First, a note, reading is my primary entertainment, I don’t have cable television (I have two network channels, that’s it) and I don’t download and watch films.
I reread my library (not my own work) all the time. I always thought everyone did, but I was having a talk with a writer friend and found out she never rereads a book.
This got me thinking.
I know that my fans DO reread my books, and my series, and I asked them why on Facebook. I got 128 main comments and comments on the comments…
And they reread for the same reasons I do.
1) Sometimes I read a book fast, just zoom through it, and I go back and re-read to savor, pick up details I miss. This is particularly true if there’s a mystery or suspense plot and I missed a clue.
2) The book is part of a series and I reread one or more previous books to recall what’s going on in that particular world at that particular time.
3) I know a book explores a particular emotion/topic/character that I want to think more about and I reread for that.
4) I know I’ll see something new in the plot or the characters, in the STORY when I reread.
5) I am deep in deadline or my mind is tired and I don’t want to plunge into the intellectual stimulation of a new world or story question but want some entertainment.
6) And, as far as I’m concerned, the best: Comfort. I like the world, I like the characters, I like the story and I want to settle in and visit them again. There are good lines I want to savor, there are laughs I want to recall and laugh with again. Or I want to be on that spaceflight and look out the portal at the stars, or journey with the drovers in nineteenth century England, or see, once more, how love unfolds between these two very disparate people.
One that doesn’t apply to me:
My favorite authors don’t write fast enough and I read fast and I’d rather reread a good story than try new authors.
One that applies to writers more than rereaders:
I want to see how that writer pulled a certain technique off. One of my favorite books is Northern Lights by Nora Roberts. I think it is a fabulous example of how to have a deeply depressed hero in the beginning and keep the reader not-depressed, interested, and reading.
So, as a writer, there are several ways to consider readers who do and don’t reread.
First, from the point of view of voracious readers who don’t reread. They will try and will buy a lot of books, probably zoom through backlists if they find something they like. Yay!
Rereaders will be loyal fans, they’ll wait and anticipate your next book. They’ll know what you’re talking about when you reference the Hawthorn-Holly Feud, the intelligent Turquoise House, when the flying horses (volarans) deserted the Marshall’s Castle, the size of Brownies… etc. If you’re on social media, you can interact with your readers, and build more of a following. Since they reread your books, they’re interested in your characters and stories.
I’ll talk about how readers and fans can help you out (non-promotional-wise) in some other blog, but now I think I’ll head back to that werewolf challenge scene I particularly liked….
My worst moment in childhood was when I realized I would never be able to read all the books in the world. I still keep trying though, so only occasionally do I reread old favorites like Wind in the Willows or The Yearling.