Romance? Action? What do you want to see in a story?

What makes a good story?

Obviously the plot is the most important thing and should be thought about first. Characters are also a huge part: you can't read something and enjoy it if you hate the protagonist and everyone around him/her. And then there's the tone, the style, the dialogue... But that's not what I'm here to ask.

Now, I know this is a stupid question, but please read this trough and give your opinions. This isn't as black and white as I make it seem like!

Would you rather read a story with a lot of romance, or would you prefer if romantic emotions played a less major role? Would you choose an action-filled fanfic over one that has less action? Would you want the story to make you think about, say, a philosophical question, or would you rather keep it as plain, simple entertainment?
What do you want to see in a story?
Why?

I myself don't like action that much, but I think there has to be some or things often don't get very interesting. Also, I don't like it when romance or comedy takes a too big role in a story. That tends to make it a bit plain. There doesn't need to be romance at all I think, but it, too, makes things more interesting. And I don't mind at all if the story makes me think about difficult stuff, but you can't read too many of those in a row. It all depends, though.

Oh, and can you like sad endings?

I think a story should have both action and romance. The action keeps you suspensefuly while the romance gives you periodic brakes from it and makes you laugh a bit soemtimes to. And the romance could play into teh action to, for example the person the protagonist loves gets killed or captured and he/she goes to rescue them or something along those line.

Oh and yes i do like sad endings sometimes ^_^.

All of the above. Great stories mix a bit of everything in.

A story that is great can incorporate any, all, or none of the above. Greatness isn't something that you can determine just by looking at a story's basic elements.

Now, as for which I like in what I read, which is totally independent of quality... pretty much all of them, with the exception of romance. Romance is hate.

Edit: Sad endings are fine where appropriate.

My own perfence I like action and Philosophy. Pretty much I'm a big suspense fan and also I love stories that has a great message at the end.

Yeah, keep in mind that I'm not asking your objective opinion, but your individual point of view in this case. I just want to know how many people want romance or action or humour in what they read, and who only gets disapointed if the two main protagonists start to kiss or something.

Because a great story can come from the most suprising sources, it's not reasonable to ask anything else but personal opinions... I think.

Anyway, about those endings:
I think it very much depends on the type of the sad ending. If it's one of those where practically everyone dies and someone is left alone, that's not necessarily what I like. But if there are a few farewells, touhing or shocking deaths or other suprising turns of events, then that might even be a good thing. An ending, that bothers you for a week after you've actually read the story ("Why did that nice guy have to die?") has really made itself memorable and therefore it stands out of the huge mass of stories we consume during our life. An happy ending can be memorable, too, but it's a lot harder to make it really outstanding.
I hate it though when things are left unconcluded in the end. Open endings can be good, but you rarely see a good open ending...

I personally like Romance style, but I don't think you'll get a "straight answer" like this.

You may get a majority vote on a single type (which I think is what you are trying to do), but you can't please everyone. We all have different likes and dislikes.

Trying to please the most people is the step in the right direction ^^

Just make sure you keep that in mind and in the end, do what genre you want

Good Luck

Romantic humorism. It should be a new genre. Like how I was going to try to pursuade my mom that one of my MSN conversations was a Modern Realism story written in IM format. Good thing she never found it. >>;

Anyway, just being the person I am, romance and humor is great. And I forgot to vote for drama. Trauma is a pain and all, but it does give more detail to a relationship's rights and wrongs.

SilverSmeargleSplatter said:

Romantic humorism. It should be a new genre.

Click to expand...

Actually, it's an old genre and it's called romantic comedy. >>

For me, I think the most important thing is originality. If I have trouble distinguishing two (hundred) fics, that's a problem. Another important thing for me is character development, samey characters makes a samey story.