Haha. I’ve always thought, that the crap you have to slog through was added by the publisher just to make the page count. And the author..who has spent his check already..just has to let it go and endure…hahah.

Look at some of the old piers Anthony novels. Solid front to back. Not until like book 5-6 does the “center slog” start. That’s just one example off the top of my head

Precisely! For a while there I thought it was just me. But then I realized 12 authors 15 books couldn’t just be me.

Haha it has been a complaint of mine for years. Get a fantastic opening cruddy middle where you slog through just to get to a better than average end. But obviously, it’s a formula. Otherwise we wouldn’t have it in every friggin novel.

There is an extremely fine line between being a good storyteller and an author. I can spin yarn and tell stories from my past and make them interesting for the listener or the reader. But trying to string that out over the obligatory 300 pages is tough to do. I hear what your saying..the first nine book of Lee Child were fantastic page turners. But the last three have been “Meah” because he has thrown off some to his brother of because the details that are superlative to the work just get in the way. Tolkien did the same thing I really don’t need five pages describing clouds