a swimming head by the time I called it quits. So many started in the same way with internal dialogue about a significant moment in a person's life, usually in the past not the present. Meh! I don't know how the agents and editors do it. I have a lot more respect for them now.
ello:
Connection . . . really, that's how we feel about PEOPLE, and in books, I think we're looking to connect with the characters . . . .
Great point.
E
I agree with your mehs. I just finished a book that was okay but it kept dragging. I have a hard time quitting a book so I forced my way through it and was pleasantly surprised at the end. The author really pulled it together and I found myself wondering what happened in the middle 250 pages.
I also have to point out that my maiden name starts with H, so meh looks like a weird hybrid of my name. :P
Melanie:
But of course you are NO Meh!
E
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