I Found The Best Audio Book Ever

Podcast Hosts of My Favorite Murder Write Book: “Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered”

What Makes a Great Story Great?

I’ve been in the car a lot lately and in desperate need of an escape so I flipped through my audible file of books. I download and press start on the classic, East and West by Steinbeck - I first read it in 2006 shen my family first relocated to northern California but for some reason in 2024, the description of mountains in the salinas valley wasn’t doing it for me. Next up… ahh… Rebecca by Daphne DuMuir - my old favorite was sure to transport me, no? No. All I could think of as I was listening was, “Girl, wash your face.” I mean, “Who cares what that creepy Mrs Danvers thinks, you’ve got that fox, Maxim?” On to Wolf Hall by Hilary Mandell and just as quickly as I turned it on, I turned it off. Might be a hell of a book but not in the mood for stuffy tutor England and Henry VIII’s court’s sick, misogynist intrigue.

Finally, like light in the darkness, sunshine though the rain or a bagel that’s crunchy on the outside and soft and delicious on the inside, I pressed play on the audio book, Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered! The heavens parted, music played. It was a revelation, sheer heaven - the podcasters Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark who opine on murder on their spectacularly popular podcast “my favorite murder” narrated their book themselves in the audio book version to near perfection.

When a book (audio book) is this good I always wonder, how do they do it? How does a writer make the reader care and keep them desperate to keep reading (listening)?

More to the point - What makes a great story a great story?

In the case of Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered, it’s more than the personal story. Personal Stories are great but when a writer adds something to the story that she already knows the reader cares about or is interested in - that is the secret sauce. Sprinkle in some humor, honesty, and authenticity and you have the perfect recipe for a fabulous book. Good writing is a must too, of course, but without that element of including what the reader cares about… the book will not truly resonate with readers.

Here is what I mean as an example. The “My Favorite Murder” girls tell their story in Stay Sexy but always with the true crime angle. They consistently bring their personal story back to what they know the reader (podcast listeners) already care about. After the reader is hooked into the story, the reader then cares about the authors and desire more from the authors regardless of the subject matter. The reader is now invested in the authors and want read what ever they have to share with them in the book.

Consider this exercise to improve your own writing

The next time you read a book that you really, really love, take a minute to try to identify why you like the book so much. Is it the story, the message, the honesty, the humor? Try to identify what is interesting to you and how you connect with what the author is sharing. It’s an exercise that can only enhance your own writing. Consider this very important question. Are you writing for yourself or are you writing for your readers? Sometimes the answer is both and that’s ok but if you are only writing for yourself, you will have trouble selling books and connecting with your readers.

Let me know what you think on this theory and answer the question in the comments what makes a great story great in your opinion?

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