Characteristics of a Story

Stories are some of the most important thing to include in a young child’s life. They get the child to first interact with words and sounds and relate that with reading and even hand eye coordination. A lot of these store is being taught too younger children tend to include some sort of a moral story as well, something to help the child better and further understand right from wrong.

These types of stories are referred to generally as novels. They include both fiction and nonfiction and include plots full of excitement and stories able to relate to the readers life. Readers reading these types of stories are able to comprehend much more and therefore can somewhat believe what’s happening is true, somewhere. For instance a fiction book about the CIA and secret agents and espionage, could be possible, somewhere. These kinds of ideas are possible for someone in an older demographic. These readers in turn learn somewhat what it takes to go “the whole 9 yards” as the saying goes, to accomplish whatever it is you need to accomplish.

Stories can be so many different things and can help us as an outsider gain a private eye into obtaining knowledge on such a broad array of topics. A very popular topic for stories or written work is politics. Many politicians publish books or novels based on the government and/or their time in office. This gives us Americans a better chance to learn the inside scoop on something previously unattainable. The NY Times is world renown for their extraordinary list of books. These books are representative of our nation’s interest and showcase our top ideas and talents in different stories for everybody to enjoy.

Some stories that I remember were specifically the magic school bus stories. I know my parents got those from the library for me to read. Another set of books I was very interested in was the Redwall series. It was a series of books that I read during 3-5th grade. The author even had a book signing at Barnes and Noble in Edina where I got him to sign 6 different editions of his many books. Some stories I was told orally are the Aesop’s Fables stories, teaching us of a moral compass, leading us towards right and away from wrong. I connect a lot of the way I act and treat people today with the stories that I was influenced by as a child.

1. Conflict – Some sort of a conflict that makes things more difficult for the main character.
2. Drama – Something that happens, not necessarily to the main character alone but in general during the plot to create drama in the story.
3. Honesty through a Character – A character somewhere that is pointing towards good and honesty to help impose values on the reader.
4. Written openly – For the author, they should hold nothing back in their story. They should be as open as they can be to express more ideas to the reader.
5. Humor – Humor is a fantastic element to a story and is certainly appreciated by every reader.
6. Length – The length of a story or book has a tremendous impact on the reader. Keeping things shorter can be very helpful for the reader in making a selection process, very long novels can seem quite daunting to on-lookers.
7. Emotion – Having strong emotions be shown through the story can relate extremely well with a potential reader and is a must have in any major book or story.