10 characteristics of an interesting book

Writing a book is a difficult task, and the one thing many writers get caught up in is this:

What makes a novel great? What are the components of a book that draws people in and makes them actually read the story? Here are the

10 essential characteristics of an interesting book.

Title: A great title is what makes people remember the book and is symbolic of the book’s overall message. One of my favorite titles is It’s Kind of a Funny Story.

great cover: The cover is what attracts people. While this comes into play later in processing, it is still an important element to consider.

Compelling Characters: The characters in a novel are everything. Without creating interesting, credible characters, readers lose interest in the novel very quickly.

Fantastic dialogue: Dialogue is a big part of any novel, and if your characters don’t interact with personality and interest, your readers won’t care what they have to say.

An interesting fight: Novels, by definition, have some kind of conflict within them, be it internal or external. A great novel requires an interesting fight. One that is not impossible, but not so easy as to bore readers.

No fluff or “filler writing”: Many new game writers have this particular problem. Readers don’t want to hear parts of the story just to fill the space. Unless it’s important to the world or the overall theme, “filler content” is a hobbyist’s mistake.

Provoking Thoughts: A great novel is one that provokes thought and really leaves you with something you didn’t have before. A novel like this is Hitchker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which gives you a new perspective to consider many parts of the world around us. It also gives us the answer to life: 42.

Complete and satisfactory history: Nothing is worse than a story that leaves you unsatisfied. While it’s good to be left wanting more, when it comes down to it, readers need to know who did and didn’t get the girl, who’s the bad guy, and whether or not the hero is coming home.

Room to grow: Your novel should always have room to grow. A great novel is one that leaves part of the characters a mystery, or one with a story or ending that is somewhat open to interpretation. While you don’t want to leave plot holes or huge logic gaps, leaving a little room for your readers to ponder creates a thought-provoking experience.

satisfying ending: One of my favorite ending methods is when the character ends up losing their memory, or their ability to change things, and instead writes a book about it and sends it to the person it was written for. Creating a compelling ending to the story is essential. After all, novels are a journey, and what people remember most is when they finally reach their destination.

There are a lot of elements and criteria that make up a “great” novel, but I think these 10 are really the most essential.