Be quiet, I'm reading by Eric Beetner

 Have there been recent novels which had you laughing, crying, clinging to the edge of your seat?

My reaction to novels is mostly muted. I smile, rarely laugh out loud. I cringe, but don't feel compelled to set a book down and walk away. Maybe I'm just emotionally unresponsive, but the act of reading, for me, is a solitary and quiet one.

Of course I want all these outbursts and reactions from readers when they read my books. Who doesn't want a big reaction? Who doesn't want to illicit that knee-jerk laugh or tears? It means you did your job. But I also don't think simply reading in quiet solitude means the reader isn't getting the full emotional impact of a book.

I think the biggest compliment a writer can get is when a book makes you shut out the rest of the world, go quiet, retreat from anyone talking or all the tasks in your day, and merely get lost in a book. Whether you laugh, cry or emote in any way is secondary to the cone of silence that descends when you are in the middle of a great story and the rest of the world fades away. 

The connection we hope for as writers is that readers will relate to characters. Will believe in this world you created. And when that world which came from your imagination causes their real world to slow down, dim a little and be made to wait while your creation takes over, well that's the goal. 

Going for a joke or aiming for tears can be manipulative, if done improperly. But creating a fully-fleshed world of real people in real situations is what makes a book stick with readers. It's what makes us want to return to a sequel. Real people on the page make readers fall in love with them. And yes, if that character dies, then real tears can be shed.

So if I'm reading and I'm not LOLing, it doesn't mean I'm not fully invested in the book. I'm just lost in that world and nothing else is getting in, or making it out.