The amount of people out there who can write a good story are slightly outnumbered by the people who can't. I'd say it's about a 1 to 532 ratio, about. Even though these odds aren't very good, I still think that I'm one of the people who can. And, even though most people don't agree with me, I am also a person, and I do agree. Let's get started.
One of the major components of any good story is a plot. When I write I like to make sure the overall theme and storyline is interesting. This is why my subject matter is almost always centered around a tiger or avalanche. Both of these things are extremely exciting and makes the reader want to keep on reading. Think about it. Would you rather read a story about a guy that is shopping for a new hammer and then finds one and drives home? Or a story about a guy that is shopping for a new hammer and then finds one and gets eaten by a tiger after being caught in an avalanche? Exactly. Tigers and avalanches are fun because they're unpredictable. They can strike at any time and you always have to wonder about their motive.
Great, now that I have the perfect plot for my story, it's time to include characters that we can relate to. This is important because the reader needs to be able to put themselves into the story, as if it were happening to them. In order to do this properly, I need to create someone that says, feels, and does things that are familiar and believable to my audience. If, for instance, the protagonist in my story enjoys Rosie O'Donnell or getting stabbed, I can guarantee my readers won't be able to relate. There are very few people that enjoy these things, and if I say my character is one of those few, the reader will have to question if it's true.
How my character reacts to different situations is very important in making my story credible as well. If my protagonist is lying on the ground, bleeding to death from a tiger swipe for example, he probably isn't going to sit there and think, "I hope someone finds me soon." He's probably going to be sitting there thinking, "I wonder if an avalanche is coming." It's very important that the character thinks in logical and reasonable ways or I could risk losing credibility.
OK, so now I have an interesting plot and believable characters. The next step is description and detail. This is very important. I have to paint the picture for the reader since they can't actually see it themselves. Otherwise, the story will feel dull and flat. Let me give an example; which sentence is better, "The man stood and stared at the table that was sitting on the floor in front of him." Or, "The wrinkly, stinky, old man stared sinisterly at the bluish, whitish, greenish, four legged, wooden thing that was sitting conspicuously on the gray, new, just purchased from Sears carpeting, that was two, maybe two and three quarters, I'm not sure because the old man doesn't have a ruler, feet in front of him." Obviously, the second, more descriptive sentence was much better. It lets the reader know exactly what the character looks, feels, and smells like, while showing precisely what he's looking at, and where this object is located.
Furthermore, notice how I changed the word "table" in the first sentence to "thing" in the second. This effectively creates suspense as you wonder what this thing is that the character is looking at. I don't want to give the entire story away right off the bat. I need to give the reader something to think about.
Continuing this train of thought, I also made it clear in the second sentence that the table had four legs. This is important. Without it the reader would have wondered, "Is it possible that this table has just one or two legs?" Letting the reader think there's a two legged table in your story is a huge mistake. No one can relate to a two legged table and therefore you will have lost all merit.
Finally, the last part to writing a good story is a strong conclusion. What did the characters learn? How are their lives going to be different because of the events that took place? If my protagonist didn't change at all by the end of my story, readers will begin to wonder what the whole point of telling it was, but if my protagonist goes through significant changes, then the reader will wonder why I didn't think of better changes. Basically, no matter how the story ends, everyone is going to hate it. Furthermore, if the entire story was excellent until the end, then they will hate it even more because they'll think I ruined something that was good. That's why I always try to write bad stories right from the beginning.
In closing, there is no such thing as a good story. No one should try too hard to create believable characters or rich imagery because the ending is going to be terrible anyway. The best thing to do is write a horrible story all the way through, so when you crap on it with a poor ending, people won't be able to say you crapped on a beautiful gem, but just on another piece of crap. This will be much easier for the reader to swallow. I know it's a strategy that has worked wonders for my writing career. Don't believe me? Just look at the stack of rejection letters I've gotten from publishers. Do any of them say I ruined a good story? Not a chance. They say the entire thing was awful right from the beginning. Now that's something I can be proud of.
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