When I asked my creative writing class to tell me what makes a story GREAT, they had plenty to tell me. Each idea that was shared shouted was met with nods and other cheers of agreement. These students had passionate feelings on the subject!
Even more telling–and met with more enthusiastic participation–was our brainstorming session on “what makes a story STINK” 🙂 I’ll save that for another post however, LOL.
Though not all of the students are committed writers (by their own admission), each of them are readers to one degree or another (which makes hope burn bright in this writer’s heart). I think these guys really nailed the elements that make a story stand out!
Sometimes, as a writer, I can get so focused on something at a microlevel, I can forget about the macrolevel elements that truly speak to readers (most of whom are not writers and may miss the subtle nuances I might be spending waaay too much time on). These ideas were like putting a fresh set of eyes on the subject of storytelling.
Here are my top five faves from our brainstorming session (not an easy pick!):
- Diverse characters, including those you love to hate! (And who are my favorite to write *mwahahahaha*)
- Characters outliving stereotypes (such a great point!).
- Plot twists 😀
- Realistic consequences (and, I might add, realistic plot twists).
- Compelling reasons for characters to act as they do. (I thought this was such a wise observation!)
What elements do YOU think make for a can’t-put-down-page-turner? Did the students miss anything obvious? My apologies for the messy whiteboard writing which may be hard to read (I didn’t know I’d be turning this photo into a blog post at the time).
Stay tuned for part two…when we see the plethora of things my students claim will make a story stink!
I like stories that build – that add layer after layer of nuance that deepens everything. That affects where you think the story is going and give you a new perspective on everything that happened before so the story resonates.
I couldn’t agree more! That’s always my bittersweet challenge when I write. It’s so fun to add those layers but can be sooooo tricky to peel them back and make them work in harmony–ahhh! But those are the things that make for a fun read and they’re worth the effort to work through as a writer 🙂 Great point!