# Characters, Plot, or Style? What floats your boat?



## Anotherdreamer (Jan 21, 2013)

Every reader loves when all three of these elements come together to form brilliance. But, what can't you live without? 
For me, it's the writing style. If I love the way a writer strings their words together, I'd read about Bubba going to the zoo twenty times. I've walked away from books with brilliant plots because I just couldn't stand the style. 
I wanted to know what everyone's nonnegotiable is? 

I added a poll. I can't help myself. I LOVE THEM! So easy to gauge the general consensus at a glance!


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

All of the above.

Mike


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I think for me it's a tie between plot and style -- I can live with less than great characterization (but not bad characterization) if the style is good and the plot original and interesting, but if the style is poor or the plot boring, I probably won't like it no matter how good the characters are. But really, that's by no means a cut-and-dried thing: they and any other elements you can think of all should work together and reinforce each other -- a case where it really can be more than the sum of its parts.


----------



## LilianaHart (Jun 20, 2011)

If I don't love the characters I'll put the book down. I don't care how great the writing or how interesting the plot.


----------



## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Plot. Then characters. Then style.


----------



## Sam Durrani (Feb 13, 2013)

I can live with a plotless book and mediocre writing. But the characters need to be interesting enough for me to finish the whole thing.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Yes.


----------



## Robena (Jan 19, 2013)

For me, it's character, style, and then plot. If I connect with the main character he or she can take me anywhere.


----------



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

All of these. Different books will have more of one than another, which is fine. It's all good. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Clare K. R. Miller (Apr 6, 2011)

I think plot is my favorite. But, really, if the characters or the style is awesome enough, then a book will pull me through even if I can't find the plot. And it's hard to separate plot from characters, often!


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

NogDog said:


> I think for me it's a tie between plot and style -- I can live with less than great characterization (but not bad characterization) if the style is good and the plot original and interesting, but if the style is poor or the plot boring, I probably won't like it no matter how good the characters are. But really, that's by no means a cut-and-dried thing: they and any other elements you can think of all should work together and reinforce each other -- a case where it really can be more than the sum of its parts.


Just to clarify: I always need to be _interested_ in the characters (whether or not I really _like_ them, which is a bit different) so that I want to know what happens to them. However, I don't need a novel to be first and foremost about the characters' inner thoughts, long discussions with their analysts, and so forth: I can learn a lot about them from what they _do_ (plot -- including dialogue that is part of the action), not just by what the author tells me they're feeling. 

Ultimately, though, I sincerely hope that any results from this poll do not cause some author here to consciously decide to skimp on one aspect of creating a great novel -- that would be like a contractor who builds a great foundation and excellent framing for a house, then skimps with below-spec plumbing and electrical systems and puts a leaky roof on top of it: that house will still be a money pit no matter how good that foundation and framing were.


----------



## Anotherdreamer (Jan 21, 2013)

I think everyone's goal is to have all three be spectacular. My reason for asking is that sometimes I'll hear people rave about books that I couldn't stand to read because I found the style to be awful! There are famous books that are revered with lots of open critiscm about how difficult a read they are. I'm just trying to understand how people get past a bland writing style.


----------



## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Give me characters I truly care about, that are as real to me as anybody I know, and I will follow them willingly through awful plots and clunky style.


----------



## JumpingShip (Jun 3, 2010)

LilianaHart said:


> If I don't love the characters I'll put the book down. I don't care how great the writing or how interesting the plot.


I'm pretty much the same way. There are exceptions, however, as I can think of a few books that had a premise I loved but the characterization was a bit thin. Those books I liked, but could have loved. Some are pretty darn popular though, so who knows? I could be in the minority.

I love style too, for instance, I love Steinbeck's style. If I could take a pill and it would make me write like that, I would take it. I thought Cormac McCarthy's style in The Road was interesting and he can string words together better than probably 99% of the authors I've read--however, as stark and beautiful as the writing was, it left me feeling like something was missing. Plot? Probably. Not a whole lot of plot or plot twists. Character? For sure. He kept readers at an arm's length from the characters. I mean, they don't even have names.


----------



## Ergodic Mage (Jan 23, 2012)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Yes.


ditto


----------



## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

NogDog has a point about having at least interest in the characters, and hopefully liking some of them.  For me, Bonfire of the Vanities is the poster child for this issue....I despised basically every significant character in the book, and I remember finding only two adults in the whole book that I didn't seriously dislike.  And it also wasn't interesting....I can enjoy characters I dislike, but everyone in the book seemed so petty and selfish that I just didn't care.


----------



## authorflynn (Apr 9, 2012)

I'd call it more than plot, I'd call it narrative drive or throughline or even pacing. If there aren't questions in my mind that keep me reading until I get an answer, I'm just as likely to put the book down and forget about it no matter how wonderfully written and engaging the characters. Aalthough in truth I think strong plot is always present when characters are engaging because it's caring about what happens to them (plot) that keeps a read going.


----------



## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

tx dartrider said:


> Plot. Then characters. Then style.


Same here. I want a plot that keeps me turning the pages; makes me want to see what happens. If the plot is not there to keep my interest, even the most brilliant character development won't sustain me.


----------



## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I don't know if I analyze or think that much about a book. Plus, I am not sure what some of the terms used in this thread even mean. I assume plot is the story of a book? What it is about? That is important of course. 
The characters are very important. If I can't stand characters, I can't read anymore. I had to stop reading "Gone Girl" for that reason. I just didn't care or like the characters. I just had no interest at all in anything they babbled or thought. It was all bla bla bla for me. I stopped reading that one. I want to enjoy reading.

Style is that like how the book is written? As in do I connect to how the author writes? Is it too flowery or purple pros-ish? See, I am just not familiar with the technical terms of what is what. 

I just know if I liked a book or not. So I guess its all of the above? I guess?


----------



## RosanneRivers (Jan 21, 2013)

I can't live without amazing characters which I want to root for, but without the writing and plot these characters are useless! There really needs to be all three of these points and more (structure, relationships, progression etc).


----------



## brianjanuary (Oct 18, 2011)

I enjoy a clever plot coupled with an engaging writing style and solid story structure. Character comes last.


----------



## S.W. Hubbard (Feb 16, 2013)

I can't spend hundreds of pages reading bad writing.  If the writing style is awkward or amatuerish, I don't go beyond the first page.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

To me, style doesn't mean the same thing as the quality of the writing.  I don't much care what an author's style is as long as it's well written.  So I want good writing, good characters and a good story.

More than that, I don't analyze it.

Betsy


----------



## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

All three aspects are important, of course, but if I had to choose one, it would be _characters_, followed by plot, and then writing style. I appreciate "interesting" characters...quirky is good.


----------



## Les Picker (Feb 14, 2013)

Hard to disagree with just about anyone's comments here. I look at the three as legs of a stool; without any one of them it just doesn't work fo for me. I agree with Betsy and S.W., too. The style is not as important to me as good writing, with good grammer. Characterization is critically important. If I can't engage with a character then I lose interest. Finally, I have an issue with the notion of "plot." Yes, I love a good, racing story arc. But I have also read wonderfully pensive books that I get absorbed in; no plot twists, no heavy sex, no gimmicks. 

Rather, it's the combination of magic ingredients that create that delectable stew that keeps me turning pages.


----------



## Red Dove (Jun 11, 2012)

LilianaHart said:


> If I don't love the characters I'll put the book down. I don't care how great the writing or how interesting the plot.


Concur. I can't invest time in books that are a beautifully written series of skillfully plotted events unless they are happening to people I find interesting, be they good or evil.


----------



## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

For me it would be plot, characters, style, but I didn't answer the poll. That's because if any one of the three is really deficient, I'm not going to read the book. So while I say style is least important, if that particular author's style really irritated or annoyed me, it wouldn't matter how brilliant the plot and characters were. Like many things, it's a matter of degree. Most of the time, though, when I abandon a book it's because of plot failures.


----------



## Aya Ling (Nov 21, 2012)

Characters, definitely. I also can't tolerate books if I don't like the protagonist. And I find that books with characters I love are the most re-readable ones.

However, if it's a mystery or thriller, I can bear with mediocre/stereotypical characters as long as the plot is riveting enough.

Style...nah. If style is the only thing that stands out in a book, I'd get tired of it pretty quickly. I'd much prefer a solid plot and solid cast of characters


----------



## Evelyn15102 (Feb 18, 2013)

Characters are most important for me, closely followed by plot. I've read a few books that relied too much on style. It wasn't enough to compensate for boring story or weak characters, and as others have said, can be annoying.


----------



## rjspears (Sep 25, 2011)

This is a fascinating thread.  I fully expected that Plot would be most important, but it looks like (at least now) that Character is winning the race.

I did some thinking along these lines a while back and my initial conclusion was that all three were equally important, but when I stepped back away from it, it came down to plot.  For instance, I've been reading this series of books and the character was the draw for me and the plot was second.  Then I came to the 5th book in the series and the plot was a dog.  It was full of fluff and didn't advance the story or provide anything new.  That got me thinking.  I can take a novel with a great lead character that has an okay plot, but I didn't like a book with a great main character that had a weak plot.  

Obviously, I don't want a weak main character, but I think plot wins in the end.

--
R.J. Spears


----------



## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

rjspears said:


> This is a fascinating thread. I fully expected that Plot would be most important, but it looks like (at least now) that Character is winning the race.
> 
> I did some thinking along these lines a while back and my initial conclusion was that all three were equally important, but when I stepped back away from it, it came down to plot. For instance, I've been reading this series of books and the character was the draw for me and the plot was second. Then I came to the 5th book in the series and the plot was a dog. It was full of fluff and didn't advance the story or provide anything new. That got me thinking. I can take a novel with a great lead character that has an okay plot, but I didn't like a book with a great main character that had a weak plot.
> 
> ...


My opinion changes on this depending on my mood. If any one of the 3 factors really sucks, then the book is likely unreadable for me -- there is no preference for me in that case. But if we make it more of a question like, "If two of those factors were of decent quality and one of those factors was of excellent quality, which such combination would likely be of more interest to me?" (Or maybe, "If two of those factors were very good and one was decent but not as strong, which not-as-strong characteristic would I prefer?" Even then, I'm still not sure which I'd pick. Perhaps part of it is that they really are not that easy to separate. How much I care about a character is not just based on how the author describes that character, but how that character interacts with the plot, plus how the author's use of metaphors and other stylistic elements help me connect to what the character is doing and thinking. All the great word-smithing you can imagine is for naught if the plot is trite and the characters banal.


----------



## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

I'm not big on style as a self-standing entity. If I notice that a writer is trying for 'style' before he has hooked me on his characters and their problems, I stop reading right there. The best writers don't have 'a style', they have many styles, each adapted to the most efficient transmission of the material at hand.

But I don't see how character and plot can be separated. Unless you care about the characters (the technical phrase is 'identify with the characters' or, for the more pretentious, 'emphasize with the characters') you don't care what they do, and there goes your plot. The plot is just the events that arise from the problems and characteristics of the characters as revealed in their interactions, structured towards the resolution to achieve maximum suspense. The plot thus has no existence separate from the characters. 

That 'Character is winning the race' (NogDog) is simply a recognition by readers that without affective characters no one cares about the mechanics of the plot.

Of course, not all writers write equally good characters. Like many or possibly most intellectuals, my preferred reading matter is thrillers, novels of suspense, and some of those are pretty rubbishy when considered as literature (Robert Ludlum, Stieg Larsson, long lists anyone in this thread can probably compile at the drop of a hat) but with a surprising number of good writers (McCarry, especially in the early Paul Christopher novels, Deighton, Le Carre, Graham Greene, many, many more).


----------



## Anotherdreamer (Jan 21, 2013)

rjspears said:


> I fully expected that Plot would be most important


I agree. I'm not surprised I'm in the minority with style, but I didn't expect character to beat out plot.


----------



## silenceiseverything (Oct 8, 2010)

For me, the most important thing is to be intrigued by the characters.  A book can have the most intense plot and the most beautiful writing, but if I'm not interested in the characters, chances are I won't finish the book.  I assumed that the next important thing to me would be the plot, but realized that I loved many books that other people hated because they said there was no plot.  Yet, I liked them because they were beautifully written.  So, I'm going to have to go with characters as most important followed by style and then plot.


----------



## Hannah Holborn (Feb 27, 2011)

I need to fall in love with at least one of the characters to keep reading. Often is is the writer's voice that makes the characters appealing, more so than the choices they make!


----------



## NicWilson (Apr 16, 2011)

Style, hands down. I need to hear the authors voice, and it needs to resonate with me. If that element is right, I usually enjoy the others, even if the plot is nonsensical, and the characters aren't realistically written. Usually if you can't get the style right, none of the elements are able to show as strongly.


----------



## Guest (Mar 4, 2013)

I can't really separate characters from plot because in my estimation, the plot could usually be completely different if the major characters were.


----------



## ramsey_isler (Jul 11, 2011)

Plot gets me every time. First and foremost, I'm attracted to books that present interesting ideas in the stories. Characters are important, but I don't mind if they just serve as a vehicle to deliver an awesome plot. I can tolerate a number of flaws as long as the main premise and supporting events are captivating.


----------



## 123nancy (Dec 22, 2012)

I really do want it all. There are too many good books out there to compromise!


----------



## anna_masters (Feb 14, 2013)

With me, it all starts with the writing. I can't read a book if I don't like the way it is written, so I can't progress to following the plot or analyzing the characters. However, if the writing is good, then the characters rank the highest on the importance scale.


----------



## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

This was a tough one, but I came down on style as my first choice. If I don't like the style I wouldn't get far enough into the book to decide if I liked the characters or plot  .


----------



## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

Style draws me in, plot keeps me turning the pages, characters make me decide whether to finish the book. If I can't care about the characters, or they are so dull I don't even care what happens to them, I may never finish the book at all.


----------



## Heffnerh (Feb 1, 2013)

The characters! If I fall in love with them, then I'm down for any sort of experimental style. Even if the plot progresses slowly, I'll most likely stick it out for them. However, plot is still a close second. For example, if I read a book that contains a "murder mystery" as the central plot, but then forgoes the mystery in favor of romance, then I spend the entire book thinking, "Get back to finding who killed so-and-so!"


----------



## [email protected] (Oct 25, 2012)

Some say character drives plot, because plot is the action of characters. However, I think one can create characters to fit a good plot. Style is the crown jewel. Few can show unique style, such that it grabs the reader. I'm still working on that one, but aren't we all?


----------



## Andre Jute (Dec 18, 2010)

glutton said:


> I can't really separate characters from plot because in my estimation, the plot could usually be completely different if the major characters were.


Exactly. The story is built by the characters reacting to events. That is how the plot is constructed.


----------



## TerryS (Mar 29, 2011)

Magic, Battles, characters, plot.


----------



## pjmorse (Dec 7, 2012)

Plot, plot, plottity plot. Oh, and if there is an awesome action or chase sequence, I am IN.

Then I again, I am all about mysteries, so maybe that's why I love plot.


----------



## jasonzc (Dec 23, 2011)

This is really hard to rank. As others have said, it tends to be a combination of the three. 

Plot, then style, then characters.

Michael Crichton's "Prey", for example, had no characters I really identified with or cared about, but the story was fascinating nevertheless. 

As far as style goes, Tom Robbins could probably rewrite the phone book and make it immensely fun to read. 

I forget about most characters after I've read a book, usually. Only someone like King's Roland, or Heinlein's Lazarus Long, stay with me long after I've finished a novel or series.


----------



## Trowfit Health Fitness and Nutrition (Mar 17, 2013)

Great questions....I think all are very important, but to me when I read fiction...characters are so important.  I love reading series and I need to fall in love with the characters.


----------



## ThomasCardin (Mar 18, 2013)

I chose character, but a poor showing in either of the other two will also make me put a book down. I read fantasy and science fiction and I want the characters to feel real, the writing style to flow without stumbling, and the plot to intrigue and thrill me.

I don't mind tropes and cliches either--as long as the author takes ownership of them and makes the effort to create something uniquely their own.


----------



## Roberto Scarlato (Nov 14, 2009)

Gotta be Plot. I'm always looking for something different, something I haven't read before and is unique. A good plot can stand out.


----------



## Nessa Quill (Jul 16, 2011)

After much mental debate (yes, I now have a headache.   ), I have to say plot first, character second, and writing style last. If I'm not invested in the characters, the plot and writing style don't mean squat to me. The book has officially become either a laptop tray for my laptop (which I will use to find a better book), or go in the great abyss of donated books to my local library.


----------



## Guest (Mar 31, 2013)

Its a tie between character and plot for me, with style coming last... I tend not to analyse/notice a writing style unless it is truly horrible or really interesting. In which case it will tip the balance of whether I keep going with it or not.


----------



## Nigel Mitchell (Jan 21, 2013)

Oddly enough, I'd have to go with plot if I had to choose one. I can think of a lot of books I've read and really enjoyed that had mediocre style or vaguely defined characters. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking of "Jurassic Park," which had paper-thin characters. I mean, where was Alan Grant born? What made him become an archaeologist? No idea, don't care. All I cared about what whether he would survive the trip. As for style, Crichton wrote enough to get the job done, but I never found myself swept away by his turn of phrase. Still one of my all-time favorite novels.


----------



## Adrian Howell (Feb 24, 2013)

I'd have to go with characters first. Followed by plot and then style. I can survive a style I don't agree with (as long as it's well written in that style) and I can even survive a mediocre plot, but I have to fall in love with the characters. They have to be three-dimensional, evolving, engaging with strengths and weaknesses that I can relate to. Kind of like friends in the workplace: you can survive anything as long as you're with the right people.


----------



## CarmenConnects (Oct 15, 2012)

I read and review alot of mystery novels and writing style is usually the first thing that grabs my attention. I'll catch if there are "stutters," such as an unclear meaning, inaccurate word use, run-on sentences, too much description of minutiae, etc. As the book winds on there might be inconsistencies in the storytelling or in the characters' motivations or actions. But if the writing flows smoothly and there aren't any gaffes, a book can really sing.

Characters are the second most important thing to me--do they have unique and authentic voices? Do I know enough about what motivates them to care about who they are and what they do? Can I picture them in my mind's eye? Even secondary characters need a little bit of a backstory to keep a reader's attention.

Plot ties with characters, in my view, especially in a mystery. I'm not in love with any specific mystery formula (the whodunnit, for example) but look for the basic elements of suspense in each book: identifying with the person trying to unravel the mystery, pacing that doesn't drag, slow metering out of clues, and a few surprises.


----------



## Jeanne Marcella (Apr 5, 2013)

For me it's characters. I could drag through a boring plot or no plot at all if the characters had spark. Style is second.


----------

