Like what seems to be most of the country, I've been watching Stranger Things 2 on Netflix.

I hate jumping on bandwagons - never could get into Game of Thrones, for instance, though I read the first few books - but it's a good story.

Of course, being a wannabe writer, I can't watch it just to enjoy it; I have to analyze exactly *why* it's a good story.

My answer to that is complicated, and I'm not going to go into all the details here, but I will say it's not just one thing. Plot, characterization, character development, action, dialogue, creation of suspense, pacing, and other things, sure; also things unique to visual media such as acting, wardrobe, set design, special effects, and (without spoiling anything) the artistic effort in creating what's essentially alien life-forms.

I will say one thing: If you're going to make a scary movie, don't put the most frightening possible thing in the first scene. The show's set in 1984. I lived through 1984, so seeing a "Reagan/Bush 1984" yard sign induced more nightmares in me than any amount of manufactured horror or suspense could.

But I digress. My point is, sometimes we have to see details, and sometimes we have to see the big picture. When we're writing a novel, we have to switch back and forth. I was never very good at that (even though I was trained as an engineer), but I've gotten better. You take each of the elements I mentioned above, and others that I can't think of right now, and they're your building blocks to crafting a story. Each depends on the others to some extent, but the overall story depends on every one of them.

Writing is hard. If it weren't, everyone could do it.