Throwing us off

I like to read books. There’s a calming effect to the casual glance along the pages. There is also an emotional exchange. The reader chooses to suspend their disbelief so that they can follow the story. The reader makes a mental commitment to follow the storyline. Because of this, I get annoyed when authors do things that jolt readers out of that mental state.

There are a few things that could cause this result. One, words that don’t fit the surrounding world of the story. For example, an overly fanciful name for an average character in today’s world.

Another thing that could “lose” the reader is inconsistency. Surprises can be great for your story, but not if they come unexpectedly and leave no mark on the rest of it. For example, a character who has been mostly timid and unsure of themselves should not have a bold confrontation with their boss, then return to being timid without any explanation to the reader about this sudden uncharacteristic shift. It’s different if the character grows from or towards that experience, but not good if it just suddenly happens.

A sudden reference to the “real world” can be very jarring if it’s not done tastefully. References like this are usually intended to be humorous. Perhaps the author is poking fun at another author. Or they simply want to make us laugh by letting our characters experience something that we the reader have experienced. These references need to be subtle to work. And of course, you’d need to refer to something that most people are going to get.

Unrealistic characters and circumstances will also exhaust our suspense of disbelief. Characters and situations should be cool, yes, but if it’s so over-the-top that the reader is constantly comparing the them to reality and saying “this could never happen” then the reader isn’t plugged in anymore.

Of course, a lot of this will depend on the reader themselves. Some readers are more cynical. Some become absorbed in the story more easily than others. Some are more forgiving than others.