Have you ever thought to yourself what exactly makes a good story? What makes a story stand out from the others? Well, I’m here to share what I believe makes a great story. I believe no matter what the story is, whether it’s about a girl saving a cat from a tree, it can be told in two ways, as a great story, or a regular boring story. It’s not the story that makes it good, but it’s about how the story is told.

The most important thing to me about a story is the title. I mean, it’s the deciding factor if I am going to read it or not. The title should be short and straight to the point. I have seen so many super long titles that I couldn’t even finish reading it because it was just that long. Aside from the length of the title, titles should also create some type of interest. Sometimes titles can give away the whole story so there is no point in actually reading it, for example which story would you rather read, Chik-Fil-A Offers First 100 People Free Food for a Year, or Chik-Fil-A Offers Unbelievable Prize for First Customers? I’m pretty sure you would pick the second one because you would want to know what the “unbelievable prize” is rather than the first title telling you everything you need to know already. Below is a  awesome picture of  some tips for a great title.

Tone. Tone. Tone. Tone. I cannot reiterate it anymore, the tone of the story is a big deciding factor of what makes it great.  The tone includes the word choice and how engaged the storyteller is with their audience. Engaging with the reader is very crucial, it keeps the reader interested in the story. The tone of the story should also be very descriptive, it is important for the reader to be able to picture the story in their head, and having a descriptive tone helps achieve that. If the tone of the story is strong, it makes the audience able to feel some type of emotion. Every great story has some type of emotional impact on the reader. Whether it’s a sad emotion, or making the reader laugh, or having the reader be able to relate to the story, the tone helps this all happen.

The plot is the sequence of events that makes the story progress. The plot should be interesting and there should be a clear rising action to the climax.  After all, the plot is the main reason the story s being told in the first place. Along with a stimulating plot, I believe all good stories have some type of exaggeration, no matter how small it is. As Mark Twain once said, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”

There are going to be some good stories and there are going to be some bad. If you want to make sure your story is good, follow the three things I mentioned above, a great title, a strong tone, and an interesting plot with some type of exaggeration. If you follow that, I’m sure everyone will be tell you “Cool story bro.”