what things are most important for you to truly enjoy a good work of fiction?

Question

plot? characters? a well-designed, seamless world that surrounds the story?

describe a work of fiction you truly enjoy, or a series of works. what is it about the work that hooked you? can you compare it to a similar work to help others enjoy it also?

Answer 1

So many books have hooked me that I'm hard put to select just one.

All things related to the novel must fit and flow. Characters must be clear and well constructed and they have to act natural, speak natural and not go out of character without a good reason. They have to grow, either better or worse but grow during the story. Some novels are plot driven rather than character driven but in either both has to be clear, and well written. Plots can't be contrived, or forced. Even in a SciFi novel there are rules to the "new" world and they have to be followed to keep the writer honest and the reader interested.

Of course the world the story is set in is important, but I don't want to be hit with information dumps to tell me that the sun is shinning and the wind is blowing... I want to see the the sun is reflecting off the windshield, the trees are bending under the weight of the wind...etc.

I like any good novel. I've read the Harry Potter stories, and love the world that Ms. Rowlings has built. She is consistant and true to her rules.

I read the Janet Evanovich mystery series. She is a riot as a writer. I found myself laughing out loud in the most embarassing places (one the bus, in the office on break, etc). Her books flow and quickly move from one blown up car to the next dog dumping on an avocary's lawn without a break in tension.

Victoria Thompson's mystery series set in NYC at the turn of the 19th century (1890's to 1900) is not just a gripping series of murders, but its an easy history lesson. Again Ms. Thompson is true to era, and the city, both social and physical.

James Patterson's many series keep my book shelves full of reading matterial.

There are just too many good writers out there to name them all but one leads to the next and the next....

Answer 2

The most important thing for me is good writing. I couldn't get through The DaVinci Code, because I thought the actual writing was so poor. The characters have to ring true to me. I can't stand it when a character in a book acts in a manner which seems solely for the purpose of moving the plot forward. I stop believing at that point. As well, the author has to play by his/her own rules. If they are setting up a world in which the characters reside and the action occurs, they need consistency in that world. And no sudden "discoveries" of things the reader didn't know about until the plot needed them - makes it seem like cheating.

Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake is a good example of a speculative fiction novel that passes the test. She creates a world in the future that is totally believable and seamless. The Stone Carvers, by Jane Urquhart is set in the past, but she is able to create such a vivid rendering that I could actually believe that I lived at that time. And both authors are masters of language. Vivid characters, fantastic ideas and a driving plot mean nothing if you don't know how to use words in a way that is engaging and interesting.

Answer 3

The most important thing to me is getting lost in the story. Let me clarify, I don't mean getting confused. I mean becoming consumed in the story and not wanting to put it down. This is usually accomplished by good characterization. I have to care about the characters. That being said, plot and writing style are important. There really is no perfect formula for getting it right. Every author has a different way of doing it.

One of my favorite authors is Orson Scott Card. I love his works because of his complex characters. Most writers only "flesh out" their main character and the rest remain hollow, shallow, cardboard type figures that the main one encounters without much substance. But Card fleshes out so many. Even the minor characters have motivations and strengths and weaknesses. But just because his books are in my opinion character-focused, doesn't mean they lack plot or style. All I can say is that whatever he does--he's hooked me.

Answer 4

When I read fiction, I generally want a well-written book that teaches me something and/or causes me to re-examine my beliefs. I usually do not care for pure escapist fiction, unless it is very well written.

For these reasons some of my favorite authors are ones you may not have heard of, such as Iain Pears (particularly "An Instance of the Fingerpost"), Arturo Perez-Reverte, and David Liss. These authors write beautifully, with well-developed characters and intriguing plots. I also very much enjoyed "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr (I've read it four times), and, believe it or not, I find J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series wonderful. Her books are beautifully crafted, with characters so fleshed-out that I feel like I know them, and with intricate plots that always keep me guessing. And what do I learn from what a lot of people take to be children's books? Courage, loyalty, perseverance, imagination, and the willingness to challenge authority, even, and particularly, when it is dangerous to do so.

Answer 5

Interesting characters I would say are most important. Next is a plot driven by those characters. I think plots work best when it is a necessary result of the characters and how they act. This is how Shakespeare operated. No character breaks for the sake of the plot. If your interests are American literature, read short stories. The best work of American authors is in that medium.

Answer 6

I like to be able to visualize the story as I read on; the characters must also be believable, and there need to be a certain amount of technical correctness, especially where military and law enforcement are concerned.

Answer 7

the scope of fiction in David Henry's "M. Butterfly"; the characters of Sidney Sheldon which feel real and close to my soul and understanding; the informative details in Da Vinci Code;

the spice in the retro Sidney Sheldon characters.. since you get so many similar people in real life too.

the hope in The Alchemist

Answer 8

My favorite author is Stephen King. One because I love horror stories, but mostly because, with King, you never see it coming. You can never second guess him. He's just as likely to kill off the favorite character as not, so everything is up for grabs. I like that and hate it too.

Answer 9

I love James Joyce...

Here is why...

" ...That she was a figure of the womanhood of her country, a bat like soul waking to the consciousness of itself in darkness and secrecy and loneliness, tarrying awhile, loveless and sinless with her mild lover and leaving him to whisper of innocent transgressions in the latticed ear of a priest."

From: Portrait of the artist as a young man.

This was written by Joyce, in the character of Stephen Dedalus about himself and the people in his real life... Things and places and people that he saw and related to specific to Ireland.

From a small town and a small life, He proved himself large, in imagination and his ability to transcend that, and move himself beyond his own limitations, out into a world he had little knowledge of, other than to unknowingly relate through words and experiences.

He turned life into fiction and fiction into life again and when it did come out on the other end.... Everyone was able to relate, Not just that Irish man on an Irish shore living in a Martello Tower... This can also, just as easily mean something to an Italian goomba from Brooklyn or an empty headed valley girl from California and can and does move both, With that artistic arrest that Joseph Campbell spoke of in his noble attempt at dissecting Joyce. That perfect state of appreciation without pretense or agenda that comes... just comes naturally in reading, looking at or experiencing art.

That... is good writing! When the specifics and details of one man can relate and spread out to the entire reading world.

Not everyone can just do that, and certainly not everyone can do that, this well.

"To Express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use- silence, exile and cunning."

James joyce as Stephen Dedalus.

Answer 10

First characters then a strong plot.