You heard me... you need to love your characters.
How many books or scripts have you read where the story may be phenomenal, but the characters just don't hold your interest, are bland, or just don't seem like the author really put a whole lot of time and effort into them? It's a sad thing, but it happens and it doesn't matter how good your story is.
You've heard it time and time again that character is key and its true. The audience has to care about your characters. If your characters are a shallow mass of flesh that no one can relate to, it doesn't matter if you have the most intense, high-concept story in the universe, your book or script will flop. What would "Avatar" be like if James Cameron didn't care about his characters? Would "Gone With The Wind" have been such a success if people couldn't relate to Scarlet O'hara in some way and feel sorry for her?
Let's take a look at another example: the "Twilight" series. For as many people who love it, there are equally as many people who hate it. Some worship the series. Others dismiss it as poorly written drivel. But, if you push the plot aside, you have a group of immensely deserving characters. Every teenage girl can relate to Bella Swan - she's a new girl, not quite sure of herself... and there's this boy! Adolescence. We've all gone through it and Stephenie Meyer nailed it on the head. To make it even more interesting, the boy she falls for happens to be a vampire.
If there is one thing that all of the most popular works in the history of movies and literature have in common, they all have characters that the author took the time to research and develop. They went the extra mile to really give their characters life. You connect with them. You care about them. You care about what happens to them and when something tragic does happen to them, you hurt. They keep you involved and, when you do reach the end, you feel that you have grown with them.
Love your characters, please. If you do, your work will show it. It will be the difference between giving the world a story that will stand the test of time, or a story that will be instantly forgotten.
Until next time, write on!
