For the inexperienced author in this context, the danger of failure to create for desired reader response is sentimentality rather than empathy–and even bathos–by the reader for the character and the situation. When a static character is in a dire, and often unjustly deserved, state and narrative description is used to tell of past events and feelings, empathy is harder to attain. Sympathy comes from empathy for the plight of others. If the author of fiction writes to evoke reader sympathy without significant reader engagement, there can be unwanted consequences. Readers generally want to root for a character who succeeds by using imagination and hard work. Success and failure, of course, will vary from story to story but it’s the struggle, the quality, and the authorial delivery that grab the reader. These characters, in fiction, show resistance to the status quo, often in the face of insurmountable odds that involve conflicts in which the character must use skills, and often develop additional skills, in order to succeed. In the story world, they exude qualities such as persistence, morality, perseverance, determination, strength, confidence, intellect, and/or unfailing expectations that things are going to turn out all right, qualities that rise to above average. Great characters of classic literature almost always have a touch of hero in them. Creating a fictional character needs to serve the story being told, and in some way needs to attract and hold the reader’s interest, a connection that may not be likeable or sympathetic but must be strong enough to engage the reader to produce at least some satisfaction in having read and acquainted oneself with the character.
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