What's the most important thing for a book to have?

by Charley Bucknall-Smith
24th November 2013

I'm writing a book and I want to know what you think the most important thing to have is. What is it that grabs you and makes you want to keep reading?

Replies

As other people has said, it's really important to have a character that is complex and that you have to think about. But i would say that the main idea behind the story is extremely important. You can have amazing characters, but if the idea behind it is bad, no one will want to finish it

Profile picture for user tom.kava_29865
Thomas
Kavanagh
270 points
Practical publishing
Fiction
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Comic
Speculative Fiction
Adventure
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Thomas Kavanagh
06/12/2013

connection- at some point of reading can you identify with the MC or MCs? Whether you are reading about a wizard in a cave, a tiger visiting for tea, a holocaust survivor or a teenager having her first crush do the words resonate, seem honest, original and make you think?

A great book will differ according to the reader's age and maturity, but my identification with diverse characters have always driven my love for the book, be it Sherlock Holmes, or James Herriot, Harry Potter, or Anne Frank, Nelson Mandela or Primo Levi, Uncle Tom or Scarlett O Hara.

Profile picture for user santwana_24228
Sonya
Kar
270 points
Ready to publish
Film, Music, Theatre, TV and Radio
Poetry
Short stories
Fiction
Business, Management and Education
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Comic
Media and Journalism
Speculative Fiction
Popular science, Social science, Medical Science
Practical and Self-Help
Historical
Philosophy and Religion
Romance
Sonya Kar
26/11/2013

I think the character And the plot both attract me!

Profile picture for user neerajvm_28771
Neeraj
V Murali
330 points
Practical publishing
Film, Music, Theatre, TV and Radio
Poetry
Short stories
Fiction
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Comic
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Speculative Fiction
Adventure
Historical
Gothic and Horror
Neeraj V Murali
25/11/2013