What makes a Good Story?

People love to hear a good story, but what makes a story great? Over time, established classics are soon considered overrated. Some people try to claim they are great because they were the first to try something. However, others will claim that more recent stories do it better or say the old is boring because it has been copied so often. This is actually one reason why I published Shining when I did. I noticed that even though I wrote that story before so many modern fantasies started to become popular, if I wait longer, people will be tired before I have a chance to publish. In fact, I anticipate it's already too late.

However, even if a story does tread along similar lines as other stories, it can still make a name for itself. Critics will point out that Star Wars offered nothing new but instead was a tribute to many ideas such as Akira Kurosawa. Japanese Role-Playing Games have a stigma of being the same story again and again, but occasionally a game will have a great fanbase because the story was well done. I told someone I downloaded one game even though I haven't had time to play it because critics said the dialogue was well-done and the world is very fleshed out.

Some people like stories that make fun of tropes. However, I feel like those only work for a short period of time. I don't know, but I hope Shining's method of examining ideas rather than just making fun of them will be more charming, even if only to a few people.

Now if only one person in the world thinks a story is great, does that make it great? I would like to think so. When I think about it, what makes a story great is how it connects to the audience. In the case of a book, this is even more so as the reader is essentially the director. He must imagine the scenes and cast the characters. I wrote one story and imagined how the character would speak. I gave the story to someone else to read and was given a completely different interpretation, but they still loved the story. As an author, I can give guidance like a scriptwriter, but it's the director who makes the picture. If the reader can turn a script into something fantastic in his head, then I did my job well.

J. D. Nyle