I am in a reading slump. I rarely have to force myself to read, or it used to be a rarity for it no longer is. I keep picking up books that have one thing in common. They lack soul.
I don't know if the authors were just going through the motions (writing for a specific market) or if the soul was edited out and squashed by guidelines and the publishers blind notions of what sells. Yes. These books all came from the "legacy" publishers.
The thing about artistic talent (e.g. singing, painting, & writing/storytelling) is that it is one part practice/technique, one part gift/voice, and finally one part emotion/soul. The latter is the hardest part. We can quibble about what is more important, but surely you agree that all artistic productions need soul? When you listen to a perfectly trained singer sing a song without soul/emotion, you can tell the difference.
To give soul, you (the author) need to give something. It is the difference between a wooden, empty, cold story to one that evokes emotion (other than "OMG, why am I reading this schlock?").
Books that lack soul are often forgettable. This means that I won't remember them a week or two after I have read them.
Books that lack soul can also be difficult to read.
Books that lack soul do not draw me into the author's world. They put the reader in a liminal role at a far distance. It also underscores the alterity of even of a contemporary romance. It means I don't really care about your characters.
Speaking of lacking soul. I am also thinking that some people who write erotica do not understand what erotic means and that it can be more than oral and more than doing the deed. For instance, holding hands can be erotic. More often than not lately, sex scenes are the black hole for soul. It has become insert A into slot B and add some tightening breasts and clenching wombs. But, the penis envy as exhibited by authors who try to make the female body do something visual and more physical is a blog post for later this week.
My question to you is this: Are soulless books the new norm? Why are publishers and readers helping to promote this? Have you read any books without soul lately?
