Young Writers Society

Personally, what makes me love a story is the characters. They have to either be real, or awesome, or both. When I say real, I don't mean they actually existed, only that their emotions make sense and they don't seem overpowered for their story. I think we all know what I mean when I say awesome, but I'll give a few examples anyway. Batman. Drizzt Do'Urden. Artemis Fowl. The Avengers. Maybe it's hard to suspend disbelief at those characters, but I'm not going to care if reading about them fighting makes me cheer inside.

I also want a story I haven't read over and over again. You all know what I mean. I read fantasy, and I'm tired of the stories where a teen becomes the chosen one and leaves home to defeat the dark overlord. Every genre has it's overused plots. If a writer is going to use one, to enjoy their work I need them to make it fresh.

Sometimes, a world lacking in one of the other elements will be saved because it's wonderful. Now I'm talking about worldbuilding. A created world can be totally nonsensical or feel like my backyard, but the description brings it alive. Sometimes I just want to keep reading to discover more of the story's world.

And finally, there's a mystery element. Sometimes the characters aren't awesome or real, the world is sadly lacking, and the plot's been done a million times. Yet I'll read it and treasure it, and if someone asks me why I like the story, I won't be able to answer. I just do

What makes good writing in your opinions? (I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it seems best.)What makes you want to read?

I definitely agree with the twice-read novels. There are some novels that, once you've read the ending, you just have to go back and read it again- the first time to fully enjoy it and second time to fully appreciate it.

My favourite novels are the ones that make me forget that I'm reading a bunch of black and white letters written by some angsty, coffee-drunk old man, and instead I just fall straight into the pages.

A good novel is one that you can sit with at stupid oclock in the morning, or under an umbrella in the drizzle and hail, or squashed between luggage in the back of a fart-infested car, and completely forget that anything exists beyond the book covers.

I always know it's a good book when I cry. I've always been a 'go back and read it again' kind of reader, I do it with almost all of my books, but the ones that really mean a lot to me are the ones that made me feel something. Books with overused characters or plots usually don't do that for me. Usually, I just say 'oh they're trying to copy harry potter' and move on. Every now and again however, you come across the books that you literally can't take your eyes off of. Yet another good quality in a book. Like Ten said, the best books are the ones you can read anywhere.

But I love the ones that I don't want to read anywhere. The ones that make me want to find a blanket, a big chair, snacks, chocolate and a drink and read till it's finished. Then start all over again. The ones that make me feel so much, that I don't want anyone to see how much that book has affected me. The ones that are private and personal to me. Those are my favorite kind.

What makes a good book is the crazy, weird, eerie sense of awe a story can leave you with. The books I remember most come from the quietest place I can imagine: my elementary school library. The school I went to had a pretty high rate of poverty, and a lot of the kids there had behavior problems. This lead to mass hysteria, shouting, and insane-asylum level terror around every corner.

But the library was completely quiet. The books seemed to absorb the sound, and when you leaped into one, it absorbed you, and you were running through the halls of Hogwarts, or deep in the depths of a mine, having a duel of wits over a little ring, or time travelling through flumes to fight a multi-dimensional monster. Or maybe you can feel the splinters of an old porch on your bare feet, and hear hound dogs barking. Or you can feel the bitter cold as you push a bicycle through a black and white world, where you've only experienced color through memories.

To me, what makes a good book is the atmosphere. The feeling you get at the library, skimming through the first couple of pages and saying, "Yes, this will be enchanting." In my experience, I've only got that sense of awe from books with a rich atmosphere.

Now mechanically speaking, good writing is the sum of its parts. If your mechanics are weak, no matter how great your world is, or how awesome your characters are, it's easy for the reader to lose all that if the writing isn't good. So it takes good mechanics, and also the ability to evoke rich feeling and atmosphere in the reader. At least, that's how I feel.

What makes good nonfiction? Is it dynamic presentation? Humor, or a story every bit as engaging as any novel?

Hmm. I don't read non-fiction often, but I do have a couple well-thumbed books. I suppose it's breadth and depth of information in a subject I find interesting(Like my book that has history, genetics, art, psychology, body language, and more about cats). It can be somewhat dry-I read genetics textbooks for fun-but I prefer for it to not be humorous exactly, but...I don't know. What does make a book "dry" or not?