Pete Peterson writes about the shape of good stories. “So what makes a story work? … Transformers—didn’t work. District 9—did work. Star Wars—worked. Battle Beyond the Stars—didn’t work. Interview with a Vampire—worked. Twilight—well…I say it didn’t work. It’s harder to play this game with books because books that don’t work quickly fade into obscurity and we never even hear of them, but trust me, for every Gilead there’s another diary-based memoir out there that’s an interminable bore.”
I wasted a couple hours of my life watching Battle Beyond the Stars. I’m sure I saw an edited for TV version, because looking back on it, it looks much worse than the slock I remember. On the other side of the spectrum, I stopped reading Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, because the pacing is just too slow. Don’t look at me that way. I know I’m losing my English major street cred. I’m not happy about it.
The thing with story is that there are enough factors involved that no single one makes or breaks the package. The hero need not be loveable if there is a villain we can love to hate. Slow pace can be redeemed by a few moments of intense action, such as Moby Dick. Conflict can be unrealistic if the means to overcome it are equally fantastic.
So, gather all your characters, plot devices, conflicts, and pacing, step back two months and March Fourth.