Good Reads, Bad Reads

I have read some pretty bad books this year. Normally if I'm not into by page 75 I ditch it. But lately I've decided that even reading poorly written novels is important. Why?

Because I can see what's wrong with it. You know how you read a book and you know it's not good but you don't know why . . . . I've started to figure out why. This is all in hopes of improving my own writing.

What I've discovered is that most books that I want to put down are lacking the inclusion factor. I want to be drawn into the world. I want to love the characters. I want to feel what they feel and see what they see. This isn't just one flaw in all the novels but different missing elements.

So my hope to avoid this fate:

1) Backstory: Whether I use it or not, create deep back story for all important characters. This will round them out.

2) Infuse Emotion through language: If a scene should be happy or sad, I should feel it. I should laugh or cry.

3)  Ground story: The story needs to be based on some sort of fact or truth. Even in fiction the audience should be able to relate on some level.