What do you most want when you read fiction?

[scifisam]

A question that's sort of come up on my course: as a reader, what do you most desire from a work of prose fiction? Entertainment, escapism, immersion, learning, evocative language, etc etc. Obviously you probably want different things at different times, so the question is about what you most want.

 

[platinumsage]

I want it to be unputdownable, i.e. not a chore to get through bits of it.

 

[weltweit]

I like to learn incidentally but mainly when I read fiction I like to escape, however short each reading episode is. I first liked this effect reading sci-fi but all good fiction can have that transporting effect, a brief respite from my own humdrum existence!

 

[bimble]

This is a really hard question. I think it’s probably escapism, but that doesn’t work unless I care about what happens next, to the pretend people.

 

[Espresso]

If I'm reading fiction I want it to be about people who have enough about them to grab my attention and writing that makes me interested in what they're doing in this story and why they're doing it.
So I suppose that's about escapism, because they're not a real part of my life.

 

[Santino]

I would say 'immersion' captures it most - I want the world of the book to become my world. And although I want it to be well-written I don't want the language to draw attention to itself and take me out of the story/world.

 

[8115]

I want to recognise real life in it, and learn about life. This doesn't mean it can't have elements of apocalyptic fiction, or whatever. But I want to feel like I'm reading something that is true at the heart of it. This is why I mainly read modern fiction.

 

[purenarcotic]

I want to feel something. Really feel for and care about the characters.

 

[Jay Park]

the horn

 

[izz]

I want it to be immersive and thought provoking, distraction from crappy job.

 

[imposs1904]

I would say 'immersion' captures it most - I want the world of the book to become my world. And although I want it to be well-written I don't want the language to draw attention to itself and take me out of the story/world.

That's a really good point.

 

[Clair De Lune]

Evocative visual descriptions of the scenery, with lots of details. Female characters clearly not written by a horny guy who has rarely seen a woman naked or realised we have personalities, strengths and goals of our own. I want to be horrified, heartbroken and elated and give a shit about the characters even if I hate them. I want a likeable, relatable anti hero. I want at least a little humour.

 

[Mation]

Novelty of ideas. Concepts I would be unlikely to come up with myself. I can't think of the last book I read that wasn't some variety of science fiction.

To clarify, ideas that are novel to almost everyone, not just to me.

 

[Poot]

With fiction I always like an idea that I wouldn't have been able to come up with myself or wouldn't have been able to expand on, like Mation says. John Irving does this brilliantly because although we have different interests, he still draws me in with his flawed characters and I learn a lot about a new subject, and then he throws in the Ellen Jamesians or something, and I just think, wow!

Language and characters are the most important thing but the wow factor has to be there, too I think. Something that you hadn't thought of. That's what makes a book really excellent and enjoyable rather than just well written.

 

[maomao]

Apart from a cup of tea and some biscuits?

I want to reach a state of flow ( Flow (psychology) - Wikipedia ) where I am entirely immersed in the writing to the point where there is no deliberate effort involved in reading.

How to get readers to reach that state and whether they all need the same things to get them to that state are the important questions though. I like a bit of triumph over adversity myself.

 

[Pickman's model]

I don't want to see books open with lines like 'it is a truth universally acknowledged...'

But what Poot and maomao said

 

[Mation]

With fiction I always like an idea that I wouldn't have been able to come up with myself or wouldn't have been able to expand on, like Mation says. John Irving does this brilliantly because although we have different interests, he still draws me in with his flawed characters and I learn a lot about a new subject, and then he throws in the Ellen Jamesians or something, and I just think, wow!

Language and characters are the most important thing but the wow factor has to be there, too I think. Something that you hadn't thought of. That's what makes a book really excellent and enjoyable rather than just well written.

Yes - the wow!

 

[krtek a houby]

Page turner, esp sci-fi and fantasy. So disappointed with the Stephen Donaldson trilogy. Tried it years ago and it did grab me. May give it another go where have some time...

 

[dessiato]

Total escapism. I read lot of far fetched fiction because it demands nothing from me except enjoyment. But I also read Hemingway because I become immersed in the storytelling, a other way to escape. I've fought the fish, I've loved the nurse, I've blown up the bridge while falling in love, and suffered the deprivation of the Depression. Hemingway is my go to choice for serious fiction.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I want it to be unputdownable, i.e. not a chore to get through bits of it.

Yes. Pretty much this. Whatever the story, I just want to be totally into it. Quite rare I find. Usually ends up being an autobiography, which obviously isn't fiction.
Sci to wise I did wack through cloud atlas, but it did become a but of a chore on the way back out from the centre story. Like running up a hill, seeing a great view but then just dawdling down the other side as the view becomes increasingly unimpressive.

 

[Edie]

I want to feel what it’s like to be someone else.

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

I love becoming immersed in really long novels, where I can't wait to get to the end yet don't want it to end at the same time.
I get really disappointed when I read a book which starts well, continues apace and then deteriorates at the very end, when the author has run out of ideas.

 

[alsoknownas]

Fiction I want honesty, that's the stuff. Even in fantasy.

Non-fiction (I know you didn't ask!) - the pitch is the make-or-break. Dumbed down is painful, overly academic is turgid. So somewhere in the middle please.

 

[Sasaferrato]

What a good question.

The authors that I read tend to write at length, James Michener, Janes Clavell, Tom Clancy for example.

I also like long series with the same characters, James Patterson, Ann Cleves.

Tastes change over time, I was an avid fan of Wilbur Smith in my youth, now I find him pretty much unreadable because of his penchant for gratuitous and downright nasty violence.

If I could only read a single author for the rest of my days it would be Michener. His research is excellent, as is attention to detail.

 

[DotCommunist]

I want it to be a long book so I get value for money

 

[Espresso]

Thought of another thing. I like learning little nuggets of facts. In normal times I am a bit of a quiz fan and it pleases me to be able to answer questions at pub quizzes about places I've never been to or foods I have never eaten just because I have read about them in a story, sometime in the past.
The flip side of that is that if an author says something about a place or a thing I know about and I know that what he or she has said is wrong, it completely takes me out of the book and makes me less likely to finish that book.

 

[brogdale]

I want it to be a long book so I get value for money

The Count of Monte Cristo picked up for £1 in a charity shop was my lockdown win!

13 pages/penny

 

[maomao]

I want it to be a long book so I get value for money

It often doesn't make sense. I was looking at John Steinbeck books the other day and East of Eden only costs 50p more than Of Mice and Men but has nearly eight times as many pages. The difference in material cost must be much bigger than that.

Sorry for veering off topic.

 

[weltweit]

..
The flip side of that is that if an author says something about a place or a thing I know about and I know that what he or she has said is wrong, it completely takes me out of the book and makes me less likely to finish that book.

Yes, it would put me off learning that they made up something that could easily have been verified.

Happens in films / tv all the time and always annoys me.

 

[DotCommunist]

It often doesn't make sense. I was looking at John Steinbeck books the other day and East of Eden only costs 50p more than Of Mice and Men but has nearly eight times as many pages. The difference in material cost must be much bigger than that.

Sorry for veering off topic.

once someone has paid coverprice all books become worth 2 pounds or less, the whole publishing game is weird imo.