In my recent effort to discover what parts of a writers work are considered most important, the only thing I found in common among readers was proper writing. (See previous post.) My recent effort in contest judging made me wonder what parts of a story readers ranked higher than others in terms of importance. Outside of the correct grammar/puncuation/spelling issue, I have discovered that everything else is subjective.
This conclusion was drawn from comments made by many of the judges of the contest I recently participated in as well as a poll of other writers. Some like a lot of description, others take off points for too much detail. Some think unrealistic dialogue ruins a good story, others think poor dialogue can be ignored if the characters are otherwise believable. Many readers view poetic use of language as more important than a strong plot. There really was no consensus.
This suggests that - other than the aformentioned importance of proper writing - no one skill or writing strength that can be considered more significant than others. The ideal would be to strive for excellence in all aspects of writing, building on what you do well and continually working to improve areas where you struggle.
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