N.C. Stow
asked
Regine Abel:
As a professional game designer as well as writer, what do you consider most important for a successful story: great storytelling, an intriguing plot, or charismatic characters?
Regine Abel
A mix of all of the above plus solid world building. Since I mostly read fantasy, paranormal and scifi (not so much hardcore scifi), the world needs to make sense and be exciting/intriguing in an exotic way. You can be the most eloquent writer, but if the world is bland, the characters insipid and no plot, it will all fall flat regardless. For me, the foundation is world building. A lot of things your characters will or won't do derive from that. Escaping Fate, my upcoming sci-fi romance, is a good example of how that approach served me. Once I had established the main conflict that plagued the Xelixian race, the logical ramifications for the different levels of society and how they would respond to it became self-evident and provided a wealth of content for me to write about and explore. Also, it allowed me to show both sides of certain confrontations where you can empathize with the villains (even if you don't side with them) because you understand how they too are negatively impacted by what's happening in their world.
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