Writing That’s Loveable, Yet Flawed

Flaws. A story can have major flaws and still make the best seller list. A story can have stylistic or technical writing elements that bother the reader, yet if the storytelling and world building is amazing, readers will still love the book.

On the other side of the coin…

Flaws can kill your story. The wrong word, the wrong character reaction to an event, unbelievable conflict, too many adverbs, too much telling; the list is long. The readers can end up hating a decent book.

The other night, our book club was discussing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. The varied group  enjoyed the story and went as far as to seek out See’s other books. (We don’t always do that.) Yet, there were parts of this story’s structure and style that bothered us as readers. So why did we enjoy it so much? How did it become a best seller?

A little background about the story: The story is set in rural China in the 1800s when foot binding was still performed. The story is relayed to the reader through the now aged main character (Lily) as she looks back over her years.

In the first few chapters, there are quite a few ‘authorial intrusions’ where the writer reminds us that Lily is the one telling us the story by adding sentences similar to this: But the worst was yet to come. Or: This wouldn’t be my only mistake. As we get deeper into the story, the reminders are fewer, but they still exist. In the beginning, it worked as it let us know what type of story we were going to read as well as forewarn us about conflicts to come. Yet, after the first few chapters, I found that these reminders brought me out of the story and in some cases, ruined what could have been a big reveal within the story. By chapter two, I knew how the two friends would break up–the main story question already answered for me.

So, what kept me intrigued? What kept me flipping those pages? The world and culture building was simply amazing. As a reader, I learned a lot about China and Chinese culture from a woman’s perspective. It was incredible to learn that much in such an enjoyable way and the flaws melted away. Just like that.

For aspiring writers, something minute as overdone foreshadowing in an authorial intrusion sort of way could be fatal. It could get that story rejected. But in this best seller, because the world building was so strong, it could be overlooked and forgiven. Even the fact that the major conflict ended up being a slight misunderstanding that could have been resolved with a short conversation–something of which us aspiring writers (romance in particular) have been told to never do, became forgivable.

As a writer, this book intrigued me. I strive so very hard to make my stories as perfect as I can and to see a story with flaws do so well inspired me. Strengths in one area may be able to pull you through your weaker areas. How cool is that?

So now, I have to figure out what my big strength is and what my big weakness is and how can I use my big strength to lessen the impact of my big weakness. Whew!

How about you? Do you know what yours are?

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