The One Thing that Makes a Good Story..

What makes a story a good one?

Ask one person and he will say, “Action, and lots of it.”

Ask another and she will say, “I want to get to know the characters and what makes them tick.”

Ask a third and you will get the answer, “I want to feel like I know the world where the story is set.”

These three people have very different ideas about what they want in a story, right? So how can we pin down what makes a good story to just one element?

The clue is right there, staring us in the face. We just have to take a step back to see it.

What wisdom can you take away from this blog?

This.

You have to know who you are writing for. Know your audience. What sort of person are they?

Then consider this. What are they looking for when they read your story? What kind of beginning, middle and end will satisfy them? What kind of point do they want your story to make?

Because that is ultimately what makes a good story… a story that satisfies the desires of the audience. So get to know your audience. Knowing your audience leads you into the style to suit them.

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I can’t be the only one who is more interested in what a villain gets up to than the struggles of a goody-two-shoes hero.

We are taught from the time we are very small that we ought to be kind to others, aren’t we? That we shouldn’t take advantage of those weaker than ourselves? That it is wrong to cheat, lie and steal?

Of course we are. Of course it is right that we are. But when we write a story, we can have our ‘bad guys’ do anything we want them to do. We can have them commit audacious crimes, incite them to terrible deeds, and make them lie glibly through their teeth, all without any of the pangs of guilt a ‘normal’ person would feel.

We can make our creations do any, or all, of those things, without the risk of detectives knocking on our own doors.

The enduring appeal of a villain, from Count Dracula to Big Brother, Bill Sikes to Sauron, Moriarty to Voldemort, is his (or her) complete embodiment of evil in the story to which he belongs. Never sorry for his deeds, never tempted to mend his ways, he is the fascinating dark side of our own selves. Exploring this dark side within the safety of the covers of a book is a brave adventure.

A braver adventure still, though, would be the creation of a villain of your own. What heinous deeds could find their way from your brain to the page? Could you dare to explore the dark side?