Friday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

FIVE WAYS TO WRITE CHARACTERS THAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT

By: Writer’s Relief Staff

In a previous article, we explored five ways to make your characters more three-dimensional. Once your characters are believable as living, breathing individuals, the next step is to make readers care about them. When readers are invested in the characters’ struggles and personal stories, they are much more likely to keep reading.

Here are five ways to make readers care about your characters:

Make Your Characters Need Something. One of the easiest ways to make your character more empathetic is to expose a vulnerability and establish a need to: save a dying mother, fall in love, crack the code, etc. The need can be as simple as “get to work on time” or as complicated as “save the world.” But it will encourage readers to empathize with the character and root for his or her success.

Example: Joe struggles through failed relationship after failed relationship in an attempt to find his soul mate.

Make Your Characters Take A Stand On Important Issues. A character with strong convictions and a cause to be passionate about will intrigue readers and earn their respect. If your audience is interested in your character’s goals and respects your character’s convictions, they’ll be more inclined to follow the story line to its conclusion.

Example: Leslie stands up for women’s equality in the workplace at a local public forum.

Make Your Character The Underdog.

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Book Boss Jane Friedman Talks Tech, Ebooks and Why Content Still Rules http://ow.ly/x8l5q
2. How to Build A Contact List To Grow A Relationship With Your Readers | Digital Book World http://ow.ly/x8liA
3. What is one small thing that you can do today to move you a step closer to your dreams? http://ctt.ec/E7OaC+
4. 7 Things Every Social Media Strategy Should Include | Brett Relander http://ow.ly/x8mpe
5. Smashwords Books Are Coming to a Library Near You - GalleyCat http://ow.ly/x8mPT
6. Publishing Campaigns Grow On Kickstarter http://ow.ly/x8n3J
7. The Indie Author Manifesto: INFOGRAPHIC - GalleyCat http://ow.ly/x8nxW
8. Fiction University: Guest Author Heather Webb: 6 Best Marketing Tips for Authors http://ow.ly/x8oZd
9. Insecure Writer's Support Group: The Value of Editing For Authors http://ow.ly/x8pc5
10. A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Tend Your Garden http://ow.ly/x8pqf
11. 5 Ways To Write Characters That People Care About - Writer's Relief, Inc. http://ow.ly/x8pIO
12. This One Simple Tactic Can Double Your Facebook Engagement - Jeffbullas's Blog http://ow.ly/x8pQm
13. 30 Mind Numbing YouTube Facts,Figures and Statistics - Infographic http://ow.ly/x8pTz
14. Good Cover Design—Part 1 | The Violet Femmes http://ow.ly/x8rxk
15. Handling a Difficult Editorial Process - Books & Such Literary Management : Books & Such Literary Management http://ow.ly/x8rL9
16. Do You Need to Rethink Your Author Website's Key Elements? http://ow.ly/x8rRd
17. Rock Pinterest in 5 Steps Without a Pinterest Account | Jimmie Lanley http://ow.ly/x8tjC
18. Lever vs. Leverage http://ow.ly/x8AtI  Daily Writing Tips
19. BB eBooks - Best Practices for Authors - Promotional Back Matter http://ow.ly/x90F9
20. BB eBooks - Best Practices for Authors - The Index http://ow.ly/x90Pw
21. The Write Conversation : Indie Tuesday—Are Writers' Conferences a Waste of Time for Indie Authors? http://ow.ly/xada6
22. What Drives You to Write? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/xadzd
23. Write Like It’s Your Last Day On Earth http://ow.ly/xadkt

Happy writing and running, Kathy