I didn’t put this in All Things Writing because I don’t need help, but I’m interested to know people’s opinions on experimental/ character-driven work. Do you like those sorts of books? Does it depend on certain factors? If yes/no, why?
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It really depends on things.
What’s the point in having something be character driven and there’s no real character to the characters, right?
But if you put in a character that just irks my nerves and it’s all about them, I’m going to struggle with it.
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I know right, which is why so many “modern” stories seem to rely on tropes, retellings, plots, or some social justice message/ unique gimmick because the majority of the characters are genuinely boring and someone I wouldn’t want to spend ten minutes with.
Yeah, I agree. Sometimes, the first person can make or break a narration too. This is why I prefer the third, it has a better scope to cover. And is more fluid and you don’t have to spend all your time with that one character, in the room with them.
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All fiction is character driven; the plot only exists to make the character do something he wouldn’t ordinarily do in response to the inciting incident.
And yes, I LOVE experimental fiction! I’ve got Cloud Atlas, Gravity’s Rainbow and Infinite Jest on my kindle right now, although I haven’t started them yet. But this is the year I’m finally clearing out my TBR, so I’ll definitely read them sometime this year. I’ve already read Slaughterhouse Five, Invisible Cities and If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler.
I’m not sure exactly how you personally define experimental fiction, though. Lincoln in the Bardo is experimental fiction: it was written entirely in footnotes and quotes. No One Is Talking About This was written entirely in Twitter-like tweets or blog posts. I didn’t think you liked those kind of novels.
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I’ve been reading a lot of experimental works lately. I guess the term’s lost its meaning to me. I don’t know what people consider experimental. Multimedia projects? Avant garde poetry? Joycean epics? 100 page novels?
I kind of expect creative uses of language with almost every book I pick up now, if that’s experimental.
What do you mean this book doesn’t have a second-person dialogue with a talking panther meditating about the human condition and how it wishes it had thumbs so it could make electricity?!
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Yes that’s how it SHOULD be.
Knew that already 
Something that’s trying out something new, and not holding back. Something that tests things, or is written in a new/unique format. I do tend to swing toward things like that, lol.
Anything to break up long paragraphs, please. I like reading and writing, but I have the shortest attention span known to mank–squirrel!
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Just something that’s unique, different and hasn’t been done before. It can change up formats. It can be unique, random. All those things sound unique to me! 
Yeah, that counts as well.
I would legit read that. Sounds really weird.
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I think that this character vs plot driven is an oversimplified category but experimental works are usually some of the most influential to the land of literature. Stream of Conciousness wasn’t really a thing before Tristam Shandy. The problem with experimental work is that it requires both the author and audience to have a familiarity with the building blocks so that they can appreciate the differences.
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Charcter studies are the tiramasu of literature. It will challenge a writer on a deep level but it beloved by almost everyone.
Trust me, I’ve seen people with experience screw up writing a Super Robot cartoon for kids before.
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I know this is probably a bit controversial for some people but I would consider Kaiji as far as things go goes to be somewhat experimental. It was way ahead of and superior to Squid Game. Kaiji has a LOT of plot twists as far as a game show goes, and a lot of character drivenness through Kaiji himself.
It freshened things up and made them tense too.
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Kaiji as a series really makes it hard to categorize as either plot or character driven. Mostly because the events of the story are driven by the mindset of the main character more than anything else. There’s the fact that they, the characters in the game, could stop whenever they wanted to, but they never wanted to, because they need the money.
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Yeah, because hoomans need moneh. 
Kaiji is pretty cool. I like watching and rooting for him to progress. He’s not like the poopy Getter Bobo pieces of crap 
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Ha I see. I think writing something like that on an outstanding level first requires knowledge and mastery of convention.
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka 
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Yes. Gets a PhD in Convention, and a Masters
I SAW THAT BOOK, PROBABLY AT WATERSTONES AND I ALSO HEARD ABOUT IT xD Maybe I will add it to my to read list?
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Sociopaths have abnormal difficulties attaining character development, and you could say the same for Kaiji because he keeps making the same mistake over and over again.
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Yes, but I am still rooting for him.
My Brain: Write an experimental romance:
Also My Brain:
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These people look like hype house rejects
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Lmfao but the beat slaps.
To be honest, ADSO has a couple of good songs.
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On the topic of anime, if you released an Americanized version of School-Live as a YA series, Booktube would love it, at least in concept because how many books aimed at teen girls focus on female friendship over romance and also are psychological thrillers? That would be a fascinating experiment.
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Yeah and if you made the drawings really cute and didn’t exploit people like Heartstopper does and made it fun I would read it too
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