A Writer’s Primary Story Hook is Engaging Characters

Post by: Annette Yourk, October 2015

No subject in itself, however fruitful, appears to be able to keep a narrative alive. Only the characters in it can.–Edith Wharton.

You can collect (or in the case of fiction, create) a thousand facts on the characters you’re writing about, but facts don’t make a character; not one your readers will eagerly embrace. You may know your characters back to front, but do not spin out a character summary. Readers will relate to your characters the way they meet people in life – a little at a time through that character’s unique nature and presence. Through the things they say and how they say them. Through the way they respond to others, and how they behave when under stress.

We care more about the story characters when we see them struggle and fall and pick up the pieces and try again.

Readers don’t relate to supreme saints or villainous villains, but they relate to real people. People who doubt themselves, have flaws, vulnerabilities, secrets. Real people grow and change. They face adversity or they run like hell. Characters affect events and events affect characters. Their lives and situations have conflict, unexpected setbacks. This brings attention and tension to your story, which invites readers to care about the characters. We care more about the characters when we see them struggle and fall and pick up the pieces, and try again.

The Setting Can Have an Impact on Character

Aspects of setting also draw out characters and add realism. Setting can be a motivating factor in why people do what they do or a symbol of the nature of the universe toward humanity (and vice versa). The furnishings of your character’s world reflect and affect who he is. Think of a float house up Bute Inlet, an office cubicle in a call centre, a log cabin in a North Saskatchewan Mennonite community, a brick row house in 1830’s Toronto. The places your character inhabits, geographic locations and specific abodes; and including the internal landscape of character, both shape and are shaped by character.

What specific characters stand out in books you’ve read? Characters you’ll never forget. What makes them distinctive; memorable? Did their story include pitfalls, reversals, traumas? Think “setting” when you start reading. What is setting’s role? Its influence? Its nature in the story? In what ways does it affect the character or characters?

Annette Yourk, October 22, 2015