The win is not the plot itself. The plot is a big part, agreed. But the true hero of any story is your ability to make your audience feel the despair and the doubts right from the first word, you make them live that sadness right through the book, you help them drown in the lost cause of the characters in the end. True literary victory lies in your finesse – make the cold fingers of melancholy clutch the story, like a gloomy fog, in its firm grip; even the sunshine of the characters’ momentary happiness fails to penetrate the wretchedness.
Every last word you write leads back to the utter hopelessness of it all.
Do you have this ability? Then, you are a real storyteller.
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P.S: Some books are not remarkable. But they affect you. Curious? Read this.