What's most important?

[Chakra Wizard]

Just kinda curious, but of all the things critics would usually praise a story for having (which is actually quite a lot, now that I think about itxd), what would you say the best stories simply have to have, whether they're on paper, film, animated, whatever?

- Plot complexity (you want your audience to have an idea of what's happening, but you don't want the end and the journey there to be too predictable)
- Character development (you wanna give them challenges to overcome and lessons to be learned, otherwise there's really no point to the plot, y'know?)
- Character dynamics (make sure the audience sees all sides of a person, at least all the main ones)
- Character uniqueness (when dealing with a large cast, you wanna make sure no two are alike, but also that you're not ripping off another character from somewhere else)
- Balance between action, drama, and comedy (too much bloodshed, tears, and/or joking around can be kind of exhausting)
- Lack of plot holes (no stone left unturned)
- An engaging plot (it's gotta keep the reader/viewer entertained, y'know?)
- A heartfelt message (something they can take from having read/viewed it all the way through)

I left out things such as acting, animation, and length for obvious reasons, while I didn't mention setting because that kinda goes along with the plot being engaging. But, as far as I've been able to tell, these are the things critics look for most, so which do you think is the most important of these factors?

 

[LORD TAPATIO]

Character uniqueness plus character development

 

[XMorpheus]

Character development and Balance between action, drama, and comedy

 

[foxyladyland]

ALL of those things I would just absolutely love

 

[KGB Kakuzu]

For me...

Plot Complexity

Character development

Character Dynamics

Balance

Character Uniqueness (say there are characters like Naruto, Sasuke, Unohana, Natsu, or any specific personality in a different manga...I don't mind that. But if characters looked the same as other manga or looked like one another in the SAME manga... Either of those are a problem)

Heartfelt Message

Engaging plot (honestly doing the ones above guarantee this)

Plot Holes (the above help limit this...but mistakes happen)

 

[Mgumbo]

While it's cliché and probably not the answer you're looking for, I wouldn't say that any of those are the most important...because they're ALL important.

If only one of them was the most important, that's the only thing movies would be focusing on nowadays.

A great plot along with dynamic, likable characters and a (more or less) deep message are really what movies/shows need to be successful, in my opinion. But a good balance of everything is what makes a great movie truly great.

Just my thoughts. =]

 

[Winter Savior]

I won't say all of those are important for a great story, as the greatness of one can overcome the lacking of the other.

Though if I had to pick one, I'd have to say "engaging plot". Simply put, if the plot isn't interesting, no one is going to even pick up to read or watch to even figure out the rest. Once you reel them in with an interesting plot, the story development is what falls next and that is a continuation of the plot as well as additives such as character dynamics.

 

[Germanicus]

Plot and character development/dynamic.

 

[Michael92]

You completely forgot about "writing skills" CW, but I guess that's a given, haha =p

As for what's most important, I guess that's very personal, both for the writer and the readers. Choosing one point is pointless, so I would say the Plot, the diversity of the plot (not having the same thing repeating over and over, and definitely not with the same characters), the chemistry between the characters in your plot, the uniqueness of the plot (try to spice things up a bit), and probably some other points as well. All in all, I guess I just made my own points instead of choosing from yours xD Though I guess you could say that they connect somehow

Edit: Oh, and when dealing with a massive story (spreading across several years), leaving out no plot-holes whatsoever is damn important, at least that's one of the things I take very serious myself =p For instance, once I'm done with my ever lasting FF, I would have covered over 200 years of history! xD Can't afford to have any plot-holes then.