Understanding your characters is a big Key to writing a novel that readers love.

Readers want to be drawn into the emotions of your main character. They want to empathize and begin to root for your Hero or Heroine as the story begins.

To really draw your readers into the heart of your story, you need to go deeper and really understand what makes them tick.

In the video below, I share some thoughts on how you can write emotionally charged characters in your novel, that your readers will love. Or, scroll below to read the blog post. 🙂

When you know your characters, you will…

• Understand what they really want
• Understand what really drives them
• Understand on a deep level, their deepest wounds and fears

Knowing these details, are critical to getting to the heart of your story.

Every great story is about a character n her  ordinary world — who sets off in a new direction due to some incident.

When you start your novel, you need to have enough information about your protagonist and her world; her core need and the stakes and conflict in the story. That way you can begin writing a story that sparks your reader’s interest.

You might be asking — how do you write your character in a way that sparks your reader’s interest?

I truly believe that knowing the heart of your character and your story, is KEY to writing a great novel.

A good example of this, is the first few pages of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

The start of this novel, showcases Katniss’s skills at hunting. It also shows the desperate situation of district 12 — with the people nearly starving.

The two male characters who play an important role in Katniss’s life are also introduced in these first few pages.

Then the inciting incident takes place. There is a reaping and Katniss’s sister Primrose is chosen as one of the tributes from District 12, for the deadly hunger games.

Katniss — whose need is to protect and care for her family — volunteers as tribute in her sister’s place.

In the first chapter, we learn so much about the Heroine — Katniss:

• What she wants: to save her family — this is why she’s hunting for food.
• What drives her: she is driven by the need to protect her family.
• What her fears are: Her biggest fear is that she’ll lose the people she loves.

Katniss’s core need is eventually what drives her to be courageous and volunteer as tribute — to take her sister’s place in the hunger games.

Hollywood Storytelling Coach, Michael Hauge says, readers need to see an image in their mind’s eye as they read your novel.

This is about writing details and vivid descriptions/actions — that will give reader’s that mental visual picture of what they are reading.

In Michael Hauge’s blog, he shares some key questions that writers should ask their characters to help create that vivid image.

Think through and write down these key questions about your hero or heroine:

1.What is her visible goal?

2.Why does she want that goal — what is her inner motivation — that pushes her to achieve her goal?

3.What is she hiding from others? What is your heroine embarrassed about; ashamed of; or purposely lying to people about?

4.What is your heroine hiding from herself? What does she need to realize about herself — if she would let down her protective walls?

5.What scares your character emotionally. This dives into your protagonist’s wounds and flaws and fears — and the mis-beliefs she is holding onto to protect herself. How are these wrong beliefs hindering her, or stopping her from getting what she wants?

I’ve needed to dig deeply into my character’s wounds, painful past and fears whenever I begin a new novel.

Today, I thought I would share an example from my first pen name clean romance, The Billionaire’s Marriage Bargain by Melody Archer.

My heroine in this novel, is Elle.

Elle just wants to be loved. She lost her parents at a young age and was left alone to be raised by a stepmother who didn’t much like her. (You might recognize this trope — this is a Cinderella fairytale retelling). 😉

Her visible goal is to save her late father’s ranch. She wants to do this because she loved her dad and wants to do something to remember him.

Elle’s deepest need is to be loved. She fears abandonment and rejection and essentially not being loved.

Our heroine is hiding the fact that has this need to be loved. She is afraid to be vulnerable.

Her godmother — Detective Joanna Kingsley — confronts Elle about the fact that she is always making excuses for why her stepmother treats her so terribly.

Joanna basically tells Elle: you need to realize that your stepmother is using you and playing on your emotions.

It takes some time, but finally Elle has an aha moment. Elle realizes she is hiding from herself the fact that her biggest fear is abandonment or that someone she loves will leave her alone. Her childhood fears come back to haunt her of her parents dying and she’s afraid someone else she loves will leave her.

These fears of being left alone and not feeling safe — are what terrify Elle emotionally. This causes her to put walls around her heart, especially as Adam begins to woo her. She is scared to let down her guard because perhaps Adam will leave her all alone, just like her parents left her.

If you are struggling to write your story — I want to encourage you to dig deeper into your character’s deepest fears, wounds and pain from her past.

Ask the above questions to dig deeper.

You want to create tension in your story, to increase the emotional involvement of your readers.

This emotional tension — between whether your character will succeed of fail at getting the thing they want — is what your readers are looking for when they read your novel.

Digging deep into your character’s wounds, fears and who they are, will create that wonderful tension that readers are longing for when they pick up your novel.

I hope one or two of these ideas will help you to write emotionally charged characters in your novel.

Happy Writing! 🙂