Timothy’s answer to “You've said that the secret to good writing is having something to say and that the secret to havin…” > Likes and Comments

> I guarantee you that no modern story scheme, even plotlessness, will give a reader genuine satisfaction, unless one of those old-fashioned plots is smuggled in somewhere. I don’t praise plots as accurate representations of life, but as ways to keep readers reading. When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away—even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time. One of my students wrote a story about a nun who got a piece of dental floss stuck between her lower left molars, and who couldn’t get it out all day long. I thought that was wonderful. The story dealt with issues a lot more important than dental floss, but what kept readers going was anxiety about when the dental floss would finally be removed. Nobody could read that story without fishing around in his mouth with a finger.
> -Vonnegut

I like to frame it as it's worth telling if it helps the reader discover something about what they want and how to solve it. Even if it sounds like a trivial story. As long as the story revolves around a "want" the reader has then it's worth it.

I've told a story on how to save a couple bucks at a sandwich shop before. Sounds ridiculously trivial, but it spread like crazy because it gave people ideas on how easy it is to ask for things from people. There was a want inside the story that people could extrapolate into bigger wants they have in their lives, and the story had solutions.