What I think makes good fiction

I have read enough novels and short stories over the years to be able to come up with a list of, what I believe, makes good fiction. The list I compiled has only 3 items on it, and you might be surprised by what I left out.

When I sat down to write this post, I wrote it specifically with the novel in mind. Short stories are an entirely different breed and require a slightly different way of analyzing them.

The Ending

Nothing can ruin an entire novel like a bad ending. Many times I have read a novel that I was completely absorbed in, couldn’t put it down, only to discover it had a really crummy ending. This makes me feel cheated and used.

Bad endings are usually ambiguous and leave me saying “That’s it?”. Or, God help the author who dares to end a novel where the entire story turns out to be a dream. A lot of bad endings seem forced and contrived, as if the author couldn’t think of anything better so he just tacked something on the end to get it over with.

When a novel has a good ending, however, it will stick with me and I’ll keep thinking about the characters and how they made it (or didn’t make it) through whatever predicament the author threw them into. It’s a very satisfying feeling to read a novel with a good ending. Also, after reading a novel with a good ending, I want more. I begin to hope the author will write a sequel to keep the story going.

Characters

A good, well-rounded, unique character will float around in your head for years after you put the novel down. I still vividly remember a character from a Kim Stanley Robinson novel I read back in 2007.

Characters are the backbone of any story. I love it when I can follow a character through his/her daily routine and still get a sense of the plot moving along. This takes real skill on the author’s part. In general, I want to know what a character is like in all facets of his/her life.

A bad character can ruin even the most exciting and engrossing plot. I remember trying to read The Cell (not deserving of an Amazon affiliate link) by Stephen King and didn’t make it through the first chapter because the main character was completely unbelievable. It was something he said that seemed forced and made the character appear fake. That’s when I closed the book and picked up another book. You can read a specific post I wrote about The Cell at I’m Giving Up On a Novel Today.

Author Style

This one is a little more subjective than the others. For example, I love the style of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I can’t stand Ernest Hemingway. I love the style of the late mystery writer Robert B. Parker, but I don’t like most other mystery authors. And bestselling author James Patterson? Forget about it.

Style is something a author develops over years and years of writing. Style is also the product of being a voracious reader. Style cannot be taught (it is sort of learned, however, through the years of writing) and each writer has a very unique style – almost like a fingerprint.

It’s hard to say a lot about style because so much of it is hard to pinpoint. Style is one of those elements of fiction that you subconsciously notice for better or worse.

What about all that other stuff?

You’re probably wondering why a novel’s opening page or two isn’t on the list. After all, isn’t it important for a reader to get sucked into a story right away? Yes and no. I’ve learned that with a novel a slow beginning usually has no bearing on how the rest of the book will play out. I’ve learned to be patient and hope the novel picks up the pace (they usually do). It also takes a while to get to know the characters and get into the plot a little.

Setting is important, but it usually doesn’t make or break a novel – especially in literary fiction where the setting takes a backseat to strong characters. Plot is also important. I didn’t include it because even the best plot can be ruined with bad characters, a bad ending and so forth.

In the end, there are a lot of ways to judge fiction by. I gave my own qualities that I look for.

What makes good fiction for you? Leave a comment below and share you answer.

Related posts

• Literary vs. Genre Fiction
• Plot Vs. Character based fiction
• 5 Lessons I’ve learned about writing dialogue in fiction
• Why is some fiction literary and why does it matter?
• Revisited: Reasons Why I Love Short Fiction

Read More: Reading