Elements of a Successful Novel

What makes a great novel?

What makes a great novel? Is it the unknown, the lies, the secrets, the drive to figure out what going on? Many writers have express many opinions on what they believe makes a great novel. Some feel it’s the mystery within the novel. Some feel it the underlying message that the author is trying to portray the reader, and others may feel it is the rising action of drama and conflict of the characters within the story. All these assumptions and opinions can be true. Every writer has a unique gift that they want to share with a specific audience, rather that audience be children, teenagers, young adults, and or older people. Most books have a dramatic structure, leading the reader through the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and then the great finish. But does just these qualities lead to it being a great novel? A great book can offer so much to someone’s life. A great book could be a gateway to imagination, excitement, intrigue the reader, give them insight and all kind of emotions. A great book can open a door that can change someone’s life and help them come up with new ideas like never before. A great book has qualities of mystery, a detective scheme, and conflict.

A book gives a writer complete authority in a story. A great novel with mystery can open the mind of the reader and have them thinking or believing that they know the answers but then the author puts in a twist and changes the story The writer controls what he wants to happen, what he wants the characters to do, who dies, who lives, etc… For example in the book,” The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon, Mark Haddon could have easily had put a different mystery twist on the story by ma...

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...help push the book to become a great novel. A great novel is always needed in order to help people not be closed-minded but to see the picture, and with this it can help us grasp or valve the importance of a great novel in life.

Works Cited

Braddon, M. E. Lady Audley's Secret. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, 1997. Print.

Doyle, Arthur C. "Sherlock Holmes Quotes - Sherlock Holmes Quotes." Sherlock Holmes Quotes - Sherlock Holmes Quotes. The Hound of the Baskervilles, 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Berlin: Cornelsen, 2008. Print.

Nin, Anaïs. "“The Possession of Knowledge Does Not Kill the Sense of Wonder and Mystery. There Is Always More Mystery.”." Quotes About Mystery (842 Quotes). Goodreads Inc., 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

Webne-Behrman, Harry. "About Conflict." About Conflict. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.