the Harry Potter series, and the Song of Ice and Fire series.
Strangely, it's Harry Potter who was on my mind when I was thinking about strong stories. Well, in the sense of many plot twists etc. But maybe I haven't read or watched Harry Potter in a long time. And I have never watched or read Firefly (whatever it is)... Ah, I guess I couldn't tell good characterization if it was staring me in the face, because thinking about the Song of Ice and Fire which I picked up quite recently I can't really tell what its strong points and weak points are. Well, there is sure a lot of characters and probably more inner monologue than outer dialogue and action, but I remember hanging on the edge of my seat for its plot points, at least in the first book which is the only one I've read except the prequels. e: I guess the plot is not very strong. Maybe presentation?
For some reason I wanted to say "incidentally" but right now I can't see how it connects, well, one of the reasons I became dissatisfied with my previous attempt is because I failed to keep consistent third-person subjective in the video game portion which I thought should be there for completely philosophical reasons whereas in the real world sections it should be objective.
So I want to say that I'd like my writing to first be good, but... well, I started on this story because I thought it was my most marketable one. All the rest of my ideas are depressing and philosophical (if I may), but this one I almost abandoned until I decided that this is the only one I'd be sure to sell, because it's supposed to be humorous. So, if it were possible to separate quality from marketability right now I'd much rather sell this story, than polish it until it's painful to look at it.
Unfortunately I imagine marketability with this story will come much later than the time when it's monstrously painful for me to look at it.