Storytelling – What Makes a Story Great?

What is it about a story that makes it compelling? Is it the characters? Is it the plot? Is it the element of surprise? Is it the challenges? Is it danger? I submit, it’s all of them, skillfully put together, woven like a tapestry to make an impression on our minds and in our hearts.

I use a formula O2EU (Obscure, Opposite, Extreme, Unusual) to determine whether I think a story is great. If a story’s got at least two of these elements, in my opinion, it has potential to be a great story.

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Here’s what I look for:

In storytelling, I look for the obscure, the unusual, the opposites, the extreme

Obscure–little-known, incomprehensible, vague, unclear, murky, opaque, ambiguous, unintelligible (synonyms)

Webster’s–covered over, not easily perceived, not clear or distinct, faint or undefined, hidden, cryptic, not well known–this is definitely what I look for. Something that’s not every day.

Opposite–conflicting, contradictory, differing, reverse, contrary, opposed, contrasting

Webster’s–set against, facing, or back-to-back, at the other end or side, in a contrary position or direction–I love reading or seeing something that’s not something I would think of. It gives me ideas on how to turn, twist or use it for something I might want to do.

Extreme–dangerous, life-threatening, thrilling, risky, exciting, punishing

Webster’s–outermost, farthest away, most remote, utmost

Do you see the pattern here, in what I like? This is what we writers need to do in order to make our story unique. We all have our own voice, our own style. Let’s look at a couple of stories.

Unusual–different, scarce, rare, uncommon, infrequent, strange, unfamiliar

Webster’s–not usual or common, rare, exceptional–I look for this, and sometimes, the more unusual the better, but not horror, fantasy, or science fiction.

Use the formula yourself to see if you can determine why you think a story is great. Let’s look at a couple of the classics to see why they are classified as a great story.

Ben-Hur–although this is a century-old plus story, it has many of the elements I look for. It has the extreme, such as Judah being a galley slave, and his mother and sister becoming lepers. It’s definitely has opposites, such as the enmity between Judah and Messala, between Rome and Christianity. It’s extreme and thrilling. The chariot race in the movie was the longest scene, running at about eight minutes. It’s compelling because we love Judah and strongly dislike Messala. The book is somewhat different than the movie in that Messala does not die, but is actually redeemed. Judah’s role in the book is more zealot, until he understands the redemption of Christ. But those are some of the reasons I like Ben-Hur.

Ivanhoe–this classic by Sir Walter Scott has reversals, opposites, the extreme, and the unusual. One of the reversals is when the Jewess Rebecca is kidnapped by the Knight Templar, Brian deBois Gilbert. Unfortunately for Brian, he loves Rebecca, but she loves Ivanhoe. And unfortunately for Rebecca, Ivanhoe loves Rowena. It’s extreme in that the jousting is life-threatening and life-taking–in a word, dangerous. Ivanhoe, and his father are opposites, and therefore, they conflict. Eventually they reconcile, but Wilford of Ivanhoe has a lot of problems before that happens. This is an unusual story, and I’ve never read anything like it. It was published in the early 1800s, and it still stands today.

I look for the obscure because that’s unusual. Both Ben-Hur and Ivanhoe have obscure elements to them. Judah’s enmity with Messala started with deep friendship as boys. For Ivanhoe to even look upon a Jewess as someone with worth and value, was quite unusual for that time. For Jews to be ones who acted more Christian than the so-called “Christian” Knight Templar, is also compelling.

I recommend both these books, but they are a bit harder to read because the writing style is old. You have to wade through pages and pages of descriptions, scene-setting, and backstory in order to get to the juicy dialogue parts. And even some of the dialogue and action scenes are sluggish in our terms, because in our society, we just don’t write like that anymore.

I recommend going for the different, not the usual, same-old, same-old. Look for the hidden, the strange, the dangerous, and the contrary in a story. Maybe it’s a great one! Click to tweet

What do you look for in a novel or story? Leave a comment and let me know.

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