Originally posted July 24, 2008

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Once in a while I simply can’t believe an impossible thing. It’s just too much. Recently I came across two impossible things and I thought I’d explore the world of wallbangers. As a corollary to Meriam’s recent post about the rules of romance, I thought I’d ask a few questions about your last couple of wallbangers, aka DNFs. Are rule breakers automatically wallbangers? Are they unrelated? Intertwined? After thinking about it, none of my DNFs were due to breakage of the rules Meriam listed.

Speaking for myself, wallbangers generally fall into four general categories. I find my reasons drift across genres. Not only that, age of the book doesn’t seem to make a difference either. In other words, I’m just as likely to toss a ‘classic’ against the wall as I would a new release if the classic makes it into one of my categories. Another issue is that I’ve a relatively large TBR bookcase which severely cuts down on my motivation to continue reading books I have problems with.

I alluded to the first category in the first paragraph. Sometimes I simply can’t suspend disbelief or perhaps I don’t believe enough. It depends which side of the coin you’re on, I suppose. One of the DNFs I blogged about had several plot devices that, taken together, were one device too many. Singly it might have been fine. Clumped together in one book, not so much. It depends on how the author presents unbelievable things too. Readers can always think of at least one example that breaks the rule, but we’re not necessarily discussing the exceptions here. We could if you really want to, but I’m not prepared to discuss those today. Too much thinking is bad for me, especially in the summer. LOL 

The second category is for characters I don’t like. Really really don’t like. Generally speaking I’m talking about the main characters. I often enjoy and root for secondary characters I dislike. I have to like the hero and the heroine especially in romances. If an author wants me to root for the relationship she’s building between her characters I’m a reader who needs to like them. At least one of them. Again, one can always think of exceptions, but primarily I have to like your folks. In other types of fiction, this rule isn’t so hard and fast.

Third is for characters who do something I probably wouldn’t approve of or tolerate or be able to come to terms with if that person was a real life friend of mine. For example, in one romance I read the “hero” had sex with the heroine’s sister and fully intended to hide this fact from her unless forced to come clean. Even when his best friend urged him to tell her he consistently and strongly refused. Um. This person is NOT hero material for me. I hope for and expect growth from characters, but there is behavior that throws me totally out of a book, sometimes for good.

Fourth: language, characterization, plot or word usage that I feel doesn’t fit with a book. Note that I said feel, not that something definitely is wrong with usage or setting. I’m not a historian or a linguist or a grammarian, but I do need things to mesh properly. In one book set in 1821 the author used the word cartel in the modern usage (last 80 years) in dialogue. Even though cartel has been in usage since the seventeeth century, it didn’t sound right, didn’t feel right the way the author used it in her book. Dropped me right out. A pet peeve of mine is names. Meaning contemporary names given to characters in historical novels. Place names, ie: Devon, Brittany, etc. given as first names especially in UK set historicals. I either won’t buy them or else they get traded immediately.

Those are my reasons for wallbangers: being unable to suspend disbelief, dislike one of the primary characters, behavior or attitude I find wrong no matter the circumstances or reasons, and issues related to the author’s research or writing (or maybe editing?). What makes a book a DNF or a wallbanger for you? Are these reasons usually consistent? Do you always finish a book no matter what?

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