Key Elements of a Great Story
By Brandon RossDo you ever get so immersed in a story that you forget everything else going on in your life? At some moment, in between reading a certain paragraph, you become completely hooked, wanting nothing more than to find out what happens next. This kind of immersion is the reason why writers write, and readers read; it takes us outside of ourselves and transports us to a world within a story. This story can be non-fiction, fiction, or self-help. It can be horror, comedy, romance, or a mix of them all. What it should do across all genres is make the reader ask themselves, “Just what makes this story so great?”
In reality, we all have many different interpretations of what a compelling story is. Through websites like Goodreads, we can see millions of different reviews from readers every day about stories they loved, loathed, or simply found alright. Considering most writers wouldn’t want to write an alright story, many seek guidance both online and offline to discuss how they should write effective story structure, plot twists, and craft an engaging story in general. As crucial as guidance can be, remember that every author’s writing process and story arc may not fit the one you are trying to accomplish. So, before all else, write to find out what works for you.
While you should write to find out what works for both you and your story, there must be at least some kind of general outline out there that explains the key elements to a great story? Well, these are just a few of the many fundamental elements that can make for a great story:
A Great Story has a Fascinating Concept + Theme
“Focus on your concept. Make its expression fun. Or sexy or interesting or scary or informative. Make it so compelling that a person would have to be crazy NOT to read it.”
-Steven Pressfield (Nobody Wants To Read Your Sh*t)
Before all else, there is a general idea of what a story is. This idea can be molded to fit into larger genres like Sci-fi, horror, romance, etc. At the basis of this idea, it should have a unique spin that separates it from other authors’ ideas within a similar genre. One way you can create a great story is by developing a primary concept and theme. A concept is an abstract idea, a general notion of something. A theme is an underlying idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.
The concept is often an external force that focuses on what the story is about, while the theme focuses on the motives behind each story and its characters, structure, and plot. For example, The Hunger Games concept is the Capitol, enacting a life-or-death competition called the Hunger Games to showcase their power over the other districts of Panem. Within all of this brutality, there is one primary theme; survival. Each action is motivated by this theme; Katniss choosing to volunteer for her younger sister Prim; tributes recruiting teammates to survive, and even the underlying goal of creating the Hunger Games to sustain what is left of a fading dystopian society.
A great story has a fascinating concept and theme. They both work together to answer one simple question, “What is this story about?” As you work out your own story, tone your concept to make it precise and pinpoint the primary themes within the story to build a cohesive narrative. That way you can know what your story is about, as well as the motives behind the story; making it one step closer to greatness as it is now understood.
A Great Story has a Hooking Beginning, Building Middle, and Memorable Ending
“The difference between content, or experience, and achieved content, or art, is technique.”
-Mark Schorer (The World We Imagine)
Agh, yes, structure. Some authors encourage starting at the end, then working your way towards it throughout the story. Others suggest forgetting structure or plot altogether and focusing entirely on where the story leads itself. Whatever style of story writing you choose to go down, keep one thing in mind; engaging the reader through the sequence of events occurring throughout the story. That means having a hooking beginning, building middle, and memorable ending.
Having a beautifully structured story is much easier said than done, as are most things in the writing world. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t reach for greatness, though. Here are some signs that your story is on the right path to having a solid beginning, middle, and end:
There is a sense that the entire story, including its ending, somehow grows out of the first sentence of the story
There are both internal and external struggles your protagonist must face to get to their primary goal. These struggles reveal themselves and develop throughout the story
The story feels like a journey of some kind, perhaps even a hero’s journey, because it will offer some kind of transformation for the protagonist by the time it’s over
The story represents something greater than itself, which adds power to both the reader and the plot
A Great Story has Fascinating Characters
“When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.”
- (Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon)
What is a story if not a collection of people doing things to each other and the world around them? Even stories that don’t include any humans carry human-like characteristics. Most people want to read stories about other people, as we all can relate and learn more from the human experience, both in fiction and non-fiction. How would a person act in this situation? What are their character traits, attributes, and goals? Why should I care for this person? These are just some of the questions a reader may ask while reading about your characters.
But how do we write fascinating characters? Sure, you may have character archetypes and character profiles for the supporting cast. But what is the best way to bring these characters to life? One way is through introducing the character to the reader in a fascinating way. In Jack Hodgins book A Passion for Narrative, he states these four tactics:
Telling it directly to yourself: “She was always frightened by the dark.”
Allowing the character to tell it: “Perhaps I’ve always kept away from the dark ever since that one cool Wednesday night when he followed me home from the video store”
Allowing some other characters to express it: “I wouldn't bother mentioning it to Lily,” Sarah says to the group. “She never wants to hang out at this time of night.”
Letting the character’s actions suggest it: “Opening the front door of her tiny brick home, Lily carefully steps out, examining the sky above. Daylight still, a sigh of relief she carries as she walks towards the bike in her front yard. Placing her hand on the handlebars, she walks into the nearly empty street, spotting a singular grey car moving towards her. At a glance, she remembers and runs back into the house. Locking the door, she sees him again, staring at her from the car; an incoming sunset behind him.”
Though the introduction is important to building a fascinating character, it’s also important to think about what purpose your character has for being the protagonist. Their purpose should relate directly to the primary objective of the story since the protagonist often embodies both the external concept and the internal themes of the story. Going back to The Hunger Games, the protagonist Katniss faces both the external conflict brought along by the concept (the Hunger Games) and the internal conflict represented by the theme (Survival). With this caliber, this mix of external and internal conflicts, Katniss becomes a fascinating figure as she is immersed in the story; she has a purpose.
Build your character with purpose; give them a goal to strive for. Take them on a journey that will change both the character and reader by the time the story is over. A great story has fascinating characters; they are pronounced with compelling descriptions and strong concepts + themes.
A Great Story has Effective Dialogue
“Much of what we learn about characters comes to us as we listen to them talk to one another. What they say, how they say it, what they avoid saying - these provide us with impressions we interpret and store for later use.”
- Jack Hodgins (A Passion for Narrative)
There is a scene near the end of Brokeback Mountain, a well-known short story by Annie Proulx. Capturing the years of affection and turmoil, the main characters feel for one another due to their circumstances, this scene showcases how important dialogue is to a story. Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist are stuck, both wanting in some way to be together, but knowing the outback of Wyoming is full of both intolerance and violence. As Jack tries to tempt Ennis to move to Mexico, their feelings of both regret and fear are uncovered:
“We ought a go south. We ought a go to Mexico one day.”
“Mexico? Jack, you know me. All the travelin I ever done is goin around the coffeepot looking for the handle.”
“You know friend, this is a goddamn bitch of a unsatisfactory situation. You used to come away easy. It’s like seeing the pope now. . . I wish I knew how to quit you”
This scene shows how effective dialogue can be created. More than anything, it shows how dialogue can progress a story. Between all of the action and plots within a story, there is dialogue. One way to create great dialogue is to have a purpose for dialogue, the same way the characters have a purpose within a story. Everything is interconnected, pushing something forward, backward, or in between to immerse the reader.
To put purpose in dialogue is to understand what the dialogue is trying to convey. Relating back to Hodgins’ A Passion for Narrative, he points out the primary tasks that dialogue can do in a story:
Advance the plot
“Wow, well I guess we are doing it. We are getting married.”
Reveal and express character traits and emotions
“I trust actions, not words.” “But aren’t you a writer?” “Yes, yes I am.”
Crystallize relationships and situations
“Well Mom, we are dirt poor. We barely have any food in the fridge, and neither of us have graduated from high school. This is what you call a happy life?”
“We’ve got a garden, a horse in the backyard, and a sunrise every morning. You know what sweetie, this is a happy life.”
Allow characters to confront one another
“So tell me, tell me why you weren’t at the meeting. Because this is the third damn time this week and we all know you aren’t sick.”
“Get off my back Mark. If it wasn’t for me this whole company wouldn’t have survived the crash. Do you not realize how much I do for you guys?”
Reveal by concealing - (What is not said? Why?) “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.”
“Fine? I haven’t heard from you in weeks. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I’ve just been busy.”
Deliver a punch or deciding blow in a conflict - (new information that changes things)
“Fine, leave. I don’t want you here anyway. She already knows you know, I told her last night when you were putting the kids to sleep.”
Comment on setting, weather, surroundings, and so forth, in a manner that suggests interpretation
“It’s quite funny though, every time I see him it’s rainy. A kind of light rain. Like the rain that would trickle on top of those puddles we used to jump on in father’s garden. Sometimes I wonder if it's a sign.” “A sign? Don’t be silly Margaret, of what?” “Comfort perhaps, perhaps a delicate unease. I guess we’ll see tomorrow, he is to bring me to Archer’s estate.”
Introduce or reinforce an allusion, symbol, or repeated motif
“Well dammit if he won’t come just go tell him there’s pie here, we all know that’s his kryptonite.”
Offer a cue for transition to a new scene or narrative summary - “No, she was sent home actually. It was you that was chosen.”
“Me? But she-”
“You. Training begins tomorrow morning at six, don’t be late.”
Dialogue can be just as, if not more suspenseful than the actions occurring in a story if it is done effectively. The language, the things we choose to hide or show within scenes, is crucial to furthering the story. It is often the things the characters choose to hide behind their words that bring up the suspense in the story and raise more emotional attention. For that reason, try not to give away everything in the dialogue.
What sounds more captivating? “I’m angry at you because you can’t get home on time” or “your home late, again. This is the second time this week. Shall I phone the office?” Conflict. Suspense. Eventually, a release in what the characters are hiding behind their words. This repression in words is what often happens in real life, which creates for more believable dialogue. These are some of the ways you can make for effective dialogue in your story.
A Great Story has Conflict
“Conflict must be personalized to the character. If you don’t know your story people and motivate them, you won’t have a strong conflict. A vague or general motivating force produces a vague and general plot. Being specific will increase the emotional intensity of your story.”
- Cheryl St. John (Writing with Emotion, Tension, and Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and Compelling Novel)
From character and dialogue, comes conflict. Almost all stories, regardless of genre or historical periods, include some form of conflict. Let’s take a look at two stories, one without and one with conflict:
Like every morning in the cottage, Julie wakes in the attic to gentle sounds of birds and trees flowing in from her slightly opened window. A thread of sunlight peering through the skylight, a distant noise of coffee being made downstairs. I could drown in this noise she says to herself as she turns on the radio, another one of those new age jazz songs playing. Peace it seems, that is what she is bound to meet today.
Like every morning in the cottage, Julie wakes in the attic to gentle sounds of birds and trees flowing in from her slightly opened window. A thread of sunlight peering through the skylight, a muffle of words coming from downstairs. Though her parents have told her to stay inside since the war started, she has decided to go bike riding today. Sneaking downstairs, she grasps her hand on the door handle, only to freeze in place like one of her childhood dolls when her mother walks out of the kitchen and says, “They’re invading France.”
Which did you find to be a more engaging story? While some may prefer the happier, blissful tale of Julie enjoying her morning, most would be drawn to the conflicting story of Julie trying to enjoy her morning in a war-torn France. This is because conflict inspires attention, as it does in our real lives. The only difference is we may not brush off the conflict in stories as much as we do in our own lives since we are simply the observers in a story; the readers.
The protagonist must have both an internal and external conflict to drive the story. In the short story above, the external conflict is the incoming war in Julie’s home country, while the internal conflict is her own need for freedom in a restrictive setting. Intertwining these types of conflict in your story can bring in suspense, create subplots, and forge new elements of storytelling through strong character development from these conflicts.
A Great Story has Effective Descriptions of Setting
“Besides furnishing a plausible abode for the novel’s world of feeling, place has a good deal to do with making the characters real, that is themselves, and keeping them so.”
- Eudora Welty (The Eye of the Story)
There is the world within the characters, and there is a world outside the characters. As important as character development is, there is no denying the power of setting. Setting shapes a character’s behaviors, it limits or offers certain resources, and it makes your story believable. Where is your setting? A creepy rundown motel in the deep woods of Maine? A beautiful little coastal town on the Amalfi Coast? Notice how each setting suggests something, hints to what the story will become.
One way to create an effective setting is to show and not tell while describing your setting. As overused as this phrase has become, it does ring true to how you can create a compelling narrative. To show is to make the reader see, feel, hear, smell, taste, and become completely part of the story. Whereas to tell a reader something often leads to general and vague sentences. Let’s take a look at these two paragraphs, one that tells about a physical location and the other that shows it:
It’s a rainy day. I walk to the grocery store near my apartment and stock up on supplies. The people in the store look angry and tired. As am I. Another Christmas song is playing in the store, and there are lots of decorations around the aisles. I leave the store, and the plastic grocery bags get wet from the rain.
Pouring with relentlessness, the rain is transforming the streets into riverbanks that splash between cars and pavements. Passing by the large puddles near a crosswalk, rows of Christmas lights lay sprung along the entrances of tiny shops across the street. Though it is wintertime, rain and clouds are all we seem to receive in Vancouver this time of year; aside from those discounted gifts and free face masks offered at the entrance of the grocery store. Walking in, the smell of hand sanitizer greets me as a Christmas song plays amongst the rainy night gloom. Tired staff stare blankly at the line of customers wanting to pay each six feet apart with their heads stretching downwards to a screen. Holiday cheer.
Which story were you more engaged with? The one that simply told you about setting or the one that showed you? An entire story doesn’t have to show everything, but it always shows the important parts. The parts that will intrigue a reader, progress a story, and build a fascinating setting. With that in mind, here are a few other elements that should be implemented to create a great setting:
Style - What underlying themes exist in the setting? What would the writing focus on to capture a certain atmosphere in your setting?
Research - If your story is based on previous events, have you researched enough to ensure it matches up with history?
Time - When is this story occurring? Is it in the past, future, or possibly a completely different timescape in some separate universe?
A Great Story has Worldbuilding Tactics
“My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you feel - it is, before all, to make you see.”
- Joseph Conrad (The Creative Process)
Alongside setting, there is a deeper, more in depth aspect of a story; worldbuilding. Worldbuilding is constructing where your story takes place, which often stretches past the characters and their general setting. Worldbuilding shows what we don’t see in the story but can imagine from the intricate details placed in the story. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale, a reader can catch the grim, dystopian elements of this totalitarian regime with sentences like…
“I remember rules, rules that were never spelled out but every woman knew”, “we were a society dying of too much choice” and “freedom, like everything else, is relative.”
These sentences reach past the initial story, they show how this world functions. While constructing your story, use worldbuilding tactics to create a world around it. This can be implemented by including details of the world through the characters’ experiences within it. Instead of simply telling the reader about this world, show them through the character’s memories, feelings, and surroundings throughout their lives in this world. This will make your story specific, detailed, and immersive as the reader gets to move alongside the character in some way, experiencing each positive and negative this world has to offer.
A Great Story has an Appropriate Point of View + Voice
“The key, I believe, is literally a key in that it is musical... it is the tone of voice, the only tone of voice, in which this particular piece of writing will permit itself to be written.”
- Norman Podhoretz (Making It)
As important as your storyline is, understanding where and how your story should be told is just as important. The story’s point of view is the viewpoint the reader will be immersing themselves in, so it is necessary before even writing the story to decide which point of view your story will come from. Within the storytelling world, there are six primary points of view:
1. First Person Protagonist - The narrator gives a personal account of their lives. This involves the use of the pronouns “I” and “we” to portray the speaker.
2. First Person Witness - A narrator is giving their personal account of a second character. Uses pronouns like “I” and “we” though place the focus on a separate character with a third-person perspective (he/she/they).
3. Second Person - A narrator uses the pronoun “you” to describe themselves or a character within a story. Of the six, the second person is the rarest form of narration style for long-form stories, but it is not uncommon in short stories or poems
4. Third Person Omniscient - The omniscient narrator is all-seeing and all-knowing, able to access all characters within a story, including their inner thoughts and feelings. Acting with godlike abilities, the narrator has complete control of the story; making it great for stories that involve a vast amount of characters.
5. Third Person Objective - Narrator can only narrate the characters’ external actions - everything they pronounce externally. This is meant to give an unbiased account of a story, pointing towards how the external actions can hint at what the characters are truly feeling inside.
6. Third Person Limited Omniscient - Narrator only has access to a limited number of characters’ internal thoughts and feelings. This is to hold things back, keep both the reader, and character on edge of what will happen, and add suspense to the story through a limitation of knowledge.
From these six points of view, you can understand why certain viewpoints are chosen over others. Would a story about one person really benefit if it used a third-person omniscient? Perhaps it could, perhaps not. Interestingly, the way authors choose to twist these six points of view to fit their storyline can either make or break a story depending on how abstract or simple they make their point of view. Alongside point of view, there is the voice of the narrator that should reflect the atmosphere you are trying to capture in your story.
Unlike point of view, there are no specific guidelines for voice. This is because each character's voice is unique to fit a certain story. Notice how in the Brokeback Mountain passage from earlier, the characters have elements of cowboy tones in their dialogue with words like “we ought a” and “goin”. Voice should capture the tone and style of your character in a way that makes each character and narrator sound uniquely themselves. Doing this will make your story more honest, which will make your story stronger as it actually seems believable in some way.
A Great Story has a Great Writer’s Mindset
“Surely the delight and the wonder come not from who tells the story but from what the story tells, and how.”
-Margaret Atwood (Introduction to Best American Short Stories 1989)
Writers, across all genres and historical periods, each had their own writing methods. Today, these writing methods may have been further explained with thousands of How To Write books by famous authors, a worldwide writing community, and millions of articles on the subject of writing (like this one right here). Since there are so many different methods of writing, many writers may not know what practice or writing plan they should implement to write their stories.
Outside of these methods, plans, and rules of how to write, there is a deeper aspect to understand in yourself before you begin your story - why are you writing it? Even if you answer “Because I believe it’s a good story that readers will enjoy,” look deeper into that question. Why am I writing this? Ponder this question a bit more, as it may bring up another part of yourself; the ego.
Don’t let your ego hinder your creative process. While writing, don’t assume someone else wants to read it straight away; nor that your work is compelling. More importantly, don’t imagine grandiose thoughts that your book is on your way to become the next best-selling phenomenon and that you will be noticed. We all should aim high certainly, but make it less about yourself and more about the story, that’s what readers are interested in!
In other words, take yourself out of the story, and you will have a lot more fun writing it. It will become less about you sounding like an incredible writer and more about if this story works or doesn’t in your editing, and you will feel happier as this story you are pouring out is becoming something not for the sake of you but for itself. As Atwood states, the delight and wonder come from the story rather than the teller; take yourself out of the equation, surrender yourself to the material and watch greatness unfold.
And of course, a Great Story has Great Writing
“It seems to me very important to be able to get at the exact tone or texture of how things are. I can’t really claim that it is linked to any kind of a religious feeling about the world, and yet that might come closest to describing it.”
-Alice Munro (Eleven Canadian Novelists)
The final element is one of the most obvious, great writing. Great writing can be captured with a mix of compelling storylines, fascinating characters, and effective descriptions of setting and dialogue. The showing and not telling has been explained, as has the ways all of these elements can come together. Strip these elements down, and you have the writing. Writing is the bones in the body of the story; it holds the flesh of plot and remains once everything else withers away.
To write great stories is to write one good sentence after another. As well, to consider the four primary types of prose within a story:
Exposition - To inform the reader of information needed for understanding the rest of the story. “We usually talk very little, but today feels different. He is giving me a certain look, the kind he used to give me years ago before the kids and bills. It was like all those years ago, in Montclair...”
Narrative - To give a fast narrative summary when necessary to move from one scene to another. “Months passed, and we continued to push forward. Past each rundown city with their hollow remnants of times before. Some days we would see people, tucked away behind broken glass apartments and powered off homes. I knew I couldn’t speak to them, nor could they, but I still threw up a wave. Hoping.”
Scene - To bring the characters up close, often through dialogue or actions that will move a story forward. “You know I can’t do that” Malcolm says, his briefcase now clutching firmer in his hand.
“Well you’re going to have to” Jesp says, the sound of Malcolm's children playing upstairs overpowering the cocking of Jesp's gun.
“And if I don’t give it to you?”
“You know what.”
“I know.”
Half Scene - To give the occasional pause in fast narrative sequences which picks up little snatches of dialogues to progress the story…
“After each long day tending to the farm, we would settle in the kitchen and watch the ol’ dog rest on the back porch as thelast murmurs of sun retracted down the valley. “Say, isn’t it Tuesday today?” he would ask. Had I forgotten too? I would always mumble “yes.” Even on those days that felt like Fridays, dare I say a Sunday. That godly man.”
Understanding the different prose within a story can help you determine which type is best for a specific aspect of your story. Does this part deserve a full-stop scene? Or a half scene to allow the story to move forward? Have I given enough exposition to describe this specific characteristic within the story? Or am I hiding this part to reveal it later on in the story? All of this accumulates to constructing purposeful placements of writing.
These are just a few essential elements of storytelling that can contribute to some form of greatness in a story. These stories can come from all kinds of places; daydreams, real-life events, your own life. At We Write Stories, turning compelling life stories into books is one way we capture great stories. As time goes on, there may be newfound definitions of what makes a story great, as will the definition of what makes anything great. For now, these elements may contribute to building a compelling story. So, what do you think makes a story great?
