What Makes a Great Book?

[CleverGoat]

What makes a great book? Since school is over I have more time to read and I have been wondering about this question. Is it the plot, the characters, or the reliability? What makes it memorable and stays in your mind as a reader.

[powerplantanimations]

I guess it's whatever you specialize in? I think it's important to know yourself as a person before you make a book because who can do you better than you?

That's why I like to just... take everything I like and stick it in a blender. See what pours out. For example; I remember Genndy from Samurai Jack taking the transitions from a Football Movie called "Longest Yard". I also remember James Brown watching wrestling and being like "THAT'S IT! A CAPE!". Always be on the look out for inspiration. Then spin it as your own so you can be original without copying.

Preferably do this with old media/bad media since no one watches them.

[darthmongoose]

Well, it's a complicated subject... I say that with a degree in English Literature, so... basically a degree that's practically about "what makes something worth reading?"

Everyone has a different answer, and there's arguably a difference between "great" in the sense of "worthy of study" and "great" in the sense of "an enjoyable read" or "feels relevant at a certain place and time".

To further muddy things, advising somebody on what would make their book "great" in a literary sense may actually be a bad idea if their aim is success on a platform like Tapas which is definitely a place for popular fiction rather than literary fiction.

But... I'll try to boil it down to some simple points, because I personally found that my favourite area of study was books and plays (and comics, actually) that were written largely to entertain the masses but which have become beloved literary classics, like Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein and Shakespeare's comedies. I'll be using Fullmetal Alchemist as my example...

• Theme: A good story has a clear theme, or a small set of themes, it's exploring and everything should tie into that theme, often in creative ways that may not be obvious until you think about it. The main theme of Fullmetal Alchemist is "equivalent exchange", the concept that you can't gain something without sacrificing something of equivalent value... but conversely that if you sacrifice or lose something, you will gain something. The story consistently features characters trying to circumvent this law and suffering for it, and everything ties very neatly into this theme.
• Strong opening and ending: It needs to open in a way that grabs your attention and then end in a way that satisfyingly ties everything up. The opening of Fullmetal Alchemist is iconic and totally intense, and the ending ties things up nicely with a really cute and awkward proposal.
• The protagonist is active and has a good arc: The main character needs to feel like they're the main character for a good reason and we need to feel like the journey we went on with them was worth it. Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed has a very valuable lesson to learn about sacrifice and hubris that ties in directly to the theme of the story, and he's an active character who makes decisions that drive the plot forward throughout, and he comes out of the story changed for the better having learned from his own mistakes and the mistakes of his father.

[Swamp]

I'd say, in the most flexible terms: It takes me where it meant to

Did the junky romance have me on the edge of my seat, screaming at the villain and tearing up at the corny love confession? Hell yeah!
Did I spend the whole time thinking the villain was a racist stereotype and the romantic interest was a creep? It failed. Maybe it was a great book for somebody else, but it sure wasn't for me.

So let's say instead, the book a complex fantasy story trying to make me engage with a grey character while raising complex issues:
Was I looking for hints to understand the main character, discussing it for hours, and puzzling over the new perspectives it forced me to think about, all while genuinely invested in the outcome? Hell yeah!
Did it condescendingly preach about issues that weren't actually that complicated or well thought out? Or did it instead become an unreadably dense series of names with an inconsistent lead? It failed.

I think writing well is mostly about knowing the experience you want to deliver, then being able to deliver it. Your book will never appeal to the people who didn't want that experience in the first place, but the best authors to me are the ones who know how to get me to set down the book and pace around my kitchen going "OH FUCK OH FUCK I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING" or "I WAS HOPING, I WANTED THAT TO HAPPEN, BUT I WASN'T SURE" or "I CALLED IT. I KNEW THAT CHARACTER WAS OFF. YOU HEARD ME RIGHT?!" or "THAT WAS THE CUTEST DANG THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED"

Make me laugh, make me cry, make me unhinged with rage, but, for heaven's sake, do it on purpose.

[NickRowler]

I guess in my personal opinion, I like books that are odd or surreal. I guess when it came to books that bore me or I quickly forgot about, it was because they were so mundane.

I guess what people find interesting will differ greatly from person to person. I guess I have the patience to read long articles about mental and behavioral health while finding something like Fullmetal Alchemist sort of boring.

[system]

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