I don't mind nothing happening in a book, but nothing happening in a phony way--characters saying things people never say, doing jobs that don't fit, the whole works--is simply asking too much of a reader. Something happening in a phony way must beat nothing happening in a phony way every time, right? I mean, you could prove that, mathematically, in an equation, and you can't often apply science to literature. Nick Hornby
About This Quote

In a book, the story is all. It might not be a good story, but it must have story. If a new author comes along and decides to write a book where nothing happens, this is a problem. No reader wants to read a book that has no story.

In the same way, readers of fiction must want more than just a story. When an author decides to use some technical language in their novel, they are putting the reader to work. They are asking the reader to figure out what they mean and help them make sense of it.

This is fine on a math test or a science book but it isn't on a novel.

Source: The Polysyllabic Spree

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