Don’t Bug Readers Over Silly Misperceptions
Don’t Let Your Misperceptions Get in the Way
We’ve all seen people who judge readers based on their misperceptions about a book — or even misperceptions about an entire genre. Don’t be that person.
What the Hell Do You Think I’m Reading?
A relative once saw me reading a horror novel. Naturally, assumptions were made. First, she somehow persuaded herself that all horror novels were about demons and possession. Second, she also assumed that the writers — and the characters they created — were stupid. Because she told me that all the characters had to do to stop the evil was say a prayer to cast out demons.
One obvious problem arises. What if the book isn’t about demons or possession? Most of them are not! A prayer is not going to stop a serial killer. (At best, it would make them laugh so hard that they dropped their knife.) Nor will it stop a werewolf or a vampire. Or a killer storm. Or a ghost. Let alone zombies.
Also, if all it took was a simple prayer to defeat the bad guy, horror novels would be two pages long and very boring, and nobody would buy them. (This is just common sense.)
