A Call For Help

As you all know, I love to read and write. Sometimes, though, I get so caught up in how a story I'm writing makes me feel, and what I think about the characters, that I don't stop to think about the reader. Honestly, that's one of my major weaknesses.

My characters are like an extension of myself. If you read into my characters, you're really reading into me. Funny, isn't it? So many of the things that happen to my characters, I've never experienced. I've never felt the pains or joys that my characters go through, and yet, they are like a part of me. Their personalities reflect me or people I know. Even their appearances and names symbolize something. I put more thought into them than I do into my every day life.

Yet, without a reader, a story really isn't complete, is it? I want someone to feel like they know a character when they've read something I've written. I want them to feel like they know me. The thing is, I don't really know how to do that.

This is me reaching out to you, the readers. When you read a book, short story, poem, or any form of writing for that matter, what makes you like it? What about it invokes that emotion that makes something such a great work? If you could commission a book to be written exactly the way you think a book should be... What would it be like? What is important to you when you read something?

Please comment... I really truly want to improve my writing. There's very few things that I really enjoy and want to do better at, and this is one of them. I want my writing to somehow help the reader. I just need the reader to tell me how I can do that. Thank you in advance to anyone and everyone who helps. You're amazing, each and every one of you.

SOS,
Shansie