Happy Friday, all! I am off on an adventure today with my husband. We’re celebrating 17 years of marriage this weekend, so if I’m slow to reply to comments, I’m sure you’ll understand. The post below is a reprise–originally published here in February of 2015. I hope you enjoy it. The more I read, the longer I write, the more necessary it becomes to spend that time with characters worth caring about.

I finished reading a book recently. It was an exceptional book. Well-written. Clever. Unique.

From all appearances, the author accomplished what she set out to do, but you know what? I didn’t really like it. And here’s why:

I didn’t care about a single character.

Not the protagonist. Not the antagonist. Not the sidekick.

It’s certainly possible that other readers felt differently–likes and dislikes are a tricky thing–but this book forced me to think about why I fall in love with certain stories and why I don’t.

While story worlds can make or break a tale, it’s the characters that compel emotion from me. Either I connect or I don’t.

In Blake Snyder’s book, Save the Cat, he says this:

 
So how do we do that? How do we create characters that are worth caring about? A few ideas:

Show your character doing something noble. Snyder calls this the Save the Cat scene. Early on, you can pen a moment in which your character does something that endears him to the reader. He can save a cat from a tree or help an old lady carry in her groceries. She can stand up to a bully or rebuild something that was broken. Whatever it is, it must scream, THIS CHARACTER IS WORTH YOUR TIME!

Show your character struggling. We all struggle. Our characters should too. It helps readers connect when they can identify with the imperfections in your fictional people. It keeps the pretend real. But don’t just tell us what your lead struggles with. SHOW us. Write that struggle in. How does she deal with it? Does she fail every time? Maybe the struggle is another person. Maybe it’s internal. Show us.

Show your character has redeemable qualities. This is especially important if you’re going the antihero route. An antihero is a lead character who lacks conventional heroic attributes. Maybe your character is not brave or kind or noble or fearless, but you must show your character to be worthy of the fictional air you’ve pumped into his lungs. If your readers do not care whether your lead lives or dies, you’ve missed something somewhere.

Show your character is special. While there is a desperate need in all of us to be normal, there is also this warring notion that somehow, some way we must also be special. Where does your character find herself in relation to this? Does she feel TOO special? Is she attempting to hide her uniqueness? Or is she trying to find what makes her different from everyone else? Maybe she’s trying to master her special gift? Like Spidey learning how to shoot webs. Opening up this struggle to the reader will endear us to your lead.

Now, it’s not necessary to show ALL of these things about every character, but making the effort to endear your readers to the main characters will pay off in one simple way. They’ll keep turning the pages. They’ll HAVE TO KNOW what happens.

They’ll care.

And in that way, you’ve spun a little magic.

Tell me, what makes you care about a character?

Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.

Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.

It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.

To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.

For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.