What do I look for when I read a book? For me, the most important thing in a book is character development. You can have the most amazing book and story line ever, but if your characters are two-dimensional? It will never hold my interest.
It's extremely difficult to find the right combination to make a good character. They should have reasons for doing everything, have some sort of personality, and the good guys should be likeable or at least relate-able. Nobody should be a "side" character. Each person should be given as much attention as the person before them. We don't want any flat characters--otherwise people will overlook them and they'll be totally useless.
There's a phrase I've heard-- "I could watch them go shopping and still love them." A good character means that somebody could watch your characters do anything--even go grocery shopping--and still want to read more. In my opinion, good characters can make people overlook a lot--even potentially boring story lines.
That's my advice for you today!
I agree, it is important to have characters that come alive for the readers. My early efforts at writing were mostly all character and no plot. My strength has always been creating characters. Over the years I've learned how to develop coherent plots for my characters, but without characters you have nothing.
ReplyDeleteLove the shopping comment. I have a few scenes of Andreas going shopping, which are amusing, as well as some with Anni and her girls.