A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Writing a story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life.
Stories and narratives are one of the most powerful things in humanity. They're devices for dealing with the chaotic danger of existence.
You set up a story and it turns inside out and that is, for me, the most exciting sort of story to write. The viewer thinks it's going to be about something and it does the opposite.
You don't just have a story - you're a story in the making, and you never know what the next chapter's going to be. That's what makes it exciting.
That seems to be the definition of 'novel' for me: a story that hasn't yet discovered a way to be brief.
A story is open-ended. A story invites you into it to make your own meaning.
What makes a story a story is that something changes. Internal, external, small or large, trivial or of earth-shattering importance. Doesn't matter.
A story is a kind of biopsy of human life. A story is both local, specific, small, and deep, in a kind of penetrating, layered, and revealing way.
When the narrator says, 'This is a story without surprises,' most of the time, this is not what happens.
A story really isn't truly a story until it reaches its climax and conclusion.