Many writers have their particular strong points. Some are good at crafting a great plot, but are rather basic when it comes to the flow of the words. Others can make the characters come alive but couldn’t dream up a nail-biting plot if their lives depended on it. Still others may be able to craft poetry-like words but no substance to attach it to. To be a great writer you need all three of these: Plot, Characterization, and Prose.

The plot is what everything is all about, it’s where the story is going. It must keep the reader interested, involved, and guessing. A story without a plot is about the equivalent of watching a reality show on television: nothing there.

Of course, the characters move a plot along and keep you personally invested. These two work hand in hand, since there has to BE a plot for the characters to move along in the first place. Each character must be true to what you have made him up to be, react to every situation appropriate to his personality and background. Good characters can turn a good plot into a great story.

Then there is the prose. If the wording is bland and uninteresting, then it doesn’t matter how good the other two are, it will be like reading a dictionary. But if the words melt like butter in the mouth, if the prose is akin to the movement of poetry, then you can turn a good story into a GREAT one.

So a great story has all three of these elements. If you are strong on one but weak on the others then it’s time to do something about that. But there is one more element, something they can’t teach in any writing course but that I believe all the Greats have. Enthusiasm. Do you really LOVE your story? Do you get hives when you’re away from the keyboard for too long? Does the thought of waking up early Monday morning so you can get back to your story have you doing cartwheels? because that is what you need to raise yourself to that uppermost level. But if the work is drudgery, if it feels less like play and more like a regular 9 to 5 grind in the salty mines, then you might as well give it up now and go find a job involving wearing a paper hat, because you aren’t going to make it. But if you can find that type of story that REALLY gets you feeling like a nine year old around Christmas time, then stick with it because that is the final component of a great story.