: Re: How much does style contribute to the overall value of a novel? I've recently got a crushing critique. The critic pointed out I was obviously unfamiliar with the basic tools of the trade and

@Gonzalez219

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I wouldn't worry much about style, I strongly disagree with your critic.

I wouldn't say there is a "most important component" because there are a few elements that must be there no matter what. The most important thing is sustaining reader interest, and there are a few ways to do that, typically used in combination. They can be interested in the protagonist(s), the setting, the struggle to achieve some goal (meaning the plot), and the ongoing mystery of what the protagonist(s) discover next or suffer next, bringing them closer to or further from their goal. Whether their guesses are right or wrong, and ultimately revealing the puzzle, piece by piece, of what they (the protags) must solve.

The reader has to want to see what the character(s) do next (plot), the reader has to want to see the next place the characters will get (setting), the reader has to want to see what the next clue is (some mystery or uncertainty).

IMO you are definitely wrong by a mile to put "plot" last, the plot is the story and the reason characters are doing anything at all. "Style" is not really necessary at all, and authors like JK Rowling make $millions with barely serviceable writing: Because she has likeable characters in plots that sustain suspense for her young-adult readers (and many old adult readers too).

The novel should be a suspenseful struggle for the protagonist to achieve something against some kind of opposition (a villain, the environment, society, the uncaring or corrupt police, the mafia, oppression, themselves). The ups and downs of that struggle are the plot.

Unless somebody has made a $million from their work (and I have not), I would question whether they are an authority on "what is art" and what it takes and how it is produced. You don't need "style", you need "story", and that means interesting characters with an interesting struggle that it seems will defeat their very best efforts; so the reader keeps turning pages to see how that defeat is avoided.

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