Follow Friday - You Can Use 160 Characters in an SMS Text Message

It's Friday again, and this means it's time for Follow Friday. There has been a slight change to the format, as now there are two Follow Friday hosts blogs and two Follow Friday Features Bloggers each week. To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow both of the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts (Parajunkee and Alison Can Read) and any one else you want to follow on the list.
2. Follow the two Featured Bloggers of the week - Margo L. Dill and Thinks Books.
3. Put your Blog name and URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments.
5. Follow, follow, follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don't just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don't say "Hi".
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the love . . . and the followers.
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post!
8. If you're new to the Follow Friday Hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

And now for the Follow Friday Question: How important is good writing to you? In an ideal world, a book would be beautifully written AND have great character development, plot, etc. But in the real world, which do you prefer: (1) Great characters and plot with lousy writing or, (2) Middling character development and plot but gorgeous writing

This question is somewhat difficult for me to answer, since I have some trouble imagining a book that has great characters and plot but lousy writing. After all, in a book the only way to convey character and plot is via writing, so to have great characters and plot, one must have at least competent writing. It is, I think, simply impossible to convey either great character development or a great plot via lousy writing.

That said, I generally prefer character development and plot over gorgeous writing. I read books for stories, and without character and plot you cannot have a good story. Beautiful writing, unless it is in the service of a beautiful story, is, in my opinion, more or less just a waste of effort. I recall an event a couple of years ago where I met the author A.S. King. She was answering questions from the attendees and someone asked her what she considered the most important thing to have in a story, and she responded without hesitation "characters". And she's right: Characters are always the element that drives a story. Without characters that the reader cares about, no amount of intricate plotting or skillful writing will engage their interest. Or at least, engage my interest.

Go to previous Follow Friday: In Roman Numerals, 159 Is CLIX

Go to subsequent Follow Friday: Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus Became Roman Co-Emperors in 161 A.D.

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