Important Question

[backupdump002]

Throwing this up here real quick while I'm thinking about it.

Internet, what is the main thing that you look for in a story? Three-dimensional characters? Intriguing plot? Breathtaking world/atmosphere? What is the one thing where, even if everything else about the story sucks, you'd keep following it anyway because your interest in that overshadows everything else? Just, you know, if you had to pick.

GO.

Comments

[funkicarus.livejournal.com]

i look for all of the above, but i'd say that world creation and character development are the two that matter most of all. probably characters come out a little on top, but sometimes world creation can overrule it.

for example, i love the WORLD of the comic White Noise. but the characters are a bit flat (it being mostly action). but i stick with it anyway. similar thing happens with phoenix requiem. i'm not a fan of the characters, but the way the universe is tied together is more interesting for me.

however sometimes you can have a great characters and a detailed world and i still don't care. i'm not a fan of templar, AZ. both the characters and the world construction, while in depth, bother me.

an example of mediocre world with great characters for me would be things like girl genius. like, yeah the steampunk is awesome, but nothing about the universe outside 'cool, steampunk' is what really sells me. i have to say that some of the time, i forget it *is* steampunk because they're just fighting in streets or underground mazes or on the road. the characters are what really drives GG.

so for me it's a coinflip :B

[doxinator.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a pretty tricky question when you think about it, because a lot of it depends on the genre and medium. Sci-fi focuses more on worldbuilding, horror focuses on atmosphere, drama and mystery focus on characters/plot, fantasy focuses on plot/world, etc. Things like movies and shows could debatably have an edge on books when it comes to atmosphere due to their usage of sound and visuals, whereas books could have a leg up when it comes to characters since books allow you to get inside the characters' head and see things through their point of view. At the same time, this can totally be twisted depending on how the author approaches the story (Earthbound gives the player clever glimpses into the characters' heads by bending the atmosphere to reflect their thoughts and feelings. Silent Hill, particularly 2, also comes to mind here). IT'S ALL SO HEAVILY DEPENDANT ON EVERYTHING ADKJGH