I’ve noticed a trend in stories in recent years that tends towards quick, easy reads. Novels with a relatively straightforward plot, short scenes and chapters, one or two POV characters. There’s a good reason these types of stories are popular – they’re easy to read and easy to write. A skilled author can easily crank out two or even more books a year. A reader can enjoy an entertaining story without taking a lot of time or mental energy. 

And in today’s always-busy, always-stressed world, that’s a good thing. An easy read is a great way to unplug – and any sort of reading is better than doomscrolling on social media these days. I enjoy the occasional “fluff” read myself. Sometimes a predictable plot and bite-sized chapters is the perfect brain break. 

But there’s still room for long, complicated, difficult reads. I’m not putting down anyone’s personal preference when it comes to books – with today’s technology and resources, anyone can find something they like to read. There are readers who want the quick and easy reads, and there are still the readers who want the verbose, detailed, complex reads. 

My reading preference – and writing preference – is the latter. I like epic storylines, large casts, complex problems to solve, and lots of wordy descriptions. I know that what I write is not “on trend” at the moment (and probably never will be). I’ve always subscribed to the concept of “write the book you want to read.” I do that, and I figure that there has to be at least a handful of other people on the planet with similar reading tastes. 

You will find one or more of these in almost all of my stories: 

-Names that might be tough for an English speaker to pronounce. Regular readers of fantasy and sci-fi are used to this. Most of the weird names in my published books are actually real (such as all the Finnish names in The Vanished Reindeer). I do enjoy making up names and words too, though, and you may see a lot of those in future books. 

Many books with hard-to-pronounce words have a glossary or pronunciation guide at the back. Even for those that don’t, I still consider such books well worth reading. Training your brain/inner voice (or your ears, if you’re listening to an audio book) helps keep you mentally sharp. Creating new wrinkles in your brain and learning new things is one of the (many) benefits of reading, even in works of fiction. Which leads me directly into my new two points… 

-A word or two that might send you to the dictionary. I actually enjoy learning new vocabulary words when I’m reading. I also enjoy going to Wikipedia or Google to learn more about a topic in a book. Now, I certainly understand not wanting to be pulled out of the story every other sentence because of words you don’t understand. But I think there’s value in the occasional five-dollar word that educates the reader in addition to entertaining them. In my books, I hope that most of my “big words” can be mostly understood from context. But if I drive you to Google or your dictionary app a few times, I don’t apologize for it. 

-A little bit of math and physics (or astronomy, or geology, etc.) I’m a bit of an amateur science nerd, and so those interests come through in most of my writing (I frequently have a scientifically-minded character or two, such as the title character in Mrs. Jones and the Radium City). I don’t expect all of my readers to be science nerds (which is why I try to keep the technobabble pretty basic, usually, and also often mix magic in with the science – because it’s fantasy, after all!) Again, I don’t apologize for including any geek-speak or esoteric topics in my stories; if a reader is put off by that sort of thing, then my books aren’t their best choice of reading material. But since I enjoy going down a research rabbit hole off a topic from a fantasy or sci-fi book (or historical fiction, too), I assume at least a few other readers will, as well. 

Complex stories, unfamiliar topics, and difficult words use different areas of the brain that aren’t always exercised by easy reads or watching videos. Again, there’s nothing wrong with a light, easy book, or watching movies or internet reels. But long, difficult books have their place as a tool that can help grow attention span, critical thinking, and just knowledge in general. 

I’m a big supporter of exercising your freedom to read what you want. I’m also a supporter of reading a wide variety of things – because in so doing, you might learn new things, and you might even find your new favorite book! 

Like what you’re reading? Buy me a lemonade!