When A Story Fails

I'm glad to say a story doesn’t fail for me often. When it does, it is always due to me being unconvinced by the characterisation.

Something about the characters doesn’t ring true for me or they manage to aggravate me (Miss Price of Mansfield Park is a prime example of this for me yet I love all of Jane Austen’s other heroines, including the supposedly unlikeable Emma).

There is a positive to this though. Knowing what I dislike in character portrayal means I make sure I don’t write this kind of thing for my own creations.

I like to know my characters well enough to know what drives them and how they would act/react in any circumstance.

If I understand motivation, I am far more likely to read on to find out what the characters go on and do. It doesn’t mean I have to agree or like what they do but I do have to see where they are coming from.

For me, a story works when the character convinces me. The story is nothing without a convincing character as far as I am concerned.