[ OT ] Meet & Greet/Weekly Question # 3 : What do you look for in a WP response ?

When I read a story, whether on this sub or elsewhere, the first thing I look at is style. If the first couple sentences are clunky, ungrammatical, filled with cliche or are otherwise uninteresting, I do n't continue. I would rather read an unimaginative plot written imaginatively than an imaginative plot written unimaginatively. 
 
 A lot of the time you see people too concerned with establishing the concept already established by the prompt's title instead of exploring the prompt's implications. I qualify this as a stylistic issue because what it amounts to is an author who does n't trust the audience to connect the dots. If the prompt is, `` One day a mysterious number appears above everyone's heads,'' and the reply begins, `` It happened suddenly. One day I woke up and there was a number above my head,'' I'm not even going to read the rest because you're playing it too straight and being too obvious, and that does n't bode well for your grasp on the nuance required for good storytelling. 
 
 Rather, the author needs to have a clear and interesting voice, not the dry tone of someone stringing words together merely to convey a plot. That's especially true here, where I already know the story's major gimmick from the title of the OP, and look at the replies to see how that idea can be spun. 
 
 The words themselves must be enjoyable to read or it's never going to work on any level.
