I agree that making the protagonist’s ability to achieve their goal really heightens a story.

I also think voice is a contributor here too. I mean, who doesn’t love the Cinderella story in some form? I could probably read a hundred different books, all with that Cinderella plot line, and love it everytime. But what makes each time fresh and different is the voice and the twists that the writer has brought into the story.

I’m off to check out your links. Thanks!

But recently a writer friend told me when she outlines her scenes, she adds a note for each scene called “Failure” that explains how her viewpoint character has failed in that scene to reach his/her goal. It’s a good check to make sure that things are always going worse for the protagonist.

Reesha, I’m with you on the setting. I just lurrve interesting settings. Then I can get the right characters in them and figure out what they want. Um, hopefully anyway.

I agree that the plot doesn’t have to be completely original. I mean, every plot can be boiled down to the same thing: “Stuff happened.”

However, I find if I start off thinking about the basic elements of a story (the main character wants something and can’t get it yet) I head in the wrong direction. It’s easier for me to think of setting first, and then place my characters in it, then see what happens when they stay true to their character. I wrestle too much with what the perfect idea is if I think about what it is my character should be wanting.

Also, a tip for dialogue…there are a lot of audiobooks being published online as podcasts now. I often try to picture sections of dialogue ending up as a podcast audiobook somewhere, and imagine my friends doing the different voices.
Sometimes I even get them to record for me!
If the dialogue doesn’t sound good then, I’ll know it’s not natural.

Even recording myself doing the narration, (though creepy to hear my own voice) helps determine the flow of the story. Just reading it out loud sometimes doesn’t cut it for me.