There’s been a bit of a trend in publishing in recent years that’s irritated me ever since I first saw it and irritates me to this day; the act of putting a picture of the main character, or more than one member of the cast, on the front covers of books. It’s annoyed me for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never been able to work out why. However, I’ve finally figured it out, and for the sake of a blog post, I’m inflicting my opinions upon all you hapless readers. Have fun!
What the annoyance boils down to, for me, at least, is the factor of interactivity. I enjoy books for the same reason that I enjoy video games, that reason being that I like to be able to interact with the storytelling media I consume; after video games, I’d say that books and written works are probably the most interactive type of storytelling medium around at the moment.
It sounds an odd thing to say, that we ‘interact’ with a book, but when you think about, reading a book can take a surprising amount of effort and work from the reader. You are merely given the words, and it’s up to you, (with the assistance of the author, of course) to shape these words into characters, settings, sounds, sights, smells and tastes that exist only in your imagination. Reading a story can become a highly personal experience, unique to each and every reader; while the author can say that a character has a deep voice and red hair, how I imagine how deep their voice is, and what haircut their red hair is styled in, will most likely be different to how other reader visualise it.
I’m personally of the school of thought that an author should try and have only the barest details of what something looks like on the page, and that unless its appearance is particularly striking or is key to the plot, an absolute minimum of description should be used. It’s something I certainly try and avoid; I might mention that a character has brown hair, or that they’re black, but unless it’s vital I’ll leave the rest of their appearance up to the reader.
This interactivity is why I find books and video games so much more engaging and compelling than any other medium, even if their methods of interactivity are so different; unless it’s really good I just can’t ‘click’ with a television show or a film, as it’s all there. As an audience member, I have to work my imagination in order to enjoy something, and with films/TV, I’m often left with little to do so my mind wanders.
Getting back on the subject, however, what annoys me about the picture of the main character on the cover is that that interactivity and that personal element, one of things I enjoy the most about books, is taken away from me. Their appearance is plonked down in front of me and made into an irrefutable, objective fact, and I just don’t have the mental flexibility to shake that image and rethink it once it’s there. The personal aspect of the novel, one of its best aspects, is taken away from me; something that is mine suddenly has someone else’s idea shoved into it. Even the most detailed of descriptions will require the reader to fill in at least some of the gaps, but with a picture I’m left with nothing of my own to do. It’s the same reason why I find it so hard for me to enjoy movie adaptations as much as the novel itself; all personalisation is gone.
Of course, this is just my opinion and while, should the stars align and planets be in the right formation, I will make it explicitly clear to my agent/publisher that the characters will not appear on the covers of my books end of story, I’m interested to hear from anyone who does like it. Why does such a thing push your happy buttons? Why do you prefer to see the author’s vision of the protagonist over your own? Leave a comment, let me know; I’d be intrigued to hear your reasons.
Verbal Fisticuffs 