What Actually Makes A Story A Good One

Posted on by Taryn Varricchio

Every single day, something new happens. There is always something to share. But, it’s the way we share these events that makes a difference.

Telling a story isn’t hard. Telling a good story can take some effort. There are tons of elements that go into capturing audiences and intriguing them. When it comes to news sources, gaining an audience and creating a following is one of the most important pieces of success.

One way to capture an audience is to create a hook for the story. I see news sources engage this skill everyday that I scroll through my Twitter newsfeed. In this story below, The New York Times intrigues Twitter users by teasing them a little bit. It makes users wonder what are “biggest questions awaiting justices”. Users are influenced by this hook to click on the link and read more about the story. One of the biggest tasks is intriguing readers enough that they want to know more. The hook has to give slight insight into the story without giving away from the whole story is about.

This hook in the tweet is extremely similar to a lead of an actual story. Every story should have a captivating lead. This is the first couple sentences of a story that convince readers to, again, want to know more. You don’t want Twitter users to just click on the link in a tweet and lose interest. You want them to stick around, which is why a lead should mimic a hook’s purpose. In the case of a lead, it is good to give more information than what was given in the hook. If you suspend readers for too long, they may get frustrated with the lack of information you’re providing. Again, the key is: capture audiences and make them stick around.

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The next element of a good story is the characters. It’s important to have enticing and relatable characters. Sometimes, stories aren’t even about events. Good stories can have tons of characters or even just one with his or her own compelling story. I find that the best stories are ones that catch me by surprise or relate to my own life.

It’s important for people telling a story about a character to really delve into that character’s life. Uncovering interesting details that the average reader or viewer may not know about the characters is one of the best additions to a story. One of the most exciting parts about life is its unpredictability. People never truly know what’s going to happen next. When one character in particular has experienced something not entirely common to everyone, it’s intriguing to readers or viewers to find out these details in a good story.

Finally, images can really add to a story. With a lot news sources gaining presence online, it’s important to not only include video media content, but also enhance their written content by adding media. Images added to an online story give insight to viewers about what was actually happening during the events of that story.

In this tweet below, I know I was attracted to the actual photograph of the flooding in South Carolina. It’s one thing to hear about floods taking over the state. It’s another thing to actually see the damage and effects the floods have caused.

Various different elements make up a story. Hooks, leads, characters, and images are just a few that really the necessary dimensions to make a good story. It’s not just about reiterating details of the latest events for all the world to know. It’s about telling these details in a compelling way that will make readers, viewers, or users turn to your source for future stories.

 

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