What Makes A Great Book?

1. 59

   marinealways24posted 14 years ago

   What takes a book going from good to great? What makes a book horrible?

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2. 68

   waynetposted 14 years ago

   The publishers...they can market very well, even on the most boring books they can jazz up a promotion and it's an instant bestseller....
   
   And then the publisher, could ruin it by hiring the editor to take all the important character development out and it's a hollow piece of crap....self publish authors damn it...save your soul!!!

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   1. 59

      marinealways24posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      lol This is all it takes is good marketing? I think you shut the thread down with the first answer.

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3. 63

   Mishaposted 14 years ago

   I would think the text

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4. 83

   Rafiniposted 14 years ago

   ???  I think marketing is what makes a book successful or not.  Not to determine whether or not the book is good.
   
   hhmmm, gotta think...what do I like in a book, what makes a book I like, good?
   
   A lot of action, excellent characters, a colorful story (as in a colorful personality or a colorful person) humor mixed with drama...yeah.  that kinda stuff.

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5. 61

   Missi Darnellposted 13 years ago

   Wonderful, believable, relateable characters, action, detail but not too much still quick paced, great setting that I can imagine in my own mind, good structure, a great story that makes me laugh, cry and sigh when its over.

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6. 72

   lorlie6posted 13 years ago

   If I care about the characters in a book, that makes it a great read.  If I don't care at all, then I don't read far.

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   1. 78

      Shadesbreathposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      What she said.
      
      Anything else you can point out is why you care.

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7. 65

   wingedcentaurposted 13 years ago

   Good Evening Marinealways24
   
   Greatness isn't always something one can tell contemporaneously, is it? Are you a writer, asking how you can write a book(s) that will be read centuries after you're dead? Are you asking about how to write a classic?
   
   I don't think there's an easy answer to that. But one thing is certain, you can't produce great writing, writing for the moment. I hate to use this cliche, but the work must be "timeless."
   
   For example, - this is not a book but - Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is a great play. This is so because the themes it raises and ideas it explores are as relevant today as they were sixty years ago, when the play was written. The story proved to have staying power, as they say.
   
   I suppose what makes the play great is the fact that it examined American life from a perspective that wasn't being given much attention at the time, in the midst of the post war economic boom that was going on in America at the time.
   
   What makes a book horrible? A book can be horrible in spite of huge commercial success - that just shows the public (and I include myself in this) will sometimes swallow absolutely anything. A book may be a commercial flop, and deservedly so because its so horrible.
   
   What makes a book, painting, piece of sculpture, or movie horrible?
   Answer: insincerity.
   
   Insincerity makes a work of "art" horrible. This is so because there is no truth-seeking or truth-telling infusing it. The thing is merely a cynical attempt of the "artist" to get one over on the public.
   
   Take care.

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