Priyankka Krishnan: "A Response to Carmen Maria Machado: On What Makes a Book Interesting"

On What Makes a Book Interesting

By: Priyankka Krishnan

A Response to Carmen Maria Machado’s Question: When you're deciding what to read, outside of school, what compels you to pick up a particular book? And once you've started, what's the worst thing an author can do? What makes you decide not to finish something?

I used to be an avid reader when I was younger. I’d read whatever I could get my hands on, in part to both boredom and genuine interest in the reading material. However, as I grew older, I became more and more picky. As great as reading for the sake of reading is, there is only so much one can read when one busy with other work. Of course, over the years my criteria for a “good” book has changed, as it would for just about anybody. I’ve decided that there are two major factors that drive me to reach for a book: fantastic elements and content creativity. The two are fairly basic, yet are so deeply important in getting me to pick up a book.

The need for fantastic elements is a personal need. I simply love fantasy too much. Most of the things I read for fun are some breed of speculative fiction. What that may say about me is anyone’s guess; to me it’s a matter of preference.

Content creativity refers to the ability of a book to capture my imagination with whatever premise it offers. Of course, every book is unique to some degree, but it is how they present themselves that makes a difference. For example, if a character must journey on an adventure to accomplish some goal, what’s new or interesting about that? Does the character have morally grey ambitions? Do they have an inexplicable interest in pottery? Are they ridiculously tall? Do they have a talking mole? What sells me to a book is something I haven’t read before, or fresh take on an archetype that we’ve all seen a million times before. This could manifest itself as anything from the voice of the narrator, to a newfound setting, to a character quirk or motivation. The smallest thing, so long as it’s interesting (or at least feels fresh), could be the force behind me checking it out of the library or bookstore.

However even the most creative stories can lose my interest, if the author manages to mess up enough. Some of the worst things I’ve seen authors do revolve around poorly-done or irritating characters. The examples are such which I’m sure many have seen before - forced love-triangles, actions done out-of-character, mean or uncomfortably mean-spirited heroes, etc. A plot can be work of art, but having to sit through it with characters (especially protagonists) that aren’t likeable or constantly make face-palm-worthy decisions can be almost insufferable. The books I find myself dropping the fastest are the ones that have characters I cannot enjoy.

In the end, this is just my opinion. I mean neither ill-will nor resentment towards the authors of books I dislike. I hope this answers your question!