The key to taking your reader on an emotional journey is encouraging them to invest in your characters. If readers connect to your characters and start to root for them, they’ll follow you to the end of your story.
In a post on Writers in the Storm, Lynette Burrows says you can help make those connections by giving your characters strong values, including those that prevent them from reaching their goals. “Two incompatible (not necessarily opposite) values drive your character,” Burrows says. “These conflicting values provide him with a struggle without external antagonists.”
Digging deeper, Burrows says that lies, secrets, and scars are key elements forming those values. Your character’s backstory reveals those elements and provides the underlying reason for their values. “If you understand why your character will believe one thing to the point of making choices that are self-destructive, you will empower your story,” Burrows writes. Your character’s values are also likely to reflect your theme, tying your story together.
