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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45464
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **Orson Scott Card** described 4 types of story he called M.I.C.E. The goal is not to exclusively write 1 type of story, but to be aware which type your story is, and then work to include some of the other types as support. The technique is called **[M.I.C.E. Quotient](http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/Workshop-stuff/MICE-Quotient.htm)**.

M.I.C.E:

- Milieau ("big genre" setting, journey, time/place) 
- Idea (transformative inventions, What if…?, alternate history) 
- Character (internal conflict, want/need, protagonist/antagonist) 
- Event (catastrophe, political change, external conflict)

**Mary Robinette Kowal** has adapted this idea into a _nested structure_ called M.A.C.E., and she breaks down how each of these story-types are expected to _open and close_. She goes further by explaining that each element needs to close (in her words: "be answered") in the _reverse order_ that they opened (each is nested within another).[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJT\_-gpG4U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJT_-gpG4U)

What both authors emphasize about these structures is that it's extremely rare to find a story that ignores 1 or more of these narrative elements – when they do exist, they aren't very good. Card and Kowal are considered experts at analyzing and writing fiction, so I offer this answer so you can do more research and decide if and how to add these techniques to your writing.

My personal advice is if you honestly have no interest in developing empathy for your characters, and prefer to move them around as objects like chessmen, you might feel more at home writing for a videogame or RPG where the "characters" are blank slates.

Original score: 7