entertainment vs. storytelling
At crimefictionblog there's a post about what constitutes a good read. The conclusion:
Bottom line, when you're talking about genre fiction, the book has to be entertaining. These are stories we read to be entertained. Genre fiction can educate, illuminate, enlighten, and all the rest, but above all it must entertain. Otherwise, it fails.A couple of quick observations (it's not like I haven't gone over this subject before, and at length):
1. It seems to me that 'entertaining' is another way of saying that story comes first, and will always be most important. A good story is what the average reader wants. A really good story can make the reader overlook all kinds of writerly infelicities.
2. The distinction made in the crimfictionblog post between literary fiction and genre fiction is (in my view of things) an artificial one. Literary fiction is just another genre, with its own set of expectations and history and intended audience. Some people would argue that the literary genre is inherently more worthwhile or better than the other genres, but in the end, that's subjective.
Question: Is story less important in the scheme of things within the literary genre?
Answer: The literati like to say that Character is All, and All Things Derive from Character. But you know what? This is a fashion, and like all fashions it will eventually change. My own position is that even if you put characterization as the top priority (for the literary genre), the ability to really build and expand on character is in turn dependent on the story in which the character exists.
So, my conclusion: story comes first, regardless of the genre.