Hatrack River Writers Workshop: what makes a good storyline?

This is topic what makes a good storyline? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by dreadlord (Member # 2913) on :

the basics for my stories came from watching my little brother play with "bionicles"

, so thats what got me started...Ive been confused about what makes a good storyline and what, as some boyhood friends where to put it, "whomps"

(LOL)

Posted by Silver3 (Member # 2174) on :

-You care about the main character, or someone else if the main character is despicable
-You just have to know what's going to happen; suspense, in other words.
-It's complex enough to keep you guessing, but simple enough so that you understand
-It makes you think.

My two (non-exhaustive) cents.

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

First and foremost is character. There has to be an imperfect subject with enough depth for us(the readers) to care about them.

Next you need a conflict. There must be something very important(at that moment) for the character to overcome and there must be a price and a significant chance of failure.

Once you have this, the storyline must be the steps (not too many) that the character must achieve to overcome the conflict. There are varying methods to keeping the storyline moving forward without completing it instantly. The character can go through periods of trial and error, learning from their mistakes, periods of research to better understand the conflict and periods of setback, usually brought about by the character's flaws.

A short story usually just takes enough time to establish the character, establish the conflict and overcome the conflict in one or two steps. A novel will have multiple characters with multiple conflicts all ultimately leading to the main conflict with the main character.

Now, the real trick to writing, as far as I can tell, is in the characters. Make your readers love your characters and they will be much more forgiving of an overused plot or storyline.

Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :

There is no formula, unfortunately. A good story is a story with something interesting in it. There stories that are good because of the interesting characters. There are stories that are good because the setting is interesting. There are stories that are good because they address some social issue that needs to be addressed. There are stories that are good because of the artful execution. There are stories that are good just because they have a cool feel to them, and beyond that you can't place why they're good.

The list could go one pages.

Helpful, right? Unfortunately, there's no concrete answer. If something in the story interests you, write it and hope it interests others as well.

Posted by Totty472 (Member # 2869) on :

pantros, to say that a story needs character conflict and a price at failure is wrong (IMHO) because you are setting a limit to a story. I have written a couple where there is is no conflict. A story can just be a story, a telling of a time, a place or a person.

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

I've heard of these 'slice-of-life' 'stories' and I really just don't believe in them.

Some people might like them, and thats fine for them, but by my definition, a story must have conflict.

It's just poetry in another form without the conflict; it's not a story.

Posted by sojoyful (Member # 2997) on :

Totty472:
Yes, but that will only apply to people who enjoy milieu and description. Me? I wouldn't make it through. I need some kind of conflict (internal or external) to keep me interested.

Hey, I studied history way back in college, so I read lots of 'stories'. The ones that told about real conflicts were interesting, the others were textbooks, and history textbooks are painful.

[This message has been edited by sojoyful (edited November 22, 2005).]

Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :

A story is a story, but a publishable story has certain elements in it. First and foremost, editors look for character growth. Does the character show some development between the front cover and the back cover? The usual path is to show some sort of obstacle/conflict the character had to overcome.

Linear stories that show Character X going from Point A to Point B with no conflict or obstacles along the way, arriving virtually unchanged and unenlightened, rarely make it into print.

Posted by KatFeete (Member # 2161) on :

(Totty): To say that a story needs character conflict and a price at failure is wrong (IMHO) because you are setting a limit to a story. I have written a couple where there is is no conflict.

(pantros): I've heard of these 'slice-of-life' 'stories' and I really just don't believe in them.

I'm wondering if this is a definitions problem. I often got confused when people said that a story needed conflict and tried to find it in mine: they were usually citing the "man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self" stuff and none of that entirely fit what I was writing, and yet it was in no way a "slice of life" story.

I finally realized the problem when I read the following bit of LeGuin:

Conflict is one kind of behavior. There are others, equally important in any human life, such as relating, finding, losing, bearing, discovering, parting, changing.

The story, a mystery, wasn't a story of anyone vs. anyone particularly. You could structure it as a conflict, if you stretched a bit, but it was a deceptive construction. And while there was a significant price of failure I'm writing another story now where there isn't (there's a significant prize for success, but since it takes the characters most of the book to figure out what "success" means, this doesn't play a real part until the endgame.)

These aren't slice of life stories, but they aren't conflict stories. The central tenant of plot isn't conflict but change. I agree that a story in which nothing, or nothing significant, changes is a dull one, but change does not necessarily equate to conflict.

Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :

I had this dream I thought would make a topping story. I actually started it at one point, and later I was watching a Bionicle movie and was alarmed to realize how similar the two were. They both began with a combat pageant, which resulted in a quest being declared for the main character. But mine had mokey-men in it.