Plot vs. Prose

A beautiful writing style and a great plot are a combination not often found in literature (or at least not in my view). But maybe the style of the writing isn’t all that important, as long as the plot is interesting.

Earlier this month I learned that Lauren Weisberger author of The Devil Wears Prada had written a sequel called Revenge Wears Prada. I had never read the first book, but I loved the movie and I had been meaning to read the book, so naturally I decided to download a sample of the sequel after reading a quick synopsis. The plot actually sounded fairly interesting, but when it came to the actual writing, I found it rather lackluster to say the least. I could visualize it sure, but something about it just didn’t read right to me… but I still want to read the book because I’m actually really interested in seeing where this goes.

Ever since the Casual Vacancy I’ve begun to wonder which is really more important, plot or writing style. A good book should be more plot/character centric but a great book should balance both plot and style, and for me I didn’t get that with The Casual Vacancy. It was… as always, great stylistically, but I found the plot lacking, and as such I really couldn’t manage to finish the novel. The same was true for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. The writing was interesting, certainly different, but in a good way, but the plot seemed fairly predictable, and the pace was tragically slow.

Admittedly there’s something to be said for good style, and a loud and very clear voice, but if the plot isn’t there, even the best voice in the world can’t make that less true.