Connection through Characters

Chao- How many of us are sad when animals die in a film? How many of us don't feel bad when characters lose their jobs? Should we feel bad at all, or are we just being heartless creeps?

Random readers of blog: Yes! You are!

Chao- .... Allowing readers to connect to characters is something important: It'll give them a reason to continue on with your story. This idea is essential to original work, but it can be used in fan fics as well. You can shine a new light on a character and give readers a fresh perspective about them. You may get readers who agree with you about one character, or they may say that they have never thought to see other characters in such a way. Of course with fan fics, if you keep them within character, it can work well. OOC--out of character--is another story.

Questions to Consider:

• Will you be able to show why a character is grouchy or optimistic?
• Do friends and/or family really give out the radiance if they can be trusted or if they care about the protagonist?
• Can you convince a reader why characters wants to reach a goal good or bad?
• Are the characters' given goals something you or your readers can relate to?
• Are the reasons for characters to reach their goals compelling?

Chao- Let's face it: We want to read something that will excite us. We ask ourselves, "What's going to happen next?" If we read something we don't relate to, we usually see it as boring and stop. As authors we always want our readers to know what will happen next. We also want our characters to go on an important mission to accomplish something. Some stories are more plot based than character development, and some characters remain the same throughout an entire work (static character), but this is just one angle to consider.