I'm looking for some people with interesting opinions to answer a survey for me!

I'm not sure you can just pick plot or character. It's really not a one or the other thing. I have never heard of the seven plots, and that there are only seven. Can you tell us what they are? And I don't see the same problem you see with gender roles. That questioned seemed a bit dated. Plenty is written about strong women who save the day or whatever. I think there should be more diversity in both fiction and those who write it. That goes beyond what you seem to be asking.

And not to pick nits, but how is this related to a technical, science, or business writing course? Plot and Hero's Journey are fiction and philosophy stuff.

Strong x, saving weak y - why can't they be partners and work well together? Maybe have overlapping but not identical skills sets?

As a reader, what draws me in is good storytelling. So, character, plot, worldbuilding and prose - and how the story is told. It is not just plot, it is the order in which the story is told, the viewpoints and so on. Good storytelling is an ensemble art.

For me there is also liking the story/characters - not everyone likes the same kind of people. Not every book appeals to every person. It doesn't help with your survey, but personal taste is key here.

By the way, earlier I went to look at your survey and it was not working.

I didn't have time to fill out the survey before, and now it's closed...

(Personally, the thing I have about flipping-gender-roles stuff is when they describe the heroine as "not your typical damsel-in-distress" or "a rebellious princess who'll save herself, thanks" because they just ooze "this girl is not like other girls". Since, you know, there's a right way to be female and damsels-in-distress aren't it! /sarcasm. Hate the trope, not the damsels.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy did a great job of inverting the gender roles without falling into that. And the female members of the Mysterious Benedict Society do a lot of rescuing too, since their ski sets are wildly different than the boys'.) /derail

The survey is closed, so I didn't get to see it.

I don't like women who are written as cardboard "macho" dudes with boobs. But then, I don't like men who are written as cardboard macho dudes without boobs either.

What I do like are characters of all genders who are well-rounded, rich characters who have reasons for being the way they are. This can mean defying traditional roles and stereotypes in most ways, or embracing them in at least some. I've met very, very few men or women who are exact averages for their gender "norms," let alone extreme exaggerations of gender roles in all or most respects.

But I also dislike it when writers create female characters who deviate from tradition for no reason other than to put women in general down. When I was a kid, there were soooo many books where there was a lone female character who the boys liked because she was "as good as a real boy" at things that required courage and physical prowess, and it was kind of depressing, not only because they were labeled as "boy" things, but because the patent assumption was that the occupations and skills traditionally associated with girls are all inferior and useless.

Imagine a book where a boy is portrayed as cool because he's "as good as a real girl" at playing tea party or cooking or helping his mom around the house?

gettingby said:

I'm not sure you can just pick plot or character. It's really not a one or the other thing. I have never heard of the seven plots, and that there are only seven. Can you tell us what they are? And I don't see the same problem you see with gender roles. That questioned seemed a bit dated. Plenty is written about strong women who save the day or whatever. I think there should be more diversity in both fiction and those who write it. That goes beyond what you seem to be asking.

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I've heard of seven plots, and eleven plots, and you pick the number, but four plots is far more common, has been around the longest, and I can't find a story that doesn't fit one of the four. "Sven plots" came a lot later, and has plots that all fit within the basic four. Man against man, man against himself, man against nature, and man against God.

Jamesaritchie said:

I've heard of seven plots, and eleven plots, and you pick the number, but four plots is far more common, has been around the longest, and I can't find a story that doesn't fit one of the four. "Sven plots" came a lot later, and has plots that all fit within the basic four. Man against man, man against himself, man against nature, and man against God.

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Okay, I can see how many stories can fall into those plots. Interesting. I think I write a lot of man-against-himself stories. Unintentional, but I think all my stories could probably fit one of these categories.