The Elusive "Good" Story

What makes a story good, what makes it sell?

Is it characters? Believable three dimensional characters that you can somehow feel have more life than is spelled out in the story?

Is it plot? An expertly designed plotline carefully laid out, step by step, doling out information in cautious spoonfuls, enough to keep you engaged but not give away too much and have the listener/ watcher/ reader jump ahead to the conclusion.

Is it the setup, the design and deliberate detail to sights, smells, and tastes?

Dialogue? Although bad dialogue can surely kill a story, could great dialogue alone save a bad one?

Is it all of these mechanics that work together, methodically built from research, to outline, to manuscript, following all the rules so rigidly set forth in one writing class after another? The right number of characters, the perfect setting, the correct number of twists in the plot, all the details that can be squeezed into the perfectly build story.

Is that what makes a story good? Makes you want to read, watch, listen to it the first time and go back and start again?

There are piles of manuscripts which stand unread. Perfect to the letter in every way. Every rule followed, all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed. And yet, there they sit.

Is it that the story, truly is, in the telling?