There are different kinds of readers. “Well, duh!” you might say. Wait a minute, let me tell you where I’m going with this.
That last sentence is the heart of what I’m talking about. One type of reader likes to at least have a clue that the novel is headed toward a certain destination. They can feel the tension building to a climax. They can’t put the book down because it is so exciting, they have to find out what happens next. But put a book down in front of them that for the first several chapters seems to be going nowhere, even if it is going somewhere, and they will yawn and may never reach the point where things start to pull together.
On the other side of the spectrum, you have the type of reader who couldn’t care less about the old, tired, “hero has to save the day or everyone dies” plot. They want a story that appears fairly ordinary, but at some point will give you enough connecting dots that you suddenly see the plot the author has been building up to, the theme or deep meaning underlying the story, never stated but upholding the whole novel. These readers like to dig, they like the thrill of figuring out the puzzle.
And of course you have all degrees in between. Some readers don’t mind an occasional hidden-plot book, but mostly feed upon more obvious plots. Another group of readers likes both kinds about equally well, and yet another group enjoys a good rip-roaring “hero saves the day” tale occasionally, but mostly likes to devour books that cause them to sit back and contemplate what the author is trying to say, or even what they think the author is trying to say.
What I’m talking about is the difference between literary fiction readers and genre fiction readers. Author Nathan Bransford discusses what literary fiction is in relation to genre as it regards plot, and makes the point that literary fiction has a plot, but often the main plot is hidden. So to the casual reader, it may seem to be plotless, but under the obvious dwells a plot nonetheless.
I personally fall on the side of wanting a more obvious plot. I like to know my story is going somewhere. If I feel it is meandering with no goal or direction in sight, I’ll soon be bored unless there are some other qualities (like a high degree of interesting characters) that keep me interested. I don’t want to know the whole plot, I enjoy surprises and plot twist that turn everything around and head in a new direction. I even write such things into my stories. But I do want to feel the story has some purpose and direction, and when I don’t get that, I grow bored.
But here’s the deal. Because I am that way, does that mean I put down all literary folk as snobbish and out of touch with reality? Do I think literary novels are by default “bad” because they aren’t my cup of tea? No, of course not. Literary fiction has influenced fiction, even genre fiction, greatly.
Likewise, literary connoisseurs should realize the value of the simple tale, the time tested plots, the iconic characters that grace our land, and that despite the obvious plot, there is often some hidden meanings and plots lurking underneath the obvious. There is no need to diss the more obvious plot lines. They have been the staple of stories for thousands of years, and have general appeal. Literary writers and readers have no need to dump the more overt plot line, rather, it can supplement what they already do.
And that is really the best way to write fiction. Sure, it doesn’t need to be an “Everyone will die if we don’t stop <insert death-dealing entity here>” type plot all the time. But if you can write fiction that has both elements, an obvious plot line that builds and carries the readers along tension-wise, and the underlying plot elements that one needs to contemplate to see, you get the best of both worlds. You can carry both kinds of readers.
And the truth is, there are many books in both literary and genre based fiction that do just that. They are generally the ones that become classics, that have staying power, because they have immediate appeal as well as deep waters running under the obvious story that tell a deeper story. But too often neither side of the fence wants to admit that the other side of the fence has what they have. So they never look, and they never discover the richness to be found there.
Do you feel you’ve given the other books you think you don’t like enough of a chance? What kind of reader are you?
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Rick,
My guess would be that most people fall under the category of plot driven stories. That is just human nature. We like to know where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re headed. Without context, we feel lost. That is why most stories, whether it be fiction, non-fiction, movies or TV, start with the main characters in the middle of their normal life, and then something happens that takes their life in a sudden direction, and the rest of the story shows how the main character is trying to return to their life before this cataclysmic event happened. Occasionally, stories are more about characters, with barely a plot in sight. A classic example in film is the movie M*A*S*H, directed by Robert Altman. He was much more interested in putting people in a situation to see what would happen than having a clearly defined plot line. But I submit, he is bar far in the minority. Because we are who we are, we much prefer to be taken on a journey with clearly defined boundaries, and enjoy the ride until comes to its completion.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
The story that I always think of in this regard is Driving Miss Daisy. When it first came out, people raved about it. It won awards. Everyone said it was so great. So at some point I went to see it. I kept waiting for a ‘plot” but all it was was an account of the various events that two people went through, Miss Daisy and her driver who was black in the old south in the 60s when racial tensions were high
One could say that racism was a theme, and it did pop up here and there, and the unusual friendship backlit that. But plot? I never did figure out any. You could pick a theme here and there, but the main theme seemed to be, “A series of events that two unlikely friends experience.” And while some of the events were a little intense, there was no real obvious climax. No obvious resolution unless you consider her death to be that. It was the retelling of two people’s lives, in many normal circumstances and some unusual ones. The plot wasn’t obvious. There was no overarching “bad guy” through the whole story, though you could pick some out of the individual stories.
Why a lot of people liked it, I don’t know. I suppose the characters and the unusual friendship appealed to them. For me, I was bored and wondered why everyone thought this was a great and outstanding movie. Not that it was bad, but it simply didn’t seem to go anywhere specific.
Obviously the plot was more hidden, not so easily picked up on. There appear to be many stories out there like this, and some like Driving Miss Daisy get real popular and get awards, etc. While there are a sizable number of us folks that like a good, strong plot with a beginning, increasing tension, climax, and resolution, there are a lot of people who would rather not have the plot so obvious. They feel the hidden plot is more of a joy and skill to write well.
Well, I’ve read this with great interest. Now, I’m just trying to come up with a response that might be intelligible if not intelligent.
Frankly, I’m not sure if I’ve ever read a literary novel. I suppose some of our assignments in high school or college might have qualified, but nothing springs to mind. I completely blank on titles.
Maybe, I just don’t notice the kind of books they were? Or maybe I’ve become so immersed in speculative fiction books over the many decades since school that I just take a strong plot for granted?
I know two things about myself:
When I am writing, I begin by trying to create strong layered characters. I spend a -lot- of time doing this. When I’m reading, I think I latch unto the more intriguing characters in the story, paying attention to how the plot/events impact them. I suppose that puts me somewhere in the middle of your continuum.
I used to read a lot of mysteries: Ellery Queen, Tony Hillerman, Elizabeth Peters, Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Barbara Hambly, etc. After reading a lot of books in this genre, I felt like something was missing when I went back to other books. Which it was–the mystery obviously! This makes me wonder how I would react to reading literary fiction after being immersed in mostly speculative fiction reading/writing for decades. Would reading litfic after reading so much genre also feel like something was missing? Or would good characterization in litfic see me through? I am very curious! Curious enough to want to read a good modern litfic book, just to see what would happen.
I think you have two kinds of literary stories that fall into the category of “plotless” at least in an obvious sense. Not saying they don’t have plot, it’s just not sitting on the surface.
One type is the “slice of life” or even a whole lot of slices of life. The point isn’t to “tell a story” in the traditional sense, but to help you experience a perspective different than your own. To see “life” from that perspective. There may be some sub-plots in sections. But the life of the person(s) forms the framework for telling the story, not a plot line that pits the person.
My first book, Reality’s Dawn, has elements of both in that they are stories strung together that tell about the life of Sisko and his learning to be a healer God can use. Each chapter tells a self-contained story, but all together, while forming a movement and series of themes/allegory, is more about telling the life events of Sisko rather than one major plot with a beginning, rise, climax, and resolution. Only the events that Sisko go through are genre based plot driven within themselves, much more dangerous to our protagonist and friends than Miss Daisy trying to get to the store.
But some stories do have a complete story-based plot. Except, that you can’t see it for the first few chapters. It isn’t until somewhere around the middle, or even toward the end, that various threads that didn’t seem to mean anything start coming together into a complete story plot. So once done, the plot is obvious, but not for many chapters do you have a clue where the author is going with this.
I’m reading one of those kinds of stories now. First couple of sections it seemed all random and like we were watching some people live out their lives and I was left thinking, “so what?” But it’s starting to fall together a bit more, so we’ll see.
Thanks for the comments.