Why Character Development is Crucial For The Success of Your Novel
If you want to keep readers turning pages, don’t neglect this critical stage in your writing preparation.
Characters are at the core of every novel.
As a writer, you have a story to tell. And in order to tell that story in a way your readers can understand and empathise with, you need characters. Realistic, relatable characters.
No-one wants to read a book filled with two-dimensional stereotypes who would never exist in real life. I know I wouldn’t, anyway. Those are the kind of books I put down and never pick up again.
If I sense a story’s going that direction or if I’m not on board with the characters driving it, I switch off. I don’t relish giving up on books (especially if I’ve paid for them), but once I stop believing the characters could be real — that their motivations and desires make sense when integrated with the plot — I set it down.
The books I’ve given up on most often are those featuring underdeveloped, unrelatable characters. If I can’t invest in their personal journey, I won’t care what happens to them. And if I don’t care, I stop turning pages.
So how do you avoid that happening to you, as an author? How do you ensure readers stay engaged with your story’s characters right to the end of the book?
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