Is your story worth writing?

This question doesn’t have a straightforward answer. Humans love stories—that’s how they make sense of the world. As long as people continue reading (even if it’s eBooks or audiobooks), there will be a demand for great stories. Which brings us back to the question, is your story worth telling?

It depends.

Does It Attempt to Answer a Fundamental Question?

When you pick up a book, you may do it for a variety of reasons. You want to be entertained, you want to go on an adventure, or you just want a distraction from the daily grind. Books can accomplish all these things and more, because they allow us to escape into a different world. For your book to stand out, it has to do more than that.

Your book should attempt to ask a fundamental question.

The question can’t be one that is easily answered, such as, “What color is the sky?”

Instead, it should be a question with ambiguity, moral and otherwise. Think of “A Time to Kill” by John Grisham. A black man kills two white men because they raped his daughter. Most people agree it’s not okay to murder anyone for any reason. But in this case, knowing the rapists would hardly get punished for their crimes, did he have the right to kill them?

There is no simple answer to this question. The jury had a hard time, too. And that’s what makes the book so great. There are certain characters who absolutely believe the black man deserves the death penalty for taking the law into his own hands. Others are firmly on his side and want to see him get released.

Throughout Grisham’s masterpiece, you meet characters from all walks of life who share their point of view in the matter. In the end, he invites the reader to make their own decision. You can’t help but think, would you have voted guilty or innocent as a member of the jury?

If your story is worth telling, there is a central theme, cloaked as a fundamental question without a simple answer.

Does It Have a Hook?

To reel a book lover into your story, your story needs a great hook. Whether the Civil War is about to start (“Gone with the Wind”) or your lovers come from families at war with each other (“Romeo and Juliet”), there is an immediate conflict that needs to be solved.

The hook is the part of the story that makes it onto the back of your book or the description displayed in the online bookstore. It’s what draws the reader in. The hook needs to be powerful, interesting, and the solution can’t be apparent.

Stranded on Mars with no help in sight? Falsely accused of a crime with a killer after you? In love with a vampire?

There’s a story there to be told, and the reader wants to know what happens. You can find out if your hook is good enough by sharing the idea with other people—not close friends or family unless they’ll be honest with you. The best stories have amazing hooks that draw you into their world.

Does Your Protagonist Have to Grow to Solve His/Her Problem?

This goes along with the hook and the theme, too. They’re all interconnected. If the central question of your book is whether it’s okay to steal, then your principal character must have a deep-seated belief about it in the beginning of your story. But he must develop to understand the other side and maybe even change his mind about it along the way.

What if his father spent most of his childhood in jail, convicted of bank robbery? He would be inclined to view theft as something that destroys everything. Maybe later he meets a child who steals to help her family survive. Is theft still wrong?

I hope you see where I’m going with this. Use the story to explore the central question of your book and make sure not to preach to your reader. Insert opposing and middle-of-the-line viewpoints in your story and let them become part of the action. Have your protagonist watch someone steal and later learn the desperation behind the act.

Your protagonist must grow and change to solve his problem. And if he or she doesn’t have a problem, your story has no legs to stand on. Don’t make life easy for them. We want to see them fall down and pick themselves back up. We’re ready to learn the hard lessons right alongside your character.

Are You Leaning on a Common Trope for Your Genre?

Every genre has different tropes readers are familiar with and love. Tropes help you tell a story your readers will appreciate, and they give you a framework for your novel.

In the fantasy genre, werewolf vs. vampire is a common trope. Action and adventure stories often feature hidden treasures or ancient secrets. Crime fictions can deal with cold cases or missing person.

But you can dig much deeper. For example, in romance, you have regency, sweet, erotic, and contemporary romance (there are more, but I will not list them all). Inside of those, you’ll find tropes, including arranged marriages, pretend marriage, enemies-to-lovers, and secret baby.

Have a look around the tropes before you dig deeper into your story. Play with them. Tropes for your genre can give you ideas for fresh stories. You can combine different tropes together for your story, and of course, you’re going to put your own twist on them.

Do You Feel Compelled to Write the Story?

If you feel compelled to write your story, it’s worth writing. Even if you don’t follow a trope, have a discernable hook, or understand the theme of your story. Writing is cathartic. It’s a reason people keep journals. Getting your thoughts on paper (or electronic document) can free your mind to do other things. It also allows you to take your life the way it is and structure it the way you want it to be. It’s no coincidence that many significant works have autobiographical elements in them, such as “Jane Eyre”.

Even if your first story remains in a drawer or your archives in Novelize forever, the creation of it will still benefit you. You can only become a better writer by writing. Keep pounding the keyboard!