Something I’ve always loved in any media form is a great story. But what makes a great story? When you are the consumer of the story it’s not always that easy to identify what exactly makes one story so interesting and another formulaic. However, when you task yourself with creating a story you start to notice the intricacies which are involved in even the simplest of good stories. Consistency, depth and an interesting plot are three basic cornerstones I’ve identified in some of my favourite stories.
- Consistency – It’s easy to think up a great idea or two. Making those ideas consistent in the story, making them tie in to the plot, fitting them well in the timeline and making them consistent with the real world (if that is a desire) are not easy. However, this seems to be something that makes a story believable and feel more genuine.
- Depth – Having an idea for a simple story is not too difficult to do. But a rich, deep story that keeps the consumer thinking during and even after they’ve experienced it is difficult to do. I like to think of it as being layered. Some of my favourites stories have had a top layer which is the story that is immediately apparent to the consumer. As the story progresses a deeper second layer of story begins to unravel. This is often a subplot that has been behind the top layer story all along but wasn’t immediately obvious. There can also be a final layer. One which is either left for the consumer to reveal, revealed right at the end or alluded to in some way to be further explored in future instalments. This layering of depth is what really make a story come alive for me. It’s also what lends some of the best stories to fan theories, which in and of themselves can take on a life of their own.
- Interesting – and finally you can have consistency and depth but to make it all fit together nicely the story has to be interesting.
I’m sure there’s lots of other factors that come into play that I haven’t covered but they are the three main things that make a story great for me.