Hi!
I'm not a published author, so for what it's worth. I'm writing fiction first time in years. I felt my present novella was a good story once I had a better anatagonist, a more developed one. I realized in order to have a good protagonist I needed to have a well developed antagonist. Also my protag is pitted against a person very far removed from her world, yet they collide. Also place became very important once I had a more developed antag. All interlinked into a eureka moment, then I really knew I had a good story.
Also universals, I take my protag from a very common environment into the unusual, places she'd have never gone, risks for her life she or anyone else rational would have never taken. So the feeling reminded me of how I felt when I would wake on Christmas Eve and know there were presents for me under the tree. I didn't like going to bed when I was working on it as I was so excited I didn't want to leave my story. Those were all the kind of signs and more that I experienced.
Now that I had felt nearly ready I've been holding myself back from self-publishing. I've let diffidence creep in again. I've had extreme observations of my writing... like people mainly who don't understand what I'm saying hardly at all, to people, not as many, who are so enthralled they can't stop reading. There's a favorite lines ever written thread. I went there and read today and found some of the people who are very good at critiquing and good writers there. I had thought of posting some passages I loved so much I would just return to them once in a while and read them aloud to myself. I went to two favorites in my present manuscript today and first time really look with doubt. So only 2 so far besides me who've read it all and commented very positively, or the about 7 or so critiquers here who didn't like my writing at all, and only 4 not strongly stating they'd read on, if the reality is my book isn't going to fly at all. Despite all that... I feel I have a great story ha! The antithesis is the new diffidence.
At least I can say the plot is great and I know it. It's a very subjective subject, knowing when you have a good story but experience the opposite. I think a writer knows, including myself, when they have a good story where a feeling of universality comes into play, a kind of magic with the story that makes me feel it rings through to the common grounds we all are challenged by in life combined with the feeling it is unique. I hope I've helped in some small way, coming from one without the expertise of many here. So it happens when you begin to really love your story and wonder how the great things that happened came to be. I think back and wonder where the light bulb ideas for plot etc. came from. Ideas were like the wind... you can see how it effects and changes and feel it's exciting strangeness. I don't know what I'm talking about exactly; but that's my experience.
Kindest Regards,
Winfred
In the "Improvements to your craft" thread, James A. Ritchie said:
This is a pretty interesting topic, and I'd like to explore it further. My take on "good story" is taken from Jim Shooter and you can read it in the subject header.
I'm convinced it's not a question of certain story elements being well-developed. I'm sure it's something else.
How do you know what a good story is? How does it feel to have one?
