5 things that make a great story

Posted on December 29, 2016

Like many readers and writers before me, I’ve spent years trying to work out what makes a story truly great.
I suspect it’s hellishly more complex than my 5 points below but for me, these are the things that jump out as being essential.
So, short and sweet, here are my must-haves (I’ve provided no specific examples but feel free to post below about what pushes your particular buttons):

1. You already love the genre; but this is a whole new twist on it.
2. The villain(s) make you wonder what the hell happened to make them so bad.
3. The great characters rule, and their great dialogue rocks.
4. The story unfolds at the right pace for this particular story.
5. Whether it ends happily or not doesn’t matter: what matters is that you care whether it’s going to end happily.

Have you got a different top 5? Tell me about them!

And read what you love, whenever you can.

Helen