Four Elements of Fiction

My friend and podcast partner, Carrie, is the very definition of a voracious reader. She reads multiple books a week. She reads widely in many genres for many age groups. She’s a generous reader, pretty much always finishing the books she starts and finding something entertaining even in the weakest writing.

I am…not.

I’m not a generous reader. There are too many books out there for me to soldier on through a book I’m not enjoying. I have no problem DNFing.*

Carrie and I have had many conversations about our two approaches, and she explained to me the framework that she uses to judge books. It helped me understand why I might not like a book that someone else does like. I found the approach fascinating, so I’m passing it on to you.

Carrie identifies four elements that readers value in the books they read. Depending on which element a reader preferences most will guide their overall evaluation of a book. The four elements are

• Character
• Plot
• Worldbuilding
• Writing

Character

Does the book have particularly well-drawn characters? Are they distinct from one another in description, attitude, behavior, motivation, and vibe? Can you tell who is talking without a dialogue tag just by what they are saying or how they’re saying it? If you are attracted to the element of character, then books that answer “yes” to these questions will appeal to you. Oftentimes, such books will have myriad subplots involving minor characters that you root for just as much as the protagonist. An example of a book with well-drawn characters is The City We Became by one of my current favorite authors, N.K. Jemisin. The book features an ensemble cast, each representing a borough of New York City, and the author injects the tenor of the boroughs into the characters.

Plot

Does the book tell a story with many twists and turns that takes the main character on either an internal or external journey (or, better yet, both at the same time)? Do the story beats move along one to the next in a logical and well-constructed way that heightens tension? Does the major reveal happen at exactly the most satisfying moment for the reader? If these are questions you ask when reading, you are attracted to plot. The plot is what happens in the book, why it happens, and how it affects the characters. I recently read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and that book has a great plot – propulsive, surprising, and impactful on the colorful ensemble.

Worldbuilding

Does the book immerse you in a carefully constructed world where everything is both familiar and strange at the same time? Are there fantastical or magical elements that weave through the setting, changing it from our world’s expectations in logical ways? Are there maps? If you love maps at the beginnings of books as much as I do, then you are all-in for worldbuilding. Worldbuilding is most often seen as an element in sci-fi and fantasy, but any genre can have this element, even books set in the real world. A great example of a carefully built world is the futuristic galaxy constructed by Becky Chambers in her Wayfarers Series (beginning with The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet). In it, Chambers creates multiple alien species, each with its own history, culture, and relationships with the other species, and then the author uses them to explore social issues we experience here and now. I can’t recommend her books highly enough.

Writing

Does the book contain sentences that you find yourself reading over and over again because they are just so beautiful or haunting or moving? Are there descriptions that capture a character or place in a single succinct phrase? Do the words combine in such a way as to make poetry out of prose? If these are your questions, then you value good writing above all else. There are sections in the early pages of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss that made me weep for their beauty. I grew up reading The Lord of the Rings every year, and I fell head over heels in love with Tolkien’s lush descriptions.

---

Depending on which of these four elements you prefer, different books will appeal to you. I tend to value writing and worldbuilding over character and plot, so if a book is well-written I might forgive a plot that meanders. (My standards of good writing are pretty high – perhaps snobbishly so – which is why I’m less generous than Carrie.)

It’s rare for a book to hit all four elements with equal mastery, but when one does, it will be probably become a bestseller because it will appeal across a wide variety of tastes.

Which of the four elements do you raise over the others and why? Let me know in the comments below.

---

*DNFing = “Did Not Finish” a book.