What is it about one creative story that makes it accepted as much better than another similar piece? Is it something tangible? Or is there some mysterious aspect of the work that makes it of a particularly high quality?

Last month I was asked a rather simple sounding question by a member of my local writers group: Is there something tangible about one creative story that makes it better than another similar piece, is there a magic element and if so what is it?

Well to be honest I do believe that there is a magical element in a very well written story and if I knew what it was and could bottle it I’d make a fortune but I don’t though I do know that successful stories share a lot of common ground.

To begin with the characters within the story have to be believable. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about a elephant ballet dancing, or a 35th century time traveller in some way or other they have to be believable. As the characters creator your job is to develop personalities that your readers will resonate with. That doesn’t mean that they have to be likeable but they must be realistic and they must act in a consistent manner. When I am developing a main character I like to give the character a life; I’ll write down on a piece of paper all I know about him/her, their likes their dislikes, hobbies, favourite tv shows, what they work at, are they married have they children. Sometimes I’ll cut a picture of an individual out of a paper and build a life around that figure.

A successful story must have a good plot. It doesn’t really matter how good your characters are, if the plot’s not up to it – forget it! I try to explain it by asking my readers to think of the cinema. How many sequels fail? Quite a number, the characters are still there, and second time around they should be more believable but there no real plot there. You can’t fool the reader.

Here is an exercise you might like to try in order to figure out if your plot has got what it takes. Ask yourself if: the plot you are working on has been done a hundred or even a thousand times before?  If it is then you’ll have to try and find some new twist, add some new twists and turns if you still want to run with your present offering.

Think of your favourite short story: how many times have your re-read that story – five, ten, twenty. Now ask yourself the question how many times would you re-read your present offering if you discovered it in a book?

Have you short-changed your readers. Have you given your audience all the information they need to feel part of the story line and to make them feel as though they are part of the story?

Using language skills. Writing a great story that keeps your reader interested and keeps them turning pages is only half the battle in order for it to succeed you must have the write word in the right place. It is really very easy to fall into the trap of letting your word processor’s thesaurus choose the word for you. Try turning off your thesaurus for a month and instead hunt out your paperback edition – you have got one haven’t you?
and phrases, selecting them with care.

Can this process be tremendously tedious?

At times, yes.

But when you take the time to pluck only the most appropriate fruit from the language tree, you’ll be doing both yourself and your story a huge favour.

Don’t treat your readers as fools, treat them with some degree of respect. This means walking a tight rope between telling them something and implying something.

In order to maintain the delicate balance between saying too much and not saying enough, you’ll need to edit your story with with a certain ruthlessness. You’ll find paragraphs and sentences that you just love but ask yourself the question;  is this really adding to the piece? If the answer is a definitive (or even reluctant) “no”, then painful or not it has to go.

When the book is completed run a few copies off from your printer and give them to friends and colleagues that you trust as for their opinion see if it excites them. Here’s a good tip, don’t just listen for feedback try to find out if they are talking to each other about the book, if they are debating it with each other. It’s when you start to see this happen that you know there is a winner on the horizon.

Hopefully these few suggestions will help you take one step closer to a successful writing career.