Driven

[sgwordy]

I think I was inspired by the awesome vanity plate pic... I was thinking about the structure of the QT books and whether they were plot-driven or character-driven. They are certainly of a genre that is very typically plot-driven but I don't think it is only plot that moves the books along. What do y'all think? And do you prefer books that are plot-

Comments

[thelasteddis]

Character-driven. Definately. I am one of the people who believes that there are very few 'original' stories out there (I know this sounds very negative, so keep reading before you start throwing tomatoes at me).

So I think characters are what make a story interesting. Come on, how many books are there with this plotline: kid is downtrodden, kid realizes he is special in some magic way, kid has adventure, kid realizes his inner light (as it is called by my english teacher). So many times, right? but we still love books like Harry Potter. It's because, in my opinion, of the characters and the way they interact.

That's one of the reasons I love QT so much. The characters are FANTASTIC. If it weren't for Attolia's believability, would ANY of us have liked QoA? seriously? Just think about it. If Irene hadn't been carried off with so much skill, we all would have just said, "what the heck, this is perverted" and left it at that. I run into this whenever I'm talking about the books to someone else. They think it's stupid because they DON'T KNOW THE CHARACTERS. But because there are such marvelous characters, we wouldn't have the plot any other way!

And thus sayest me.

[annikah]

I agree. The other day a group of friends and I were talking about fairy tales. One commented about Beauty & the Beast being perverted because the girl fell in love with her captor (and what message does that teach children?). It made me think of Attolia and Gen, and how messed up that could be if that's ALL you knew about them.

At the same time, there is *some* element of plot driving stories. The gods interfere. If Attolia caught Gen, if Nahuseresh hadn't intervened at just the right time, the story would have been completely different. I guess certain bits of the plot set the ball rolling, and the rest is left to the characters.

Eddis puts it perfectly: "If I am a pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make my decisions for me."

[coyul]

On Beauty and the Beast, Stockholm Syndrome isn't perverted per se, so I don't know why they'd say that. XD;

To the question of whether the story is plot or character driven, I agree with this. It's definitely both. At some points, character, at others, plot. It's a nice mix and I think that's what makes the books so spectacular.

[thelasteddis]

Whoops! on reread, my post does look a little like I ONLY read for characters, which couldn't be less true. The plot is uberly important, otherwise it would just be a bunch of people sitting in a room. Old Man and the Sea, anyone?
(gods, I hated that book)

[zumie_ashlen]

Absolutely. I love books where the main draw is the characters, but they're growing few in recent times.

If anyone has any recs, I'd love you forever. Especially YA ones. ^.^

[peggy_2]

Read through some of the While She Knits posts for ideas. The Sounis comm has truly awesome reading lists. In the meantime, if you haven't come across them yet, the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is a good bet for fans of Eugenides.

[pigrescuer]

*seconds*

Also The Gentlemen Bastards by Scott Lynch.

[peggy_2]

*seconds the Scott Lynch books*

[zumie_ashlen]

Awesome! I'll check it out.

[tiegirl]

Oh dear, lookit this, a soapbox!

*Climbs on*

K. M. Peyton's Pennington's Last Term, The Beethoven Medal, Pennington's Heir

Joan D. Vinge's Psion, Catspaw, Dreamfall

*Steps off*

[zumie_ashlen]

Oooh, thanks. I think I've heard of the last three, actually.

*flees to bookstore*

[pigrescuer]

It's true that when you try to describe the books to somebody else it's almost impossible to explain how and why they're so good. The plot (especially without spoilers) sounds very mundane, and without describing ever character sand every little bit of interaction and bit of dialogue the AWESOMENESS can't be captured.

[inkasrain]

Agreed. I've had to tell all of those I've infected not to read the Amazon page for QoA... unfortunately I was spoiled for that before I even read The Thief. (And I've found it's also hard to hook people with the line "They are even better the second time around!" It seems like too much of a time investment, I suppose...)

[sgwordy]

This is so true! I still have not figured out the most compelling non-spoilers summary or how to convey how worth it it is to essentially start them over immediately upon completion. :) I have noticed though that not one person has come back and said they didn't like them once they did finally read them.