A thought-provoking Question

Lately, I've been doing some soul-searching. As a writer, I'm feeling some growing pains. This is good, because it means I'm growing, right?

Right.

Today, I decided to get back to the basics of storytelling. I started by asking myself a couple of key questions: What makes a compelling story? What makes a reader care what happens?

As I searched for answers, I found there were so many possibilities. You see, I'm thinking big-picture here, not the rules of good writing--show don't tell, never use adverbs, strike the word "was" from your vocabulary, etc. I'm setting the technical aspects of writing aside because IMO, not all great books are greatly written. And not all great books are loved by everyone. But compelling stories--great stories--do something the vast majority of books in our culture fail to do: they reach a large number of readers by making them feel something. Love. Curiosity. Anger. Fascination. Captivation. Fury.

Let me ask you: What makes one story resonate with you and another utterly forgettable? If you had to compile a list of characteristics that make a book great, what would you include? I'm anxious to read your answers.

Tawny
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Wicked-Hot Erotic Fiction
www.tawnytaylor.com