Investigated – Can an Author Redeem Themselves?

Have you ever opened a book, only read a part of it, did not finish it, and proclaim you hate the author’s work? Do you give the author a second chance or do you stay away from anything else the author writes?

For me, the answer to the second question varies. Usually, I’m all up for a second chance. After all, I would not be where I am today without them. And I firmly believe that everyone deserves a second chance. It really depends on what I did not like about the first book I read. Was it the story and plot? Or was it the story telling and writing style?

When it comes to disagreements regarding the story and plot of a certain story, you can almost bet everything you own that I will give the author a chance to redeem him/herself. Sometimes you hate a book because you don’t like the story. It happens. It’s not entirely the author’s fault. It can change, and the author can write a totally different story next time. The one exception to this is when the book is part of a series. If I don’t like the first book, I usually won’t read the rest of the series. Series are the one place the story / plot has a hard time changing. Especially is mystery series where they can be kind of repetitive a follow a certain pattern.

If it was the writing that I didn’t like, I’ll still usually attempt to read another book by the author. Maybe their writing style was influenced by the genre or who knows, they could have improved. If the second book turns out to be a bust, you can kind of forget it. That being said, it’s not like I go out of my way to avoid reading a book by an author I don’t particularly like. That only happens with series.

There is also another scenario. One that doesn’t actually involve reading the author’s book. One where your dislike of a certain author does not come from disliking their writing, but something they did or how they act. One that involves judging the author as a person. If an author is accused of plagiarizing and there is a substantial amount of evidence to prove that point, the author is NOT redeemable, unless they acknowledge what they did and how wrong it is.

In short, can an author redeem themselves in my eyes? The answer is yes. When I pick books to read, I don’t usually judge by author. Instead, I usually judge by synopsis, and I have to shamefully admit I sometimes I judge by cover too. Unless I really liked the work of a certain author I won’t really single an author out.