Worried That Your Novel Is Boring? Here's How to Tell
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If you've written a draft of your novel, more likely than not this question has popped into your head: Is my book boring?
No one wants to think that their novel is boring. Ensuring that your novel is engaging and intriguing to readers is critical, whether you are planning to pursue traditional publishing or self-publishing.
If you’re worried that your novel is boring, follow these tips on how to figure out if your novel is effectively engaging readers or making them yawn. It can be hard to tell if your novel is as interesting to readers as it is to you, as you can’t see it from an outside perspective. Novels that bore readers tend to have certain things in common, so check your manuscript against this list to see if there are opportunities to make your story more interesting.
Switching Storylines Too Frequently
If you’re fearing that your novel is boring, first check if you switch storylines too frequently. This can be a problem if you have a lot of point of view characters or if you have multiple storylines taking place in different timelines.
When you flip between them too frequently, instead of becoming interested in all the characters or storylines, the reader becomes interested in none of them. Each character and storyline is likely to be underdeveloped, and so the reader can’t engage with any of them beyond a superficial level.
What you need to do is ensure that you spend an adequate amount of time developing each of those points of view or individual storylines. Those narrative threads need to have authentic characters as well as a satisfying story arc.
If you can't find the right balance between all of those different narratives and storylines, then you might need to cut one or two of them and focus on the ones that are effective in driving the story and retaining readers’ interest.
Prioritizing Action Over Reflection
The second reason your novel might be boring is if you rely too much on action. We've all heard the chemical rule “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” I have my own version for novel writing, which is “for every action, there should be an equal and appropriate reaction.”
What I mean is readers need to see your novel’s characters respond, both internally and verbally, to the events of the novel. If you just show us what's happening choreographically in a scene and don't take the step to show how the characters are interpreting what's going on, that's going to make the story fall flat. Readers want to relate to the characters, see how they progress, and follow their journeys throughout the entire novel.
But, we cannot get inside the characters' heads unless you take us there. So don't just show us what's going on on the outside. Dive in deep and help us understand how they are reacting to everything that's going on.
Showing your characters’ inner thoughts, feelings, and reflections can take the form of something as simple as describing a facial expression they make, or comments they say to other characters, or a line of reflection–often italicized–to quote a thought that passes inside a character's head.
The most effective novels have an equal balance of action and reaction, so if you’re worried that your novel is boring, make sure you're not neglecting those reflective moments.
No Emotional Stakes
The next reason that your novel could be boring is if the story lacks emotional stakes. Emotional stakes make the difference between a story that is engaging on a surface level and one that is deeply moving, memorable, and impactful.
You need to make sure your protagonist or protagonists have something to gain and lose in the story, because that is what will make the reader invested. If there are no negative consequences to their actions, then the story is going to feel trivial and meaningless.
So how do you determine if you have strong emotional stakes in your story? I'm going to give you a little workshop exercise, which is to fill in the blanks in the following statement:
My main character is trying to [blank], and if they don't do it, then [blank].
Take a moment and think about how this statement would look for your novel’s protagonist. Ask yourself: “Will the reader care to see if that character achieves that thing or not? Do they want to know if that character is going to accomplish that task? How bad is it if they don't?”
Working through those questions is going to help you determine if you have strong enough emotional stakes in your story.
Too Predictable
Your novel might be boring if the plot is too predictable. This is a tough balance to nail. On one hand, you don't want your plot developments to feel like they come out of the blue, because the reader's not going to like being hit with random events that don't feel justified. On the other hand, you don't want to be too obvious and spoon-feed the reader the developments before they happen, because then those developments will feel lackluster.
For example, if you have a story where a major development is two exes getting back together, you might not want to show the individual characters excessively talking about how much they miss the other. That's going to signal to the reader early on that these characters are probably going to get back together, because they're constantly talking about the other in their individual storylines. So to keep the reader on their toes, you want to be careful with how much information you give.
One solution here that allows you to maintain some surprise but doesn't make your plot feel random is to give your characters multiple avenues for how things could unravel. With the above example, you could have the character talk about missing their ex but then also talk about another potential partner. That way, the reader will understand why the exes get back together later in the novel, but not necessarily have known the whole time due to the potential other relationship.
Making simple adjustments like this to the plotline can help your novel feel fresh, exciting, and not too predictable.
Thin Characters
Something else to check if you’re worried that your novel is boring is the depth of your characters. It is so critical that your characters read like thinking, feeling, and breathing people, because that is the only way your readers are going to relate to them. If your reader doesn't connect with your characters, then they are most likely not going to be emotionally invested in the story.
No character should be all good or all bad, because in real life, people aren't that way. The reader needs to understand each character's individual motivations, fears, and concerns to engage with them as complex characters.
Make sure to do each of your characters justice. Don't cut out major parts of their backstories if they prove important to the narrative or how they act in the story.
This becomes especially important if you have an antagonist. If your antagonist does something terrible in the story that is also a key plot component, but you don’t show the reasoning behind why they made those terrible decisions, you are shortchanging that character. Diving deeper into that antagonist’s character is likely going to make for a much more engaging story.
If you’re fearing that your novel is boring, I hope those tips help you think through your story purposefully so you can make it more engaging and interesting.
To be honest, the very best way to tell if your book is boring or not is to have others read it. I know how scary sharing your story can be, but try to take this step if you haven’t already. If you work with a beta reader or a professional editor, they can help you answer the tough question: “Is this story engaging, or did it bore you?”
Ultimately, you want someone who's going to give you honest and critical feedback, not just tell you the story was interesting to protect your feelings. But before you embark on the feedback journey, make sure you're prepared for that honesty too.
Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!