The popular book term DNF, which means Did Not Finish has originated from the Booktok, Booktube and Bookstagram community. Many readers see this as a positive way to stop spending time on a book if they aren’t vibing with it. I’m going to let you all know some of the top reasons for why readers may choose to DNF a book.
- Slow Writing
There’s nothing worse then a book that has a slow pace. This can make it difficult for a reader to attempt to finish the book, and can easily make them want to DNF it. An author should make it their goal to instantly attract the readers attention, and to make sure that they write a book that is a page turner, and something that readers won’t want to put down. Aka, unputdownable. (Let’s pretend that’s a real word)
2. Triggers
Certain books may explore sensitive themes that may end up triggering a reader and could make them too distressed to end up finishing the book. Thankfully, it can be very easy to Google trigger warnings (aka TW’s) for popular books, but it shows more dedication and consideration for an author to include a list of any potential triggering topics that may be in their book. If a reader goes into a new book without knowing the triggers, they may end up choosing to DNF it.
3. Doesn’t Meet Expectations
This means that sometimes a book can end up being advertised in a slightly false way. For example, since the enemies-to-lovers trope is so popular at the moment, an author could easily fudge the truth a little and market their book as enemies-to-lovers when it might not even be close to that trope. This is an easy reason for why readers may opt to DNF a book. As an author you should be honest with the plot that’s in your book. If you’re not then you could definitely end up receiving negative feedback from the book community, as well as multiple DNF’s.
What do you think about DNFing a book and have you ever decided to press pause on a book you’ve been reading?