By Adilah Barnes
ON APPROACHING A BOOK AS A READER
Back in the mid-1990’s I co-founded the Los Angeles reading group, Circle of Sisters: A Reading Circle. Over the years, this eclectic group of spirited women have committed to read countless books of different genres: from full-bodied memoirs to fluffy romance books, and back around the corner again to embrace genres richly steeped in mystery and history.
Some books have been outstanding page turner choices. However, whether a brilliant read or not, the group critiques the book thoroughly over dinner. I especially enjoy a read that evokes different responses from the women - and even an occasional heated and visceral discussion.
As a reader, I begin my books by reading the outside covers and proceed page by page from the beginning of the book. I thought most people read this way until I became an author and began to receive feedback on how readers stayed with my book. I was amazed to learn there are a myriad of ways in which readers may choose to approach a book.
Some say they begin a book traditionally from the opening page, while others open the book randomly and land where they fall. If pulled in, they may then go back to the beginning and read the book in its entirety.
Still other readers eye the table of contents and choose chapters that most appeal to their literary pallet. They may flip flop around until they decide to go back and start again chronologically, thus allowing the book to build chapter by chapter.
Perhaps the most horrifying discovery I made in speaking with a reader was that she actually began my book by reading the last chapter first!
I have come to learn early on in the first few pages whether the writer is going to transport me. If not, I generally push ahead forward anyway, hoping for the best and determined to get through to the end. Conversely, as I snuggle up to a good read, I welcome the author to guide me. I love unexpected twists and turns and I always want a good book to continue. Sadly, though, I release a good read as I slowly savor the last page. The trick of a good writer is to leave the reader wanting more.
Perhaps the most difficult element for some writers is finding the right ending.
I have read a number of books that held me until I got to the last page. I feel cheated when an ending just does not fit, and the book ends abruptly. It almost seems the writer surrendered at the end, and just wanted to get the book done!
As writers, we must pay as close attention to page one as we do to the very last page of our writing.
One element that contributes to holding me as a reader is the writer’s attention to detail. For example, I recently read the book Half of a Yellow Sun by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. My senses were totally activated as I smelled, tasted, heard, felt and saw all the images that were so craftily placed in front of me. Set during the Nigerian Biafran War of 1967-70, some images were pungent and distasteful, yet some were absolutely beautiful. All were as the author intended.
This writer understood the pay-off of detail in her writing.
I always go back to the subject of the senses because it is in this reservoir that we can tap into and deepen our choices of language and imagery. The more we can unlock our own inner senses, the more we can hold our readers page by page. It is not enough to describe an object by its name. The reader wants to know colors, texture, weight and size given in descriptions.
The reader wants to see and feel.
A useful exercise is to consciously choose times were we use all of our five senses: really seeing what surrounds us, really hearing the sounds that invade our space – tasting, touching and smelling our environment. Much can also be discovered by taking a sacred walk alone inhaling nature, passing a restaurant with aromas begging to be identified, or by listening to others speaking in conversation as we pass them, trying to make sense of a phrase we may have just heard.
These reflections can fuel our writing.
Let us keep stripping away the veneer of the obvious to find greater detail in our writing that titillate the question: “Have I conveyed all that needs to be said?”
For more information, contact Adilah Barnes at The Writers’ Retreat in Sharpsburg, Georgia., OR Thewriterswell@yahoo.com
