Falling in Love…

…with your characters.

To write a good story, I’m of the firm belief that you need to feel strongly about your characters. If you don’t feel attached to them, why would your readers do the same?  Apathy doesn’t make people want to know your story.  Writing is telling a story.  It needs to make a person feel something, good or bad.

It was easy to finish writing Ivy’s story because I wanted her to succeed.  I loved who she was as a person.  I loved her struggle, and her fight to keep going.

Natasha was harder to write, until I delved deeper into who she was…what her motivation was.

So how about you?  As a writer, do you need to care about your characters to write their stories?  Or readers, can you tell when a writer isn’t invested?