If readers can't identify with, care about, or somehow share the feelings of the characters, despite a perfect plot and poetic prose, the story is likely to bomb. Readers must respond to the characters viscerally, with sympathy or antipathy, early on. Readers want their primitive feelings titillated. They want to feel different — better or worse — after reading the story than before. So how do you do that? Consider the following: The better the author knows the character, the better the portrayal of her is likely to be. How do you get to know her? What makes your hero or your villain exciting? What features distinguish her from everyone else in the world and make her interesting? What attributes resonate with the reader to make her care? Keep this in mind as you rewrite. The author must bring that dull, empty page to life, and make it exciting. She needs to have some appreciation of her character's physical appearance as well as here innate and acquired capacity to make choices, for ultimately what moves your reader is your character's character as determined by the choices she makes. Good physical description that conveys imagery is important. A huge nose, bald head and twitching tic of the eyes or mouth? Conservative or racy dress? Pot belly or overgenerous butt? Race? I.Q? These are the innate, congenital factors. The writer needs to know and understand them. They impact on character definition. So, the author should describe the character's interesting habits, manner of dressing and visceral reactions to people, places and happenings as the plot progresses. However, it is the choices the character makes move the reader. And the more risk the character takes in choosing, the more the depth of character's character is revealed. What, then, determines how she makes choices that fundamentally change her when she is confronted by a dilemma or conflicting options? This event is a turning point, The character fundamentally changes as she makes this difficult choice. It moves (accelerates and/or resolves) the plot. We agree with that character's decision or we don't, but we and we care are hooked. All your character's physical being and learning tools are in place from birth, indeed from conception. They are innate. The quality of these physical features and learning tools and the ability to use them varies from one character to another. Past history and life experiences, i.e., the acquired factors also contribute. The author should know them, too; know the pertinent events in the character's past that impacted on her personality and decision making: She nearly drowned at age seven; She is anxious about boating or cruising, she's afraid of the water; She was applauded for the dance she did when she was five; She opted for study of music and performing arts and frowns on the sciences. Her daddy loved her demonstratively; her uncle abused her emotionally; the gardener raped her — all this impacts on how, as an adult, she deals with men. But always remember what is important: "Show, don't tell!"

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Web writers are in high demand because Web sites' traffic and sales depend on a constant stream of fresh new content. This means that you can make money freelance writing for the Web, even if you've never been published before. I know several bloggers who are making triple their former "day job" incomes just from blogging. Ghostwriters who write articles are doing well too. Neither of these writing jobs required any technical expertise, just the ability to write effectively and regularly. Every week I receive several "How do I get started Web writing?" questions from new writers. The answer is "Start anywhere, and keep writing." There's really no mystique. You need to write and publish what you write online to prove that you CAN write. No one will hire you on your say-so, you have to show that you can write for the Web, that you can follow instructions, and that you can deliver what you're asked to deliver ON TIME. The upside of this is that when you are hired, you'll be paid a retainer of half your fee, with the remainder paid when you send in your material. This contrasts sharply with writing for print, when you're paid on acceptance or even on publication... which sometimes translates to "never." I'm still waiting for "on publication" payments for articles I wrote in the 1980s. Writing for the Web is all about building your credibility. If You Can Write, Just Build Your Credits Until You're Paid Well Just as in the print world, there's a range of fees paid in Web writing. Payments depend on the success of the Web site or business which hires you. You can be paid $1 a word and more by high-traffic sites, but you need to develop your name and reputation first before such sites will hire you. It's all about your NAME. Anyone who's thinking of hiring you online will Google your name. If your writing shows up, that's a large tick for you. People hiring a Web writer want to see your name on the Web. That's simply common sense. So let's see how we can get your name out there so that people can find you and realize that you can help them by writing for them. 1. Create a blog This is the easiest way. You can create a free blog in seconds. Just start posting to the blog. You can blog about any topic you'd like to be hired to write about - parenting, tropical fish, bike riding, etc. Avoid blogging about yourself however, because no one will hire you to write about you, unless you're famous. On your blog's sidebar, just add a link to your "Hire Me" page. 2. Promote your blog and your writing services Keep posting to your blog, adding a few blog posts each week. Your blog will be indexed by the search engines, and you'll start to get traffic. You can help the process along by promoting your blog, via the many online classifieds sites; by creating pages on sites like Squidoo pointing to your blog; by article marketing - there are dozens of ways you can promote your blog so that you start getting traffic and getting hired to write. So there you have it: getting started as a Web writer just means writing and promoting yourself. The process I've outlined for you works. Just follow it - before you know it you'll get the first of many Web clients.

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