: Re: What Kind of Story can Achieve Cult Status? Note: I have rewritten this question, upon realizing it was being misinterpreted. Please reread the question and provide new answers accordingly. Star

@Candy753

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There is no formula for success - if there were, everybody would use it and it would just shift the line for what is normal and what is a success.

But the examples you outline give us a hint for what you are looking. What do they have in common? They all share two characteristics: They apply a popular and known basic frame, while pushing the boundaries in at least one way.

LOTRO expanded upon folk tales and mythology. JRR Tolkien's stated goal was to create a fictional Beowulf. So he used many parts that people know from such tales. But he also pushed the boundary on storytelling. There simply were no fantasy stories of such scope and detail in his time (and still few in ours). He made up entire artificial languages, developed an entire world in so much detail. That was new and astonishing.

Star Wars took a familiar basic story (hero, villain, struggle, good wins in the end) and pushed the boundaries not in the storytelling but the technology, the CGI, the visual impression. It created a rich world of imagination not by words but by visuals. Because it made its topic come so much more alive than comparable movies, it invited us to enrich the world yet more with fan-fiction or just imagination.

Star Trek is based on the typical episodic TV show with a fixed cast plus extras living through different adventures and difficulties. Just in space. But it pushed the boundaries of our definition of society. The post-scarcity economics but especially the egalitarianism. At the time of the original series, the mix in nationalities and ethnicities on the bridge of the Enterprise was a much bigger thing than we today realize. If I recall correctly, O'Hara was both the first black female character in a commanding position and part of the first white-black kiss on mainstream TV.

So all of them were both bold and conservative. They took something that the audience was familiar with, but went beyond that. Not too much to make it unfamiliar or uncomfortable, but enough to be bold and interesting.

This merges with what we know about personal growth - we make the biggest developments when we operate just at the edge of our comfort zones. There might be a hint there for the success recipe you are looking for.

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