What makes a great story?

[heredoncove]

I want to step a bit outside of the realm of writing and focus on reading, if only for a short moment. This question popped into my head while I was reading some fanfiction. Yes, I do read some when I have the time. I have a soft spot for it.

Anyway, I started thinking while I hunted through some archives for fanfiction that actually follows the conventions of writing - you know grammar and spelling - and thought what makes a great story? What is it about a book that makes you not want to let it go?

One of the main ones for me is the moment when the book seems to come alive. It can be a sentence or a paragraph when it ceases to exist solely on page and becomes something solid and Technicolor. It's the moment when you make a connection with the story as a whole and it simply wraps you with its text.

I have a few other points but I'll add them later because now I'm sleepy and need to stop rambling.

[celebkiriedhel]

I actually am more aware of why I don't read some stories, than why I do.

Humm...

I like stories with big concepts. There's a theory that there are only 9 plots in the world. If they're going to have the stock plots, then I want to see a bit of thinking with it.

So for example - BlackDaisies' 'Simtopi', has a lot of elements that could be tropes but she's twisted them - teenage witch, saving the universe, good vs. evil. You're sucked into the story, because you just don't know what's going to happen next, and you want to know more.


Events that make sense. That is not drama for drama' sake. Or alternatively that anathema that will make me put down any book - a deus ex machina. I like stories with consequences.

e.g. Drew's Crime Stories - Lorcan and Julie. They have a lot of drama in their lives, but it can be traced from act to consequence from the very entry into the story. The current position is drama-filled and tense... but oh so fitting. There's NEVER a feeling of oh-no not that again.

Characters that are well-developed. There are very few truly evil or truly good people in the world. I don't want to read about them, they feel like cookie-cutting. But give me a good man who is faced with a difficult situation and STRUGGLES, or a bad man who is devilishly good looking, and I'll read to the end of the book and drool in the meantime

e.g. MDP's Vaiden. He has this truly cynical-cool vibe going on, but he's completely conflicted internally about Tatiana. Because he's struggling with himself AND he's devilishly good-looking I'll keep reading.

Humour! Give me something to laugh at - and I'll read. I love Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt, The Goon Show, Red Dwarf, and Fawlty Towers (although the last one is hard for me because there's so much tension).

I can actually deal with a certain amount of mis-spelling and grammatical problems, although I prefer not to, as long as I can get back into the story straight away.

But in real life, I'm a bit of a spelling nazi.

[laura]

This is a great thread! It's helpful to read this kind of stuff as writers too. And yes, I agree, it's much easier to describe what you don't like, lol!

For me, what I like:

great writing: I like crisp and flavorful prose (note, not flowery, there's a difference). I like sentences that make me stop and read them again. I like it when a writer describes something in a way that's new and unique and truthful. I like scenes that are painted so vividly that it's almost like seeing it with my own eyes.

truths: In story and in characters. I love stories that explore human truths. I love characters that feel so real and multi-faceted that I know them like I know my own sibling or friend. Characters are huge for me. Bland, or flat, or untrue characters I won't even bother reading.

humor: to steal one from Kiri, lol! But I'll list this one after truths, because I think there's so much humor in life, and it's true to include humor in even the darkest stories.

love: I can't resist a good love story. (note, not a romance story, again, there are differences.) Either platonic or romantic love - I enjoy stories about the things people will and won't do for love. If it has sex in it, bonus!

risks: I like stories that evolve organically, and surprise me with the true and shocking things people really do and say and think. They don't stick to the standard and expected plot lines. You can't guess what the characters will do, but when they do it, it makes sense. You can't guess how it'll end. They take a character's worst nightmares and make her face them. One of my favorite storytelling rules, by Vonnegut: "Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of."

subtlety: Is something I try to aim for in my own stories, and something I admire greatly in other writers. I don't like to be beaten over the head with what a story is about. Showing, not telling. In a really great story, I'll often have to think really hard to put into words what the story is actually *about*, but instead, I feel what it's about with my whole mind and that feeling is crystal clear.

[blackdaisies]

@illandrya That is it for me exactly too. Characters are a huge deal. I could nearly forgive everything else but if I can't care about the characters then I don't really care about the story. Their plot lines could be the most simple thing in the world, or the most complicated. And the characters don't even have to be all that complicated either. You can still fall in love with a fairly simple character with simple goals as long as the writer does a good job with them. Little complexities are nice, but if you try too hard to give an otherwise perfect character a flaw, it is obvious.

[thelunarfox]

I'd say the characters in my case too. It's sort of strange though. They don't have to necessarily be good characters, just interesting ones. Like I love comic books, but over the course of years some of those characters get handed off to many different writers who may treat them differently and may screw things up completely. But I would always come back even if I didn't like a direction taken because I actually liked the idea of the character for some reason.

(Don't read many comic books now, but every so often I will check up on them, flip through a book at the store or look online just to see what's going on.)

For a story, I like when there are layers to it. I don't always want a straight forward story. Actually, the most boring stories are the ones that are solely plot points. And this comes from a girl who likes to read old stories and old comic books. (Mostly that's just for the ideas though, just to see how subjects were handled.)

When I say layers, I think I mean those semi-untold stories that are hidden within all stories. I think they're usually revolving around relationships. Like Laura said, not romance, just how people interact with one another.


And honesty. I think there's a difference between telling a story and letting it evolve and trying very hard to make a story something more than it needs to be. I'm not meaning commercial vs. art. But I can't really think of an example right now. Basically, give me story.

[Stacy]

Warning: I am very sleep deprived. I played Late Night...well...all night. And have been doing that all week.

I shut it down. Am trying to take my brain back. Perhaps I will go through exhaustion to the other side and find profound writing there later tonight.

I'm trying to think of what I do when I pick books at bookstores or what movies to go see.

First, there's taste stuff. Which I suppose doesn't have anything to do with a great story - there may be great stories in crime heist movies or technical thriller books.

So I weed the books out based on that and then I take a few and go sit down and read the first few bits.

I think the biggest thing, for me - readability. If the sentences are too long and complex and the words are monotonous, I put it down. If the sentences are awkward and all I can think is "Dude, come on, this stuff gets published? I've read Sims 2 stories written by 14 year olds and posted on the Exchange with better sentences" - well, actually those wouldn't have made it past the initial sentence test anyway.

Sentences are important, people! This is why I spent, like, a day, coming up with this line in 10.03:

"The cement was white and the shoes were black."

The thread about that is around here somewhere if you want to see the process there.

I don't set out to have meaning and metaphors in my stories - well, maybe in 10 but that's because Seth's personal system of symbols has already been set up and explored in Valley. Which, dude - Valley started as a legacy. I had no clue of any of that stuff at first, and I only saw it as it emerged naturally from the story. I don't think anyone sees what I see in it, but they see their own stuff. The world reflects ourselves back at us. And I reserve the right to find meaning and symbols and metaphors and a philosophy in my stories. If other people think that's pompous or pretentious or whatever - that's their bag. Their reflection. And they ain't gotta read my stuff if they don't want.

Gotta admit, can't find any in Farmer Brown. YET. Give me time. I will.

I don't really think about "characters" and "relationships" like you guys do.

I don't know - once you make it past the taste and sentence test you're pretty much good. I don't have like all these judgy standards or anything. Sometimes on the way home from a movie I will want to talk about the story and will still be in it mentally but Grace goes off on the actors and how horrible everything was (seriously, she freaking insults everything - but I know sometimes she secretly likes things because she wants to see MegaMind again and buy the DVD, so ha!) and I want to jump out of the car because viewing stories from outside like that makes me itch and makes my brain want to come streaming out of my ears and land in a liquidy brain bit puddle at my feet and lay there and quiver in disgust and wrong-ness.

OMG, haha - we are seeing what lies at the end of the rainbow of sleep deprivation now, kiddies!

So, to sum up.

Take care with your sentences, and for me the rest will follow.

And in movies - really as long as it's not too stupid I'm good. Thinking of movies I really don't like - Dazed and Confused, The Goonies (Oh god - had to watch that in creative writing in high school and write a poem about it. My poem was all about stupid whining useless kids who whine a lot and are stupid.) and yeah....

As long as I can identify with a story and find something in it that speaks to me and the story is told in a way that appeals to me, with good sentences in text or pretty images in movies and Sims stories, I think it's a great story.

Haven't watched TV in over a decade.

Off to lunchy times now.

[mdpthatsme]

Hmmm, I'm really not much of a reader as much of a writer. If I'm to choose what really makes me read a book...hmmm:

Awesome characters: I don't have to relate to them, but they have to be well developed.

A thrilling storyline: I'm not much for one to read a story without some type of adventure in it.

Suspense: If it's just blah all the way through, I'm not going to read it. Something has to keep me on my toes full of questions and theories.

Oh and also easily read. I don't like rereading one paragraph to try and figure out who's talking and what-the-hell it just told me.

[dinuriel]

Wow, thinking in Reader Mode is tough :S

Hmm... you know, when it comes down to it, I think the things that I dislike in literature are the same sort of things I dislike in people, if that makes any sense. I don't like "arrogant" literature--"confident", sure, but some works just seem a bit full of themselves to me (this is my problem with Shakespeare--everything of his I've read I've found a bit stuffy. This also comes up a lot with preachy religious fiction). I also don't like "superficial" literature. I like subtext and social commentary and relation to the world as a whole--not too keen on anything full of bland-yet-beautiful characters in a place where the sun is always shining who get everything they want despite not doing anything to earn it.

As for what I do like... well, I'm not too picky. As long as it isn't too choppy and I can tell the difference between individual characters, I'm good.

[heredoncove]

Finally back to finish my thoughts.

I have to agree about character and I think it links back to my 'magic moment' of the story becoming alive. I think the best stories have characters that could exist beyond the page, that even if they're a vampire/fairy/warrior/whatever they are still so painfully human. You experience a connection to them even though they never speak to you directly.

I hate to simplify but I guess no matter what the story contains that for me a great story is all about connection to the reader, even when the characters/plots/love/etc is so alien from your own life. I enjoy the cathartic aspect of stories and when they are able to do that, then it has been a good story to me.

[infinitygoddess]

I like a good plot, excellent character development, and feeling like I'm part of that world.

[drew]

I just want to be entertained. Fascinating characters are definitely the veggies in the stew for me, the characters have to pull me in. I also like plots that are dense, layered, but not so much so I get lost in the mire. I also like plots that are resolved to at least some extent.
I also like to feel part of the world, immersed. Like visiting an old friend.

[tesseracta]

Hmm, I'm an avid reader, and it is hard to separate the elements. Like Justice Potter Stewart's definition of obscenity, I can't define it but I know it when I see it. ;D

Basically, if I can forget the real world and lose myself in the story, then it is a good one. ^_^. But if I have to be specific, if a story has one or more of the following, I will tend to like it more:

The Basics:
Realistic characters that engage me.
Vivid sense of place
A plausible plot without holes.
Writing that doesn't insult my intelligence.

Icing on the cake:
Artistic prose
Risk-taking with plots
Being moved/provoked/inspired irl from the story

^_^

[sfe]

As most here already mentioned, realistic characters that make me want to know their story is the most important thing for me as well.

Really bad grammar, spelling etc are a huge turn-off to me, but I'm not perfect with the English either since it is not my mother tongue, so I can tolerate a few mistakes.

Other elements I appreciate are the good sense of humour and the romance. An element that I am not very fond of is when the story is too "heavy", too serious. I want the story to lift my spirits or at least not to make me feel depressed .

[mmmcheezy225]

For me, there are five aspects to a great story.

1. The story. The story behind the story, if you get what I'm saying. What the story is, how it got that way, and what it might become. A little bit of foreshadowing here and there never hurt anyone, especially if the story takes you by surprise and goes in a completely different direction than what was hinted.
2. Plot. What really draws me in is the credibility of the plot. How can I relate to it? How can I relate to the characters within the story, and how developed are they?
Which leads me to...
3. Complex Characters. I have a soft spot for "onion characters", as in, characters with many layers. If a character just has one or two layers, it gets unrealistic and uninteresting for me. I mean really, how many of us are blessed (or cursed) with only two layers?
4. Humor. Another thing I look for is humor, as Kiri stated. Don't get me wrong, I love the occasionally (or frequently) dramatic plots, but I need a bit of humor in there. I'm a comedian at heart. I need something to make me laugh, even if in a dark twisted sense. Finding the humor in tragedy and such.
5. Proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. None of us are perfect, and English is a tough language to learn, even for those who are native speakers. That's why I put grammar at the bottom of the list. However, if the grammar is so poor that I can't bear to look at it anymore, that's when I "x" out of the window (or put down the book, although I've never read a poorly written book in terms of grammar).

Of course, I have violated all of these rules at some point while writing/blogging, but eh...you read and you learn. Also, I have a soft spot for fan fictions as well. You are not alone.