Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I think the most important part of the story, are the characters, with plot following, consider this, what is plot? plot is basically the strife between characters, the conflict, and not all characters are human. some characters are elements, or animals personified.
For a long time, with every story I've read, I've felt many different feelings, happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and a myriad of other emotions, and I've always wondered....why? I figured it must be the characters, the bonds a reader forms with the characters is something that sways the reader's emotions, even if the bond between reader and character is on a subconscious level, it still exists, even when you don't realize it. You may ask, why is it important to have a bond between character and reader? because basically its for the reader to CARE about the character, if the reader doesn't CARE about the character, what good is the character. For example: if your character is in a near death situation and the reader doesn't CARE then the story is dull, and not very fun, the reader doesn't feel the emotion called fear for the character, but if the reader DOES CARE, then the reader doesn't want the main character to die, so their hearts thump with fear for the main character.
How do you make the reader care for the main character? Make the character dynamic, and three dimensional. What does this mean? to make your character seem real, to give them flaws, physically, mentally, spiritually etc. flaws give your character the HUMAN element this creates a three dimensional character. These flaws also give room for CHANGE, this is VERY IMPORTANT FOR CHARACTERS! if anything the characters MUST, i repeat, MUST CHANGE in some form or way, mentally, physically, spiritually, even better if all three. to help yourself with this, observe movies, everyday people, books, and you'll find that the characters or people in them change in some way or form. Its also important to consider HOW characters change, characters don't just decide to change suddenly, it usually involves something that happens to that character. other characters play a major role on your main character, just like how other people play roles in your life. Another character can change or influence change in your main character, this creates a DYNAMIC character. CHANGE DEEPENS THE BOND, making your main character seem even more human. Humans change daily, we change in small ways, large ways etc. For example, can you say you're the same person you were ten years ago? no you cant, and even if you say you can, youv'e changed in ways you probably can't realize.