ENG 1141: Intro to Creative Writing, Fall 2020

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  • Participation Activity, Session 11: What Makes a Story a Story?
  • #68598

    Jing
    Participant

    In my opinion, What makes a story great for me is the conflict. This conflict may be the protagonist facing the fate of injustice to fight or something else. Confrontation can make the protagonist feel extraordinary to the reader. I have read Romance of The Three Kingdoms in junior high school. It is a Famous Chinese book. The main character Liu Bei, who is a member of the royal family, wants to make a career at that time, but he encounters a series of “conflicts”.First, no help, second, no reuse, and then, no turf.What these conflicts highlight is the fact that he has a purpose. If Liu Bei thinks like this — I am honest to do an ordinary person, these conflicts naturally won’t have. The plot of Romance of The Three Kingdoms includes a lot of conflicts, characters and characters, countries, and countries, or characters, and countries…Every conflict fascinates me.

    #68600

    Mehrangiz
    Participant

    What makes a story great is both conflict and dialogue. Without either one the story seems so boring and pointless In my opinion. The conflict introduces action Into the story, this is when the story starts to get interesting because then the author would introduce dialogue and we would be able to get the perspective of each character in the story. For example if there was a story about teens fighting, it would be less interesting without dialogue from the characters. I want to be able to visual the fight and be there for myself, to hear what each opponent has to say for themselves and get to hear their opinions.

    #68602

    Jamyl Capellan
    Participant

    What I think makes a good story, is the conflict throughout the story. The small details that contribute to the story are what makes the audience want more. The details that leave the audience with questions and contribute to the development of a character. I personally like a story that keeps developing as the story continues. where the audience has to pay close attention to the small details that make the conflict that much more interesting. The conflict is what makes each character important and causes the audience to feel invested into each character.

    A good example of conflict would be a show like My Hero Acedemia, in which the conflict begins to develop as the show goes on. the main character who just wants to be a great hero is born with no powers and everyone around him makes fun of him, until one day one of his classmates are attacked and he dives in to try and save him. As he struggles to save his friend the greatest hero in the country saves the day and acknowledges his potential. As the story goes on he develops powers and he soon realises there that being a hero is much harder then it seemed.

    #68603

    thegreat1
    Participant

    For me, many aspects are part of a good story. The most important one for me would be conflict. Not just who the villian is, and how they affect the protagonist, but the conflict inside that protagonist as well. In many movies, the conflict inside that character is what leads them into conflicts in the movie, and it’s by fixing that inner issue that they are able to step up, and seize the day. One example is from the 2004 movie “The Incredibles”, the protagonist, Bob Parr, was once the world’s greatest superhero. However, supers became illegal, and 15 years later, he’s depressed, balding with a family of his own, longing for the days of him saving people. He also is someone who would rather work alone. However, he is targeted by a former fan he brushed off (Buddy Pine/Syndrome), and is put into a situation that was caused by his longing of the olden days, and his desire to work alone. It’s by breaking his own rules, and working together with his family, who also have powers, that he is able to defeat Syndrome. It’s a perfect example of a story with conflict, that is not just Bob vs Syndrome, but is also conflict with Mr. Incredible himself.

    #68605

    Serena Ngai
    Participant

    A story can be great to anyone depending on who the audience is and what is their taste. For me, a great story first needs to have an interesting plot. After all the thing most readers look at first when choosing a story to read is to know about the plot. Then, it would be the protagonist of the story. How they progress and develop, who they meet, and how they grow. After all, even if the plot is good if the protagonist isn’t interesting or can’t capture the reader’s attention, they would stop reading the story halfway. Lastly, the writing style of the author writing the story. The writing style of an author can affect the way a story goes like such as in a mystery novel where the author leaves the clues or in romance ones where the relationship between male and female lead is slow-paced or fast. These are what I think makes a great story.

    #68609

    kathryn876
    Participant

    October 4. 2020

    Dr. Jennifer Sears
    Creative Writing

    Topic: What makes a good story?

    A good story has intrigue, conflicts with lots of anticipation and heightened plots that can be jaw dropping. A story is basically a mirror of someone else’s actions which triggers a response from the intended target or by extension another individual close to the situation whose neurons are affected by the action. Story telling starts initially as a mental process, then engages the writing process and forces the writer to think outside the box. It taps into your reserved imaginative source to construct and present story lines well worth the time, effort and space and some writers sets a precedence of very high standards. One such person is Shonda Rhimes a phenomenal woman, with prolific writing skills, who is also an executive producer and creator of the hit ABC series Grey’s Anatomy, and Scandal…” Once tuned into the nuances of these stories they are identifiable and true to life. The writing is incredulously presented and having you yearn for more.
    The characters come to life and are transformed as your mind becomes engaged in true to life situations. A good story is more than just acting, it is more about a character or characters being prodded to produce and deliver continued service of excellence, it’s about creating a character and finding the right match to give the character life and meaning. Whatever direction your story line adapts whether it maybe fiction or non-fiction it has to be believable. Therefore it also takes patience and tenacity to persevere.

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by kathryn876.
    #68644

    Naveen
    Participant

    What I see as a great story is a story that involves the reader or a person that watches a movie. Making the story more relatable or maybe a story that makes the reader feel like they wish they were the main person in the story so they can escape the real world for a second and not think about their problems so they can be relaxed. I think any story should have a hook at the beginning that makes the reader interest and that makes them interest to read the whole book, and later a twist would make it interesting while reading the book because they would want to know what is going to happen next. Also a theme is important in a story, like are you trying to convey a message or a wise lesson.

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