Lately I've been reading an absolutely awful series of books, and I can't stop.

It's the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (a mother-daughter duo - can you think of anything worse for writing?) and so far I've read the first three (Marked, Betrayed, Chosen).

The basic premise of the series isn't terrible.  In this universe, vampirism is a condition that comes on in the teen years, and teens afflicted are sent off to the House of Night, a vampire finishing school.  Unfortunately, all the potential coolness of the concept is kind of sucked out by the lameness of the characters.

The main character, Zoey Redbird, is what one might call a Mary Sue.  She goes from being your average high schooler to the goddess's chosen one overnight.  She's got nifty marks that others like her don't have, extraordinary powers that magically solve any plot obstacles that creep up, and she has multiple suitors vying for her affections.

And she's just so...annoying.  Never seems to learn from her mistakes, reiterates her problems over and over again, and is so...teenaged.  I think part of the problem is that the authors aren't particularly gifted at juggling the various plot elements they've introduced, but their main character's waffling certainly doesn't help.

The end of each book leaves me unsatisfied.  Not in the good way - not in the "I'm going to read this book over and over again until the next one comes out" kind of way that you get with a great book series.  The feeling is more one of, "Okay, when are you going to actually resolve something?"  It's sort of like watching LOST.  Except even LOST gave a little here and there.  With these books, it's a definite can't-get-no-satisfaction feeling, and that's the only reason I've kept reading - because I want to know what happens and I keep hoping that I'll get that resolution.

There are more books in the series that have been published, but I've not purchased them, so it looks like I'll have to wait a while to see if this ever goes anywhere.

For my own writing, it has me thinking about ways to achieve that satisfaction while making the reader want to go on, and I think that feeling comes from great characters.  In series like Twilight and Harry Potter, things are more or less resolved at the end of each book - and indeed, they're that way in the House of Night books, too - but you read the next because you want to know what becomes of the characters.  When I read the Harry Potter books, only the first four were out, and I read and reread and reread until that wasn't enough and I started writing fanfiction.  I never finished reading Deathly Hallows because I'd lost that connection with the characters - because after Half-Blood Prince, I didn't really care what happened to Harry.  As for Twilight, I read again and again because I loved Edward and Bella.  I've never reread New Moon all the way through because I don't love Jacob.  And even though the books are done, I'm satisfied with the ending, but I still want more of them, and it's a good feeling.

That's what I hope to achieve when I start writing.  I don't want to have people reading on just to find out what happens plotwise.  I want them to feel bereft when the last page is turned.  I don't want them throwing down the book in disgust every few chapters (as I did with Half-Blood Prince and the House of Night books) because they can't stand what the characters are becoming.

I think, when writing a hero or heroine, there's a certain distinction that makes a character human but strong.  A character that never screws up or never struggles is boring.  At the same time, a character who doesn't learn from mistakes or who shows no force of will is equally uncompelling.

I think the main problem with Zoey Redbird is that she repeatedly does the same thing and expects a different result (that's the definition of insanity, right?).  And when a heroine creates her own obstacles this way, it's incredibly unsympathetic and needlessly frustrating.  Furthermore, it's boring to see a character overcome the same obstacles over and over again.  Imagine if New Moon had involved Bella getting bitten by another vampire and Edward choosing to save her again.  Yawn.  Or if Harry had spent all of Chamber of Secrets thinking Snape was the one opening the Chamber after spending all of Sorcerer's Stone thinking he was the villain.

Anyway, I don't recommend the House of Night books.

I think one of the things people don't realize about writers is that we have to look at what we read in a much different way than the average, non-writing reader.

That's not to say that we read better, just differently.  I've done both tracks of the English program at my school, literature and creative writing, and completed both, and there really are fundamentally different ways of looking at literature.

In a literature course, you take the text as it's given to you and look for meaning.  If something doesn't quite fit, you try to find a theory that explains it.  You look at devices in terms of how they enhance meaning.

But when you read as a writer, you acknowledge that sometimes parts of texts just don't work and shouldn't be there.  You look at devices in terms of how they enhance the meaning, yes, but more importantly, how they enhance the experience. 

When you read as writer, you think about what you would do if you were writing the story.  You think about which elements you would keep, which you would change.  You think about what you want from a book and how to achieve it.

So really, every time I pick up a book to read for fun, I'm still working on my writing.  It's research, in a way.

That said, I'm going to try to record some of my thoughts on the books I read as I have them.  This is something a lot of writers keep in their journals, but since I stink at keeping a written journal, I'll try to keep some thoughts here.  And, hey, maybe it will tell you what's good to read.