WRITING
What Makes a Good Book?
Day 22 Preptober writing prompt challenge
Day 22: To you, what makes a good book?
Question from the Preptober 31 Day Challenge from the Character Collective.
What Makes a Good Book?
What? You mean, I get to answer this question? All on my own? Without having characters butt in? Oh, wait! I almost spoke too soon.
Me: No, no. This question is for me, y’all. That is to me, to me! Not to y’all up there in my brain. Okay, you’re all going to be quiet? Fantastic!
So, what makes a good book to me?
I’m all about characters. I mean, as if you can’t tell, right? That’s what makes a good book to me. It’s the same when I’m reading it as well. It is the characters, the character development, the flavors of the characters, the nuances, the differences, the contrast, the connections, the humanity, the weirdness, the quirkiness, and for me, it is the gayness.
I’m a neurodivergent writer. I’m a neurodivergent reader. And I can’t really sit through a book that tells me what to think. I can’t sit through a book that gives me everything in the physical space and doesn’t allow me to experience emotional connection. When you focus on the characters and people (or non-people, as the case may be), there are nuances that arise that can never be told in full.
That’s why I love characters.
That’s why I’m a character writer.
With developed characters, there is always the opportunity to embellish and project self onto, into, and through the characters.
If a book has flat characters with no depth, and the story just tells me everyone’s perception without allowing me to play, I don’t get a chance to experience and create my own connections, I get bored. There are a few very very popular books that I’ve never been able to read because I couldn’t connect to the characters — the story was all on the surface, just a bunch of things that happened. There was no depth. And that usually has to do with the lack of characters development.
Let me reiterate something I just said — These are books that are extremely well known, well-read, some of the highest-selling books ever, and I can’t get into them. Because the reason they are best sellers is that they are written for neurotypicals by neurotypicals, and I can’t resonate with that.
So short answer:
What makes a book, a good book to me?
Characters.
I mean, no one is really shocked that that’s my answer, right?
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