One of the first pieces of advice given to me when I started writing and looking for feedback on it involved building a sense of empathy between the reader and the character.
By empathy, I don’t mean making the reader feel sorry for them—I mean making them care about what happens to that character. Depending on the individual reader, the amount of time they allow an author to get to that point varies. Some people might put down a book if they feel ‘meh’ about the main character on page one. Some might give it ten, twenty, maybe even forty pages if they’re generous…
The sooner you have the reader’s attention, and empathy with the character, the better. When the reader invests, and cares what happens to the character, you’re doing it right.
Some ways to build empathy include:
Conflict …
Personality …
Humanity …
by Matthew S. Cox
