What makes a good book?

This is something I often contemplate. What elements does a good book have? What about a great book? What is it about the book I read that has me squealing, crying, or throwing the book across the room?

The answer is emotion, of course. If an author can successfully make a reader feel the emotion in a book than they have written a good book. I remember the only two books I have ever cried while reading: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Searching for David's Heart by Cherie Bennett. The first I read in high school the second in sixth grade. I'm not saying I never read other books that have made me sad, happy, angry, ect. I'm saying these ones were especially powerful and really got to me.

So, how do you make a scene especially powerful and emotional? I think there are three main elements.

First, you need to learn pacing. Pacing can be effective with emotion in your novel. If you are dropping hints of an illness, slowly building onto two characters' relationship, or have kept the plot tense, you are successfully pacing. Jamming everything together can be disastrous. No one wants to read two characters meeting on one page, be TOLD they grew together in the next page, then kiss by page three. When the reader gets to watch the relationship grow, that is is how they become connected to the story.

Two, give your characters life. If you're characters are boring, dull, lifeless, flat, 2D, then you need to spice them up. Quirks and pet peeves are great ways to make your character memorable. By making your characters, especially your MAIN character interesting (and likable or not, depending on your novel) the reader can connect and therefore feel for that character when something tragic or wonderful happens. Also, playing off this, do NOT make your characters perfect. Everyone has flaws, readers love being able to relate to characters.

Three, write your ass off. Not only should you be putting your own emotion into these gripping scenes, but you need to be writing them with precision. Double check your grammar, your punctuation, any typos? Fix them. Does it make sense? Is it confusing?If your reader has to pause and re-read a line or two, the emotional charge of the scene is lost.

So, now that you know these three secrets (they were never really secrets, by the way) you can now write a kick ass book.