How to Know if You Have a Good Book
Wondering virtually the potential of your book or manuscript to go a bestseller? Wish there were a test to empirically mensurate information technology? As a fun practice, I came up with one.
I started with my own list of good fiction qualities and then supplemented it with ideas constitute in other places. One of the about helpful sources was a 2012 Author's Assimilate commodity containing a listing of xx-i key traits of bestselling fiction from The Author'due south Lilliputian Helper by James V. Smith, Jr. (I was surprised when I realized Smith's book is aimed at writing for young adults, just I estimate information technology shows good writing is practiced writing regardless of the intended audience.) According to the Writer'southward Digest article, Smith says his list was the upshot of a "study of thousands of reader reviews on Amazon.com."
The goal was to build a construct a listing of the top xv qualities of bestselling fiction. Why fifteen? Very scientific. I wanted to assign a 1-v rating scale for each quality and take the summit possible score equal 75. Is information technology empirically valid? Oh, don't worry about that. I ran it by mathematicians at NASA'south Jet Propulsion Laboratory just to make certain.
Seriously, most lists I found, while adept, contained only a handful of attributes of successful fiction-writing. I wanted a list that would hogtie writers to think beyond wide categories and drill down to specifics.
Top Fifteen Qualities of Bestselling Fiction
Here'south my list of the Top 15 Qualities of Bestselling Fiction:
1. The Showtime (starts stiff, captures attention)
two. Voice (agile, compelling, original)
3. Characters (unique, believable, interesting, funny, flawed)
iv. Original/Inventive (phonation, characters and plot are fresh and creative, fifty-fifty if addressing archetype themes)
5. Writing (diction, dialogue, transitions, descriptions, affiliate endings, everything that goes into good fiction-writing)
6. Plot Logic (parts fit together, makes sense, no large holes, integrates disparate plot threads)
7. Plot Progression (story development maintains a fast pace)
eight. Focus/Clarity (pursues clear objectives, achieves a goal)
9. Tension/Suspense (builds throughout)
ten. Imagery/Setting (captures an "I'k there" feeling regarding environments/cultures where events unfold)
11. Emotional Connection (characters and story evoke emotions, positive or negative, and connect with readers)
12. Thought-Provoking (makes readers finish and call back)
13. Truth (advances one or more compelling truths)
xiv. Grammar and Punctuation (professional appearance, particularly of import for indie writers without editors trying to get noticed)
fifteen. The Catastrophe ("satisfying" in the context of the story, answers or at least addresses unanswered questions, hints of transcendence)
Your first thought might be: "That's non an authentic list. Information technology leaves out A, B, and C." Just consider whether your additions are subsumed in one of the listed categories.
Your second thought might be: "The top qualities for fiction-writing vary by the genre and author's intent. Not all bestselling novels share all of these qualities." That's also true, just fifty-fifty if your intent was not to advance one or more the qualities on this list, rate them anyway or information technology will invalidate the highly scientific test results. Seriously, if a category truly has no application to your particular goal and genre, give it a median score of 2.5.
Official Grade-Your-Fiction Test Rules
Here are the Grade-Your-Fiction Test Rules:
1. Score your book 1-5 for how completely it satisfies or advances each of the 15 qualities:
v = My book excels as to this quality
4 = My book does a really skillful chore as to this quality
iii = My book is average as to this quality
ii = My book makes an endeavour but falls short every bit to this quality
ane = My volume does not advance this quality
2. Be objective. We all can be both our worst critics and biggest fans when it comes to evaluating our own writing, sometimes at unlike times of the same day. Focus on each quality honestly and objectively … yeah, right. As if that were possible. Well, at least try to be honest and objective. In self-testing Psycho-Tropics , I was able to pinpoint an issue I long recognized in an abstract way, merely was never able to isolate.
However, no question it would be best to besides enlist people who've read your book and who you know to be brutally honest to score the test. Comparing scores may be enlightening, to say the least. Equally some friends over at the Goodreads Indie Revolution Group (fantastic group of indie authors and readers) suggested, the test might be all-time-suited to give to beta readers of your book. They can employ it as a kind of scorecard and report back with much more specific feedback than vague expressions of like or dislike.
iii. Focus on a detail piece of work of fiction, non general writing ability. Don't score yourself on your general writing or even fiction-writing skills. Utilize the exam to a single piece of work. The focus should be: "Did I arts and crafts a good novel from get-go to finish?" If you have more than one work of fiction, pick the all-time one.
4. Add together upwards the numbers and measure your book by this scoring scale:
65-75 = Awesome. You may be on your way to becoming the next John Grisham or Stephen King!
55-64 = Well done. You are a legitimate contender to be a successful novelist.
45-54 = Overnice job. Focus on your weaknesses in your side by side book to bring it upwards to the next level.
35-44 = Bang-up. You have potential, merely need to keep studying your craft.
25-34 = Needs work. Consider taking a fiction-writing course before embarking on another novel.
24 or below = Peradventure look for another artistic outlet. Fiction-writing isn't for everyone, fifty-fifty people who are otherwise really good writers.
Feel gratis to comment with additions, subtractions, reductions, expansions, criticisms, etc., regarding the "Official (oh yes) Meridian 15 Qualities of Bestselling Fiction" list.
Source: https://dorianbox.com/test-to-grade-your-novel/
0 Response to "How to Know if You Have a Good Book"
Post a Comment