The Unputdownable Book

We all have them on our bookshelves. Those special books that grabbed us and pulled us headlong into their worlds, that touched us in unexpected ways, that refused to release us even after we had finished them…books that made us go

when we finished them, because we just weren’t ready to leave the worlds they’d created.

But why?

There are a lot of very well written, very enjoyable books out there. Good stories, believable characters, decent pacing. But not all of them have that special something that marks them for lifetime hoarding, for re-reading, for remembering. What is it, then, that makes a book unputdownable?

For me, it’s the layers that take the book from being read to being experienced. A book that pulls me in (I’m thinking of you, Mike Mullen and Ashfall!) is going to be the one that makes me forget that I’m reading. I’m going to be the character. I’m going to smell, taste, touch, hear, and see what that character does as if through my own senses — and I’m going to feel his/her emotions as if they’re my own, too. Most of all? I’m never, ever, ever going to forget those characters or their stories.

What about you? What are some of the things that lift a story out of good and into great? Inquiring writer minds want to know. 😉