Have you
read started to read a novel and felt it was too easy to put down? The story
was written well and had an interesting premise, but you really just didn’t
give a damn. This happens quite often really. In fact I just finished reading
one that had the very same problem and that problem is connection.
Though
there is no guaranteed fix for lacking connection, there are a few simple
things we can do.
1. Start
writing in first person pov. Using this point of view writing style certainly
the easiest way to make a connection with the character, but it’s not fool
proof. Better to try and write this way for a while till you can find that
connection. From there, you can either continue with first person or try one of
the other styles.
2. Show,
don’t tell. It doesn’t matter how good of a writer you are, everyone makes this
mistake once in a while. Letting the reader see what the characters are feeling
will hit home much harder than simply writing ‘jack hated jill more than
anything.’
3. Make
the characters believable. Every character has their own strengths and
weakness, but if they need to be identifiable. That means we need to find something
with them that we like and possibly understand. You can create an odd looking
protagonist, but the stranger they look, the harder it will be to feel for
them.
Hopefully these
tips will help. Just remember, if the writer can’t connect to their characters
when writing the story, then reader won’t either. This is what I believe to be
the key to turning a good story into a great novel.
Auzy
