Only connect!

As Roz has been talking about her new writing tips site all week, I've been analyzing my craft a little more than usual.

Today musing on all the techniques you can use to make readers care about a character. You can show the character:

• being resourceful
• being brave
• being clever (not the same as merely resourceful btw)
• doing a good deed ("save the cat")
• being unfairly treated (“kill the cat”)
• standing up against unfairness or injustice
• doing something we can relate to – especially if funny, but can be as simple as cleaning teeth, having breakfast, if made into an interesting “bit of business”
• being in a relationship we can connect with
• in a situation we recognize – hot/cold, needing a pee, late for a meeting, etc.
• being interesting – this is how an audaciously badly-behaved, rude or even evil character can be made very compelling: what will they do next?

…& what DOESN'T work:

Making them merely strong or lucky. (Although boys of a certain age do grok power fantasies.)