Hey guys, What do you guys look for in your everyday reading? What makes a good book to you or what qualities in a book stand out the most to you? I am conducting research for a school project and I need to collect everyone's responses. I have created a short 30 second survey and I would love it if you could please fill it out. The more people I get the better grade I get! The simple question asks about what you value the most in reading. Thanks! https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZMP6CVQ The survey asks about tone, clarity, artistry in details, emotional impact mood, etc. Im looking forward to this discussion!
There's nothing in that survey about character, setting, or plot--the things that most people care the most about.
I didn't fill it out. If it's about what I care the most about, I can't fill it out, because none of those things are included. I pointed out that problem. It appears that you didn't read my post?
I just clicked the "submit" button after pressing a few of the choices at random. Hope it helps. I like books that prove I'm right about stuff. Sometimes it happens that I'm not right, so I like books that point out the things that are so I can adopt them and be right again.
Well I filled out the survey, but I feel there are a couple things wrong with it. Like @ChickenFreak said, it is missing a section for compelling characters. I mentally lumped them under emotional impact. There is nothing about the setting or plot. Plot is a huge factor for me. I ranked them based on what was there, but it wasn't all that easy. The second issue I found with it is that the explanations were a bit convoluted... I think they should be simpler, more straight forward. I represent a member of the busy college audience and having to slow down just to understand what the sentences are saying was a big turn off for me. I like to move through these things quickly (I get enough exams as it is. ) If you can simplify it, I highly suggest you do so for your audience.
I would offer the OP suggestions about how to improve the survey, but I don't want to mess with his style and voice. Anyway, I guess I'll take the survey now because why not?
What are you trying to say, man? Got a problem with my suggestion?? @MLM thanks dude! I saw it and thought it would make a great avatar.
Yes, I do. I think the survey should be more convoluted, not less. As a lover of postmodernism, I love complicated works because that means there is more room for interpretation.
I'm not going to take the survey, because I don't have time right now. I'll throw my two cents in. To me a really good book can be a "jarring, speed rap of a novel" as Stephen King described the Hunger Games, or it can be a book that rivals the Bible in terms of length and girth like the Eisenhorn Trilogy of Warhammer fame. But whatever the case, if I have read chapter one before going to work and I have forgotten to take the book with me, I need to be suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms until I have returned to read the rest of the book.
To me, a good book is easy to read and understand. It doesn't have unnecessary proses and it must have a good hook in the beginning. Background information about the world is okay as long as it doesn't cram down the plot. All descriptions should be short and fast paced so I won't get tired of reading the whole damn thing. Characters must also be interesting and behave like real breathing people. Only the important characters should be complex and give emotional reactions to readers. I don't care if the minor characters are stupid stereotypes. The hero is the one who must grab my attention. Too bad not all bestselling novels are like this.
Plot, characters, setting/world, Themes/morals(what it possesses and teaches, conveys to me), prose and writing. Pretty much the top ones.
I don't like surveys. There's not much difference between a seven and a nine but a world of difference between zero and nine and yet what does it matter? You could survey on book color covers - go with the favorite and still bomb. A good book for me is one that causes a reaction. Triggers some emotion, makes me think. A good book must have clear visuals. Sounds goofy until you realize how dry and vague description and metaphors can get. The characters must have a certain mystery - sort of like when you meet a person for the first time and even as you're getting to know the person you know you're still only scratching the surface. A interesting theme. Something that's clear and not broad - saving the world isn't as interesting as saving so-and-so.
I like a nice, detailed book, a book that is not too fast to hardly be able to cling onto but is not so slow you are sitting there, struggling to stay awake and silently yearning the book would END ALREADY.
