From Harry Potter to Romeo And Juliet, stories have been around for millennia, fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, and history, sci-fi, and stories of the past. These stories litter our everyday lives but what makes a good one and what makes a bad one? While story quality is subjective, there are a few things I believe are required.
Characters
Characters are integral to most if not all stories. They are our guides through the story and world. We follow them and their problems. Since characters are a crucial part of stories, they aren’t well written, the story may fall apart. Flat and uninteresting characters can break an otherwise fascinating plot and world. Take, for example, Avatar: The Last Airbender, an animated show that swept the mid to late 2000s. The characters are something many people fell in love with about the show. All the characters have very unique and distinct personalities. In the new live action Avatar show, fans have noticed that some characters like Katara being watered down, pun 100% intended. In the new show she is a shell of her former self. In the original, she is stubborn, hard working, and caring. In the new version, however, she’s quiet and indifferent. This loss of character traits that may be viewed as flaws have turned a once rounded and 3-Dimensional character into that of a flat, 1-Dimensional character. Having such a boring character can occasionally break a story since we are forced to follow them for the duration of the story.
Plot
The plot of a story, for all intents and purposes, is the story itself. It makes up the body and meat of the story. If this is lacking you don’t really have a story. Plot involves a lot of things like conflict, pacing, and arcs. The elements can be a handful to juggle, but if you are able to, you probably have a good story on your hands. Your story needs conflict in order for you to actually
have a story. A story without problems can not exist. Pacing is important to keeping engagement. If a story happens too fast, it may take away from the impact and fall flat. If it’s too slow, though, it runs the risk of boring readers. A show with an example of bad plot would be something like Riverdale. The plot feels more like things happening to the characters and it all feels unrealistic. An example of a show with a good plot would be something like Breaking bad. The show feels very well paced and instead of feeling like things just happening for the sake of the plot the plot happens for the sake of the characters. The show feels like a gradual build, not too fast, not too slow.
World
Even if a story takes place in the world we live in, it still needs to be fleshed out. For example, is your story in a rural high school? What country is it set in? Where do the characters live? All these things can immerse your readers in the story. It can make them feel like they are there and experiencing the events of the story alongside the characters. If the story is set in an unfamiliar world, then the author will have to explain the world to the audience in an understandable and immersive way. The Maze Runner is an example of world building that brings up many more questions than it truly answers leaving viewers confused. An example of good world building would be Fallout. The show as well as the game makes an amazing atmosphere while sprinkling in exposition about the world and how it became the way it did
Stories are composed of many different things that can make them incredible. Without one of these elements, a story may run the risk of falling flat. Keeping all these elements and keeping a balance between all these things can be a struggle, but when weaved together, it can make an incredible story.
