User Friendly

Jennifer L Hart for Writers Gone Wild.

User friendly. In today's modern world those two little words are like magic. Technology is everywhere and what has the power to make or break a new product / service is how well the average consumer will adapt to it.

Kindle? Bam! the most user friendly device I've ever owned. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

My new Droid 2 Smartphone? Damn thing is smarter than I am. It does have a few quirks that I'm adjusting to, but having everything right there in my purse is brilliant.

iPod and iTunes? I'll admit, it took a little while for me to get used to this one. The device itself was straight forward but the iTunes store was a challenge. I make the audiophile husband navigate that one for me.

Photoshop? Kill me now. I look at that the same way my grandmother looked at the VCR. "Nan, put it on channel three. Pop in the tape and push play. When it's done hit eject. " No dice. My mantra never made it past her wariness.

All this talk of user friendly made me think about books. Specifically science fiction romance books. I've set up a hell of a challenge for myself when creating No Limits. I've taken two niche markets, science fiction romance and erotic romance and blended them together. SFR on it's own is kind of a tough sell. It takes a unique individual to appreciate the oddness this subgenre has to offer. Aliens, sex, adventure, space ships, the great unknown in space and the depths of the human, or extra terrestrial heart. Science fiction readers are loyal; once they find an author they love they usually see the series through to the end, no matter what course it takes. Romance readers tend to be veracious, gobbling up books at a rate that puts all the other genres of fiction to shame. You'd think with a baseline foundation like this that SFR would be an easy sell.

But as any diehard SFR fan will tell you, this is simply not the case. There is a very small overlap between the two and within that overlap, personal preferences abound. Heat level, ranging from the chaste kiss to five alarm somebody get the hose (That last one is mine ;-). Futuristic Earth, other planets, space opera, military, alien life forms, telepathy, telekinesis, sex slaves, empaths, shifters, lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!

So when thinking about how I'm going to promote No Limits I started mulling over what I loved about each genre. My tastes are eclectic and finicky. I'm not someone who will watch any old sci-fi movie or read every erotic romance. I prefer character-driven stories with an interesting plot rather than plot driven stories with interesting characters. I want to feel a connection to the hero and the heroine, the stronger the better. And I want to be wowed with a twist, to laugh and to cry to smile at a happily ever after.

That's a pretty tall order. And then throw in things that will turn me off to a particular book.

Too much back story, also known as the info dump. When I see pages and pages of technical detail I start skimming. Skimming means I, as a reader am not engaged with the story. I haven't given up yet, but I could easily put it down and find something else to do.

Characters who change for no good reason. This is a deal breaker. I will put down a book mid story and never pick it up again. Why? because the author set up expectations for the reader passed on the protagonist's or even the antagonist's traits. Change in motivation with no back up tells me the author is stretching word count to extend the story, something I can easily live without.

Ah ha magical solutions. I like to call this one the wet sparkler. Here you have all this time invested and then the author pulls a miraculous solution out of his/her hat. Oh the disappointment.You big tease.

Crappy Writing. Let's be honest. It happens to the best of us. Off days, rushed to deadlines, struggles with a particular scene. Lots of leaning on telling not showing, tons of was/were statements, repetitive words and phrases. But that struggle should NEVER show up in the final product. If it does, the author and the production team aren't doing their jobs.

Okay, now I want your opinion. What would make science fiction romance user friendly for you? Or if you just want to bitch about technology and how it frustrates you, please, be my guest.