I think this question is kind of hard because it's so subjective imo. But for me what makes or breaks a story are the characters. They don't even have to be the best characters as long as they 1. actually do shit 2. Have personalities.
The characters. I’m a character driven reader, so I don’t care about genre as much as I care about what the characters are doing.
They could be awful, but they need to be interesting (at least to me). reply
