10 Ways to Get Your Characters to Love You // Guest Post by Claire Banschbach

Today I have Claire Banschbach on the blog to talk about how to treat your characters properly! And I love what it boils down to. Pay attention, as her points describe the most notorious favorite parts of every story!

As writers and authors, we all like to joke about how our characters hate us. And sometimes it might not even be a joke. I mean, there’s a reason that “writer’s block” can be explained as imaginary friends not talking to you.

So, in order to keep the words flowing and characters talking, I’ve compiled an easy list of ways to get them to like you right off the bat and even at word count 120,000. (I write fantasy okay? :P)

1. Don’t kill them off – You might think this is a given, but resist that frequent occasional urge to pare down the cast. 
2. Make sure there are lots of furry animals for them to cuddle in times of stress – puppies especially. 
3. Have the antagonist offer them warm cookies right before s/he threatens to destroy the world – not only would that be a crazy plot twist, but everyone would have a chance to sit down and relax for half a second before making the mad dash to stop villainous plans. 
4. On that note, basically just make sure there’s lots of cake/cookies/ice cream available in general – the more food, the better. Make a stop for tacos occasionally. 
5. Make sure they have regularly scheduled naptime – always important. You might as well power nap while they are. 
6. For heaven’s sake, DON’T TELL THEM what’s going to happen before the end. Lock that information away and throw away the key. But don’t forget which way you threw it – make them think it’s going to be a happy ending. But maybe they’ll just hate you at the end. You know what, scratch this rule. 
7. Maybe only break one or two fingers or ribs – in one chapter. I kid. Sort of. Go easy for a few chapters. Let them have a chance to recover for a hot second. 
8. When sending characters off on a long journey, give them some sort of aerial transport. It’ll make things much easier – nobody likes walking everywhere. Especially all the way across the known world to throw a piece of jewelry in a volcano… ;) 
9. Skip the love triangle – all complaining and moaning about this specific trope aside, it just makes it easier for the hero/heroine to concentrate on saving the world. And decreases the angst factor by like ten million. 
10. Give them a day off – saving the world is a lot of work. Let them hang out with their buddies, have a beer/tea/whatever beverage of choice, have a snowball fight, feed a friendly dragon…whatever. ☺ 

Claire M. Banschbach is a native West Texan. She discovered a deep and abiding love for fantasy and science fiction at a young age, prompting her to begin exploring worlds armed only with an overactive imagination and a pen while obtaining degrees in Kinesiology from Texas A&M and Physical Therapy from Texas Tech University.

She talks to fictional characters more than she should while struggling to find time for all their stories. She currently resides in Arlington, TX where she works as a Pediatric Physical Therapist.

You can connect with her on Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Blog | Instagram

So there you have it. All joking aside, what are some things you tend to do that make your characters not like you so much? Do you think any of the above might help smooth things out? :P Anything I missed? Let’s talk in the comments!