One of the chief problems of stories is that they’re not interesting. I recently brainstormed a list of ways to make stories more interesting.
Character. Character is first and probably the most important way to make a story interesting. Notably this could apply to almost any writing. What makes a person unique or special or different or interesting will carry you a long way. I think also it would apply in a legal setting-meaning, to make a jury care about your client show the jury how your client is unique and interesting.
People will read listen and watch an interesting character in Mundane situations. People will watch an interesting character even if there is no conflict.
You can make a character interesting by adding flaws but also violating expectations.
Conflict. After character the next most important thing is conflict. I was recently watching that movie master and commander. Right away in the beginning they establish a conflict- this one mysterious boat that seems to be stronger and faster and hunting the protagonist. The first scenes have this conflict battle where the enemy boat nearly destroys the protagonist boat. Having this conflict early and established is key.
Stakes. Having clear stakes is also important to making a story interesting. I think that the stakes should be specific and external as well as internal. For example easy stakes are loss of life etc. But there should also be some internal stakes like overcoming some thing, identity, relationships etc. That comes up more in more artsy films. But even in a marvel type superhero movies there are stakes where the character has to make a choice and the choice could have internal consequences. For example do you kill one person to save 100. Do you abandon your friends and family in order to pursue your superhero goals?
Baggage. Baggage is character background and helps make a story interesting because it gives depth to the character and shows how they got there -why they’re thinking that way. I think Stephen King does this really well. He explores the characters backstory. Sometimes the it is not just the characters backstory but the setting and supporting character backstory.
Artistry. This can include cool visual scenes, cool literary effects, just general unique coolness. This comes up in movies where with interesting visual components. Interesting camera angles, interesting lighting. interesting costumes, interesting music. In writing it’s a little bit more difficult but you can do it with language varying there sentence length, choosing interesting words, interesting perspectives. Also interesting dialogue. And the use of rhetoric devices. Violate expectations.
Progression.things have to change, get worse, more complicated, and more interesting for a story to maintain interest. Progression of character, progression of stakes, progression of conflict all of that helps maintain interest. You can have progression of artistry as well. Progression of revelation.
As a sidenote. Attention is persuasion. If you lose the tension you cannot persuade. If you have attention even if it’s negative attention I believe that is persuasive. You maintain attention through being interesting. Stories are interesting.