How important is the plot in a novel?

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

Happy Monday! Okay, so today's post comes to you from the novel I'm currently reading. I'm not going to name names, though this is perfectly available information over on my goodreads page. Anyhow, here's the thing I've noticed 200+ pages into the book: there is absolutely no plot. I keep thinking "oh, the author is going to tie this all in together, surely!" And then it doesn't happen. And continues not to happen. And I'm kind of frustrated. Yes, I could put this book down, but it's for our city-wide reading program and I'm supposed to run some kind of activity based on it at the library writing group I run...so I'm still reading. And wondering why I'm reading these little shorts about characters that loosely tie together but I don't really care about.

So, plot. The main sequence of events in your novel. I'm going to be really honest: I can't stand books

without it. I've read a few, many for English classes or things along those lines, as many times these are classified in the Literature section. Many have amazing language and incredible characters and are generally the type of books that make me jealous of the author's word mastery. But the thing is: if there is no driving force behind your amazing language and characters I DO NOT CARE. I want a story, something to happen, something that's going to pull me in and make it so that I cannot put that book down. And that, for me, is the plot. The motivating force, the events that force the characters to grow, that tie together a whole sequence of events and make me step back and exclaim "OH!" and let the tale rattle around in my head while I'm giving a lecture later in the day. That's what I want. A novel that lacks that is not really, in my humble opinion, a novel. Even if your mastery of language makes me weep at your perfect sentence construction.

Clearly, I have some strong feelings about this. Hah! I am writing this and it's just kind of appearing in the dialogue box, so it's a bit of news to me as well :)

Novels have been published, and will be published for many years, without this main unifying force that is a central plot. I will admit that I think they need another reference name--something other than "novel." But, maybe that's just me. There are plenty of novels out there with weak characters or lacking a strong arc, and to some, I imagine there's hesitation calling them novels. For me, plot is central, and I can overlook other aspects so long as something that I find interesting is pulling me into that world and making me want to continue to read.

What about you? Do you need some strong central plot to enjoy a book? Or are characters more important? (Or a solid mix of the two? :)