Certain authors are very good at capturing the true emotions that a character is feeling, whether it is positive, negative, or neutral.

I guess it is more important for some to focus more on the story than on the characters. And maybe the story is more important than the characters.

But I don’t like to feel indifferent when the bad guy knocks off one of the main characters. I have read many books recently in which I feel I know absolutely nothing about the characters aside from their job and that they might have a crush on this person or that, and a little that I have learned from a bit of dialogue (that they’re a sissy, maybe).

I am not saying I am perfect by any means. I know I am nowhere near. But I think (at least I sure hope) I try to really get my readers to know my characters well. Why? Because I love them. I want the world to know what I think of them, who they are. Whether it’s the angry, vengeful ex-fiance, or the horse-racing best friend, I have devoted so much to those characters that why would I not want to showcase who they really are?

What I love to write about: negative emotion. I don’t know why. I love to write in the perspective of the crazy guy, the drug addict, the alcoholic. I think it’s because I’ve read so many books where the characters have NO depth, or they’re just living a great happy old life until the ‘scary’ happens. Or if they have gone through an ordeal, it was in the past and the character has gotten over it. The first book that I have read in a LONG time in which the character is relatively emotional in a negative sense is Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz, in which the main character is in a state of depression a year after the death of his wife and two daughters.