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miriam_eI've been thinking about the story I wrote as part of NaNoWriMo.
My feelings have been swinging pretty wildly between "What a load of terrible crap I produced" and "it was really worth trying to get all those ideas out there."
Every time I think that my work sucked royally I am pushed to think about what constitutes a "good" story. It seems to differ for almost everybody, and even worse, (this is the weirdest bit) those who are most certain that they know what is a "good" story are often those worst placed to judge. As an example many books now recognised as great works of literature had incredible difficulty being seen as "good" in their day. A more recent example is the film Something About Mary, a brilliant story which all the critics and authorities on "good" film despised. It spent months pulling in big audiences at the cinemas, having a wider appeal than any film I've ever seen.
So what is a "good" story? Oddly, I don't think there is an answer to the question. I might as well ask "how long is a piece of string?"
Most people fall into the trap of judging story quality based on some standard rules. Unfortunately a truly good story often breaks the rules in order to to be good. Stories that follow the rules become predictable and clichéd. My story doesn't conform to the standard storytelling techniques. That was deliberate. The main characters aren't riddled with angst, tormented by some problem. I wanted to throw all that out the window. It was a risk. I ended up introducing some tiny bit of antagonism part way through the story to make for a more normal plot. I now wonder if that may have been a bit of a mistake. Perhaps I should have stuck to my guns. Of course the danger is that someone might quit the story early thinking it would be monotone happiness all the way through, but that is part of the risk of course.
I don't have any solution... just thinking out loud. Still re-editing it... in between doing all the other things I'm supposed to be doing.
One thing keeps coming to me over and over again. If Shakespeare tried to write his stories today he would likely starve. If you are honest with yourself and look at his stories you can see that even though they were brilliant in their day, today where every second TV show has more plot twists, Shakespeare's work looks clichéd and not up to the modern sophisticated audience. But then, as a friend of mine, Tracey Wood, said recently, "We can only hope to become future clichés."
(Incidentally, I'm not comparing myself with Shakespeare or the Farrelly brothers, just wondering about what the hell makes a good story.)
My feelings have been swinging pretty wildly between "What a load of terrible crap I produced" and "it was really worth trying to get all those ideas out there."
Every time I think that my work sucked royally I am pushed to think about what constitutes a "good" story. It seems to differ for almost everybody, and even worse, (this is the weirdest bit) those who are most certain that they know what is a "good" story are often those worst placed to judge. As an example many books now recognised as great works of literature had incredible difficulty being seen as "good" in their day. A more recent example is the film Something About Mary, a brilliant story which all the critics and authorities on "good" film despised. It spent months pulling in big audiences at the cinemas, having a wider appeal than any film I've ever seen.
So what is a "good" story? Oddly, I don't think there is an answer to the question. I might as well ask "how long is a piece of string?"
Most people fall into the trap of judging story quality based on some standard rules. Unfortunately a truly good story often breaks the rules in order to to be good. Stories that follow the rules become predictable and clichéd. My story doesn't conform to the standard storytelling techniques. That was deliberate. The main characters aren't riddled with angst, tormented by some problem. I wanted to throw all that out the window. It was a risk. I ended up introducing some tiny bit of antagonism part way through the story to make for a more normal plot. I now wonder if that may have been a bit of a mistake. Perhaps I should have stuck to my guns. Of course the danger is that someone might quit the story early thinking it would be monotone happiness all the way through, but that is part of the risk of course.
I don't have any solution... just thinking out loud. Still re-editing it... in between doing all the other things I'm supposed to be doing.
One thing keeps coming to me over and over again. If Shakespeare tried to write his stories today he would likely starve. If you are honest with yourself and look at his stories you can see that even though they were brilliant in their day, today where every second TV show has more plot twists, Shakespeare's work looks clichéd and not up to the modern sophisticated audience. But then, as a friend of mine, Tracey Wood, said recently, "We can only hope to become future clichés."
(Incidentally, I'm not comparing myself with Shakespeare or the Farrelly brothers, just wondering about what the hell makes a good story.)
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What makes a good story
Date: 2005-12-09 01:16 pm (UTC)Explosions and car chases.
And huge bazoombas.
My wife and younger son are in the TV room watching The Lion In Winter, and there hasn't been one single explosion or car chase, and I'd really rather not think about Katherine Hepburn's bazoombas, if it's all the same to you.
Perhaps I'm not quite getting this.
Re: What makes a good story
Date: 2005-12-09 01:40 pm (UTC)You nut Bob.
Been getting into the wine again huh?
Stop it you bad boy. That stuff is for medicinal purposes only.
(The wine, not the bazoombas -- the bazoombas are for any time at all.)
Re: What makes a good story
Date: 2005-12-14 10:22 pm (UTC)hehe
and, in a way, he is right. surprises, being startled, being forced to pay attention, these are some of the things that "make a good story" to me. whether it is the story line itself, or it is the narrative line of a character's existence, the surprises are what hook me more than anything else.
I love Le Carré. I get totally hooked into his minute examination of the characters and their habits of thought and action... and then something happens, something that makes me re-think who this person is or what this story is really about.
ramble, ramble...
jeffs