There are so many aspects of storytelling which are important. Yet, if you watch a lot of movies, TV shows, read a lot of books,… you notice a theme. Most stories are “character-driven”, which is, driven by the acts, emotions, reactions, and plot arch that the character engages in directly, given a setting and a conflict in that setting.

And why not? We’re all characters in a story. You are a character. I’m a character.

The big question is; what makes a characters story worth reading? Why should the reader or the audience care about this character?

One answer to this is, as characters, we are naturally inclined to empathize with other characters, specifically the ones we read about or watch. They are our portals into the world and the plot. They are our eyes and ears. Sometimes even our thoughts.

Those characters must have something about them that interests us. Something about their personality, their background, how they handle themselves in a situation, what inspires them, what haunts them, what drives them…

In many ways, those elements reflect upon what we know, think, or see in people we are familiar with. In others, we’re getting a unique view into something we haven’t had the chance to witness ourselves. We can immerse ourselves into that characters experience, ss long as how the character acts is believable, and as long as something about the character is at stake in the story!

So, as a writer or story builder, having a solid grounding for those characters, who they are, what their background is, how they think is an extremely important part of telling a story
(specifically… their story).