dedicated horror writers Forum Character Sympathy

Readers turn more pages when they care about a character.  So how do you make your reader care about your character?  It's all in the qualities.  Make sure your character is relatable; someone with normal human flaws is easier to relate to than, say, Superman.  Maybe they have a temper, or they're kind of dumb, or they have herpes.  Who knows, as long as they aren't perfect.  While they should be flawed,  they should also be good at something.  A major plus is to give them a skill or talent: something they are good at so the reader can admire your character.
Obviously you're not going to just say, as the narrator, "Sally is smart, admirable, and a really good person!" and then move forward with the story (you weren't going to do that, were you?).  So you need to put your character in situations and have them show these personality traits.
An effective way of creating a bond between the reader and the character is to tell the story from their point of view using either first person or third person perspective.  If you change viewpoints it creates a distance between your protagonist and the reader - so be careful with that.
Again I hope this is helpful because I kind of like you guys and I want to share what I learn :)
New post next week!

keep em commin dude!