What Makes A Great Story?

Very, very broad question. Eerrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmm, how am I doing in this interview so far? It‘s really hard to say. In general, like so many other things, there‘s, erm, a kind of guidance to it rather than solid rules. Whatever you can do to make the audience feel like it‘s been worth their time. The usual structure is a three-act structure, which is: you set up an equilibrium, you upset the equilibrium, and by the end, you‘ve reached a new, improved equilibrium.

Just because (giggles), it doesn‘t necessarily mean when you write a story, you should necessarily think in terms such as that. I don‘t think anyone really thinks like that. It‘s about what‘s exciting. Erm, or maybe exciting even isn‘t the right word.
(The story) Just has to be interesting in a way so that if the audience leaves feeling happy, that can be great. But if your story is about wanting them to feel other emotions, if you want them to leave sad, there is no reason you shouldn‘t be allowed to do that.

Erm, - you don‘t even need to think too much in terms of the three-act structure, just write what‘s interesting. There are so many novels like ‘American Psycho,‘ there debatably isn‘t a plot to that story, but it still very much works. There are principles, but no rules as such. Any particular questions that you would like to ask?

I‘m probably not the best at this, erm - .

A nice description is surprising, but when you look back on it, you feel like there could be no other way. You never want to be so surprising where it‘s impossible, because an audience will feel cheated. Erm - you want it to be, erm, like a puzzle, where, when you hear the answer to that puzzle, you are like, ‘Oh, of course.‘ It completely makes sense in retrospect, but at the time, you are surprised by it.

And then there are different levels to it. Sometimes you just want to watch something, and you just want to be comforted, you actually don‘t want to be surprised. Erm - but in general, you do want to generally aim for the audience being surprised and interested.

Important parts of a story include things like the characters, for instance. Erm - the characters tend to be what drives the story, rather than the circumstances, necessarily. The circumstances can set things up, but, erm - if it‘s all about outside forces, then it‘s almost like, why are you watching these characters?

There are no hard and fast rules. Like, say in comedy, a lot of comedy is about futility. It‘s about, erm - forcing the characters into a situation where they try and try and try, and still fail in the end. There‘s definitely a lot of leeway.

I know I‘m being really general.

It‘s so hard to say what is funny. Everyone has a different description of what is funny. Like, you know, I think Monty Python is great, most people think Monty Python is great, but a lot of people do not like Monty Python at all. Erm - comedy does tend to be based on surprise; it‘s about setting something up, and then going in a different direction.

But that doesn‘t mean you can have randomness and it will work. You can have a shot of a hippo, and then have the hippo run over by a bowling ball, and that‘s not going to be funny. There has to be logic to what is funny. And usually, well, I don‘t know if it‘s usually as such, but a lot of it is based on setting something up, then hitting it with something - maybe so, erm - a lot of it is just kind of, kind of like, say, pointing out the obvious.

For instance. Pointing out obvious things that people do not often say. Looking at something in a slightly new way. Or just being surprising. I do think the key to comedy is just surprise. Erm - not surprise as in shock necessarily, you don‘t want to frighten anyone.

But it‘s a - erm - maybe sudden revelation of something. Erm - showing something one way then showing it as another. But the new thing you are showing seems like, again, almost as in a story, seems like the incredibly obvious thing by the end of it. There can be no other way.

Erm. Yeah, and you know, there are so many different kinds of comedy. There‘s physical comedy, erm - I don‘t want to say just two, physical and verbal. There‘s more than two kinds of comedy. Let‘s say, yeah, it‘s very much based on the atmosphere. Like, some jokes will work in some situations and then completely not work in another. So, like a show like Mrs. Brown‘s Boys is very good for its audience, but if you put that show in front of another audience, they will despise it, as they should. I guess that‘s kind of the end of my answer there.