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What Makes a Story Memorable?

Meg Dowell

3-4 minutes

We all want to write something no one can forget.

Every writer wants to write something unlike anything a

reader has held in their hands before.

Is it possible? Yes. But seeking originality alone isn’t the

key to success here. It’s learning how to write good
stories that people remember. That they talk about in
discussion groups and on online forums after the fact.
That they recommend to others, again and again,
because they want so desperately to talk through its
main events with someone they know.

How does one write a story like this?

Obviously, memorable stories are well-written, well

thought-out, informative, and entertaining all at once. But
there are other elements these works also have in
common. Don’t forget them.

Relatable characters and events

You’d think that something like a Star Wars novel — pure

fiction, set in a galaxy we will never know — wouldn’t be
relatable at all. What does the average Earth reader have
in common with a Jedi, really?
The reason these stories still resonate with us is
because their characters deal with the same realistic
conflicts and experience the same trials and triumphs
we do. They fall in love. They grieve. They try to do good
things even when surrounded by not-so-good people. We
can all resonate with that. We feel what they feel
because we’ve been there, too.

Relevant morals

The moral of the story is, well, whatever you want it to be

— you’re the writer. But think about any book you’ve read
that you kept thinking about even after you finished it.
That book taught you something, or lit up a part of your
brain that won’t shut off. That didn’t happen by accident.

Memorable stories have morals — something to be

learned, an essential reminder that spans across
distance and time. You might not write a series of fables
with a clear moral tagged onto the end in bolded, all-
caps font, but your characters learn lessons. And your
readers should always have something to walk away
with even after they close the book and put it back on
the shelf.

A unique style and voice

When you think about it, all stories are based around the
same handful of ideas. It’s how you unfold those ideas
and shape them into your own unique story that makes it
possible to publish something very different from the
original story that may have inspired you to write it.

New writers do not have their own style or voice yet. All
they know how to do is model their words after the
words of those writers they admire. We all start there.
With many years of practice, we take bits and pieces of
the types of writing we love and fit them together into
something new. If you don’t feel “unique enough” yet, be
patient. You will.

Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to

helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff
writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer,
and a 10-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on
Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.

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