Forums » Writing Workshop » Read Thread

I don't think I can make a story, nor do I know why some stories become rank 7 hits while others barely pass the rank 4 margin. To everyone's opinion, what is the difference between a good and bad story?

Put simply, quality. 

Put less simply...,

A combination of setting, characters, plot, and the quality of the writing itself. I suppose I could go into an excessively deep analysis, but that seems largely unnecessary given the question you posed. 

The real question here is, Why don't you know why some stories are good, and some are bad? Even if you aren't a writer, surely you must be a reader, and if that much is true then you should know how to determine the answer to your own question. 

Whenever I look at a story, I don't look at it the same way as others. Others are thinking "wow, what in depth details and great narrative," whereas I'm thinking things like "what are they even talking about?" or "Why can't they get to the point?" 

I guess I just lack the whole imagination aspect of it, nor can I picture what they are saying, and I don't get metaphors or similes. Now that I'm thinking about it, how am I even a reader in the first place? 

Well let's be frank here, you're probably a lost cause.

If you get bored while reading a story, asking yourself what's even the point of it, there's not much to help you with. Just don't write a story. If you dislike reading you shouldn't write.

It may not be the imagination -- if may be just how you read. To understand how others write when you read that way, slow down. Read each sentence carefully and ask yourself why those words are there. Try to understand how the writer is writing and painting a picture. Try to meta-read and examine the structure and purpose of every word in every sentence. Yes, it can take some time, but it will help you understand how others write.

Well, let's look at your story for an example so we're all on the same page as far as understanding what sort of things interest you.

This is the first page in your adventure game. To change this text or edit the page further, switch the page view by clicking on the edit button above.

Oh. Hmm.

But in general, if you don't enjoy reading and if...uh, using your imagination, letting words paint a picture and so on escapes you, maybe reading is just not going to be a hobby of yours. Meanwhile, I'm not sure what there is to get about metaphors and similes but maybe you can elaborate.

Anyway, I guess it's possible you could just have very specific interests. What stories here do you like? Or what sorts of books?

And in answer to your question about what makes a good story, at its most basic level a decent story just has to be complete with the setting, characters, plot, conflict and resolution all laid down in the usual manner with decent pacing. (And obviously choices that matter, in the case of a CYOA.)

As long as you understand things like proofreading and grammar, you can get away with not being particularly talented or imaginative as far as your writing style goes. That's the sort of thing that's learned and improved on in time anyhow.

I'm not wanting to go into too much more detail here until we're sure you're not Azure tbh but hopefully this is a start.

It just sounds like simpler books and stories would be a better fit for you. Especially if you're at a certain age or prefer, for example, teen fiction to detailed fantasy epics.

There was an excellent article on this by a formal Interactive Fiction reviewer who reviewed Spring Thing, but unfortunately I can't seem to find it right now. He basically said that on a scale of 1-10, he rated things as follows

0-4: Game that is a pain to experience, which intentionally or unintentionally makes you resent the time you spent on it

5-6: Game that checks the boxes of basic plot, basic characters, maybe a few common tropes, and ends, however unsatisfactory the experience. A limited number of people will enjoy this, it's usually something you'll play if you have absolutely nothing better to do. This is an easy score to obtain, assuming you aren't an idiot.

7-8: A game that has a solid foundation, an innovative idea or two, but does not stand out on its merits. Often these games are follow ups of successful ideas that do not however become strong enough to outstep the shadows of their predecessors (for which reason a person who hasn't played its predecessor may enjoy this game a lot more than a person that has)

9: A game that has innovative content, a strong narrative, and multiple occasions which delight the player. This type of a game usually takes years to make, and has been through hundreds of iterations, and is polished through the grind. These are the types of games you'll refer to while thinking of lesser games. However, at this point and beyond, games pretty much have all the boxes ticked for competence of story, and it's now themes and personal opinions which affect the score. The importance of the game resounding with a person's own views is why Gamespot rated GTA V an 8/10, while others were screaming at it being a 10/10 (Personally I agree with the 8/10 assessment from a story perspective, the scripted part of the game really was a pain to play)

10: A unicorn. A once in a decade experience, in most cases. A game that redefines what you can expect from the medium, that inherently reinvents a concept. It has more quality and depth in one of its parts, than many full made games could dream of. It also tends to be an easy recommendation to nearly anyone you can scream out. Depth of experience is usually required for this, so The Witcher 3 gets this rating near flawlessly, while something like Rocket League (Innovative yet limited) will be penalized for its limited scope.

In CYS terms, I understand 1/8 means the game is broken to the point that there are no links, or something equally terrible/pathetic. 2/8 > Extremely short and generic, 3/8 > Has a story marred by various problems, or is often so short the game leaves no lasting impression on the reader, 4/8 > Game had a few interesting moments and was mostly grammatically correct, 5/8 > Game had a fair length or breadth of experience, and you will most likely remember playing this game, 6/8 Game with expansive scope and great depth of experience, written by a skilled mind, you'll recommend this to friends, 7/8 > Exceptional writing and depth of experience, the author has thought of and planned events you may never have come across on your own, and at each turn there's something interesting, you'll be recommending this to strangers willingly. 8/8 is a unicorn that cannot exist, due to the way rating works (someone somewhere is going to give you a less than 8 score), it would probably something written after years of effort and be archived for posterity.

In case you're looking for resources on how to make a storygame, I recommend this thread

If you are interested specifically in the rating system on this site and want information about what it will take to write a rank 7 story here, the best advice I can give you is to start reading the stories. If you read enough of them, I think you will start to get a feel for which ones are rated a 3 and which are rated a 6 or 7.