On Writing

So i read this short story by a colleague (With the warning that i will tell her my truthful opinion about it but i wont criticise!). Luckily i wont have to lie , its pretty good and funny in places. Which brings me to my own works (Everything is always about me!). The first short story i wrote was in the 4th or 5th standard. It ran upto 42 paragraphs and was a detective story with such a twist that i feel embarrassed now. I think i felt embarrassed immediately after i read it and it was subjected one afternoon to the harsh flames of self criticism. Ashes to Ashes.
The second one was for TSEC's story writing event in Avalanche. You were given 4 titlkes and had to choose one and make up a story. I chose "And they lived Happily Ever After" and wrote the continuation of what happens after Prince Charming marries His princess. Including a brief look at their honeymoon, the princes refusal to slaughter any more dragon's thanks to their endangered species listing, and other events that gradually led to the prince becoming the beer bellied couch potato and the princess a middle aged nag. Oh yes I'm a cynic , but i still think that some parts of the dialog were funny. I won second place which was enough to please me , were it not for the fact that the organisaer came up to me and said my story was good was the one that won was far superior!. Sometimes i think only two of us actually submitted in the papers when the time was up.
I Then Teamed up with another (i)schumck we wrote an essay for the crime fighting vehicle of the future Dina -Mite ( which was basically a dinosaur chained to a bullock cart) with fearsome capabilities of excreting tons of materials to entrap fleeing felons, text by me , illustrations by my colleague.
Another attempt to participate in avalanches story writing competition came to naught. This time you had to spin a story around six words (treasure , princess ,sand, jewel) and i concentrated so much on the ending that i didnt such a poor job on the start and beginning that i almost didnt want to submit it. Didnt win any honours this time!
And so what makes a good story?
It should entertain
It should make you think
It should make you change your mind about an opinion you had (for the better of course)
Any writing that can do all the above is priceless.