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.

A Rather Judgmental Cat. (Source: Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash.)

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.)

Yes, I might know a bit about the horror genre. (Source: Photo by the author.)

But I did not respond to that relative’s assumptions because I knew my opinion would go unheard.

Oh, Yes, That Title Sounds So Disgusting (Sarcastic Yawn)

I once asked a relative for a book called English Country House Murders by Thomas Godfrey for Christmas. Yet my relative reacted with disgust. In fact, she actually said, “Eww.”

Would you say “Eww” to this? (Source: Review on A Green Man Review.)

If you know anything about mysteries, you could deduce that was an anthology of traditional mysteries. Think Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Dickson Carr, and many other writers from the Golden Age of Mysteries. Even if you don’t know about traditional mysteries, the title is as mild as can be. Come on…