It's all about the Character, stupid! Part One - Audience Surrogacy
Well, maybe it isn't ALL about the character. But it is essential that your characters cause an emotional reaction for your readers, watchers or players. The stronger the emotional connection, the better. This is important in all types of storytelling. Whether you are an actor on Television, Film or Stage, a play or screenwriter, a novelist or a short storyteller devotee, even a gamemaster for a Role Playing game. The things(The plot) that happen in the tale you are spinning are meaningless without your characters. Meaningless you say, tell me it isn't so! It really is. An Earthquake, a wasting curse, an invading army. All these things are terrifying or at least concerning on the surface, but they are abstract concepts and events unless you can tie them to someone in the environment that is experiencing or causing them. The Invading army seems so much more fearsome when you have a character who is rounded up and taken to a prisoner of war camp. The wasting curse is so much mor...