Most important element

What is the most important part of a story? That is something that all my of classes, writing friends, and fellow readers talk about. I have heard and been a part of many; I do not see that changing any time soon. I think that is something that is personal to each of us. I have reasons for thinking that and I am going to list them before I talk about what I think is the most important. From person to person everyone likes different things. Some people love thick plots with many twists. Others love characters but they have to have something interesting going on around them. I have heard my fellow readers talk about how great a character was but that the story did not go anywhere. Next theme is a big draw to some readers. I see all these and the other parts of the story as important to me character is the most important.

I have thought that for years. I was about nine when I was talking to some classmates about why I did not like a book we had to read for class. Everyone else liked it because it had a flashy ploy but I was bored because I did not care about the characters. When I said that my classmates looked at me like I was crazy. Now I am not trying to say that I am some super-reader who from a young age just knew what good or not. I think that is because my mother reads, read to me and asked me about my reading from a young age. I think that she taught me to think about why I liked or disliked something in a book. Back to my opinion on character, because that is what it is my opinion, think about the last Dan Brown you read( if you have read anything by him). Now I read Dan Brown but I am not reading him for Robert Langdon. I know that Langdon is going to discover who the bad guy is, that all puzzles will be revealed and understood by the reader, and that he will have a new girlfriend per book. I read Brown because the puzzles are interesting but when the last puzzle is solved I am done with the book. I take it back to the library and move on.

But I have a few authors who write character pieces. By character pieces I mean stories that do not really go anywhere because the plot is secondary to the character development. Now I know that does not sound fun to read but they really are. For example Carrie Vaughn's "After the Golden Age". It is about the world after the superheroes and villains are past their prime. The daughter of (basically) Superman and Wonder Woman is looking who she is. Everything about herself has been defined by who her parents are. The plot is slow moving but the way that the main character changes over it is just awesome. I think that Dialog is part of character so when dialog is done right it is just wonderful because with dialog you can tell so much about the character just from the way that they say or mis-say a word.

So in my opinion character is the most important element of a story. Thanks for reading and see you next week.