Amber Lin's Blog, page 9

What makes a good book?

I want something that takes me away. I want it to take me on a journey, preferably to dark places, but then to leave me feeling refreshed or optimistic or thoughtful. That’s entirely my reader self speaking.

But as a writer, it’s not about the sweeping effect. It’s about the details. What is the plot and how exactly does it fit into a story structure? What is the character arcs and are the motivations well defined? Is there too much telling? Too much showing (yes, this is a thing)? Exactly how many “-ly” words are on this page!?

Details. And somehow, the sum of these parts is supposed to equal a good book.

Except it doesn’t. We know it doesn’t always work that way. I have seen plenty of reviews that sound like… “It was really well written, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters.” Or, “The writing is good, but the story fell flat.”

I just can’t help but think…. no, then the writing isn’t good.

I realize this is somewhat semantics (can’t help it, I’m a writer, semantics matters!) but if we’re going to define “good writing” then it sure as hell ought to include making interesting, connectable characters and robust stories! It is easy as hell to delete all the adjectives. Easy enough to replace all my “to be” verbs with zinging and whooshing and burbling and all these active verbs. But if the story isn’t compelling or moving or something then it doesn’t matter at all. And in that case, it’s not good writing.

I have seen the opposite with the-book-that-must-not-be-named (*cough* 50 Shades *cough*). Same goes for its predecessor, Twilight. Bad writing, they say. And that’s the entire mystery. How does a book with bad writing become so fucking popular? Let’s analyze!

Or not. Because by virtue of the fact that thousands of smart, well-educated individuals like a book, it IS good writing. It’s entertaining them. It’s moving them. It’s sweeping them away into a story that they enjoy. As a writer, I should be so lucky as to entertain that many people!

I’m not reading those books, because after checking out the sample, it didn’t interest me. The writing didn’t move me, but I have my own examples. I loved the book Rose in Winter by Woodiwiss and yet I could see the problems in the writing. I skipped over plenty of effusive, dare I say purple, prose about foliage. I’m not sure this book could be published today, and yet the story is compelling and enjoyable. A great LaVyrle Spencer, Years, has head hopping very early on! That would have been a form rejection, as I understand it.

Hell, there are high schoolers sitting in class right now, snoozing over Shakespeare and 1984, but their boredom does nothing to diminish the work itself. It does not affect all the people who’ve enjoyed those works before and in the future.

What do you think constitutes a good book? Do you have any favorites where you know they broke the Rules of Writing? How important do you think the rules are to good storytelling? How much are you willing to give up for a good story and conversely what are you inviolable rules that must not be broken?