For me, even in the most subtle and introspective story, it's all about tension: this is the thread that ties a reader to story, something in the rhythm and in the argument that hypnotizes and pushes us to read with great attention. As a reader, I love the storytellers who play with this, and as a writer it is something I always look for.
I'm sure I'll also be very attentive to how tension is built and maintained in a story. I think this curiosity is the heart of all my texts, and it's something vital that I also seek in everything I read.
I think we live in a world where "the normal," is just a cut that each society creates for itself, but leaves out a number of situations, thoughts, and events as part of what we catalog as normal.
