When you read the James Patterson’s Alex Cross series, A Great Reckoning by Louise Perry or The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy, what stands out about each book or author? Can you guess? Do you give up?

It’s the characters that they each created in telling their stories or series. These authors are famous not only for their storytelling abilities, but because of the characters that they have created around the storyline. It is the characters that readers can relate to that generate book sales.

When you are writing with character, you begin to draw in your reading audience. With each character, your readers begin to embrace the lives of these characters and if it is a book series, readers eagerly seek out the next story. Like in any of the Harry Potter books, people love the adventures that he experiences from the Sorcerer’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets to Goblet of Fire, readers can’t get enough.

I noticed this one day while visiting a bookstore. I was curious about a consumer’s choice of a specific author. I wanted to know and understand their interest in the story, and why were they following that author.

I arrived at a simple answer; it came down to the character first and then the storyline. As I further delved into their interest, I begin to look at what it takes to develop a character. Believe it or not, the character does sell the story, especially if you are writing a novel, comic book or any type of non-academic book.

As you begin to write your masterpiece, keep an open mind, be flexible and take note of the following 3-Step Character Writing process:

What’s In A Character:

According to Wikipedia, a character is a representative that carries the story. The character walks the readers through the plot and theme of the book. The character is who the readers follow through their interaction and connections with the other characters in the book as the storyline develops and evolves.

For example in Dr. Seuss’ stories there are always colorful, animated characters that he uses to tell a story of morals, building character or to educate readers. His messaging and presentation are always consistent and the reader knows initially that once you pick up a Dr. Seuss book, you know exactly what you are getting. Whether it’s A Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, each book provides you with a brand of remembrance, messaging and experience. After over 20 years, Dr. Seuss books are classics and they are still hildren’s favorites and will be for generations to come.

Building Up Your Character To Tell The Story:

As you read Ian Fleming’s James Bond book series, you can be sure that you will come away with a consistent experience. People love the espionage, sex appeal, and technological prowess of the James Bond character. Whether you read Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Goldfinger or Doctor No, the various plots will not only keep you engaged, but you can live vicariously through 007 as he lives a life of excitement.

Make Your Characters Relatable:

Remember, as you are creating your characters, build them in such a way that if you decide to develop a sequel it makes the process easier for both you and your readers. How the characters are created will help readers to want to know more about them. You see this masterfully done in a movie.

Movies are derived from books that interest the producer and director enough to want to bring the books to life. Remember: tell the story, build your characters and make them relatable so that your target audience will want to read more work from you.