Character dialogue is one of the six essential story elements that isn't always needed but can really enhance a story when included in a short story or novel. Dialogue is more than just chit-chat or verbal communication, but it allows readers to know more about characters' fears, desires, inner worlds, motivations, and personalities within a fictional story aside from what role they play, what they do, or what physically look like on the surface. Most writers refer to charact

As I mentioned in a previous post, settings help to "set the scene" and create a believable story world or environment in our stories and novels. Settings are essential elements to story writing because they allow writers to show their readers exactly where their characters are located and capture them in as a part of the story world during their reading experience. Without settings, it would be extremely hard to set the scenes and make story worlds realistic and interesting.

In my previous blog posts, I discussed nine generic types of characters and five common story characters in fiction, but what actually creates a character? What brings them to life off the page for readers and allows them to connect with them on a personal level? What are the things that make readers want to root for them, care for them, relate to them, or make them want to know what happens next in the following chapter? What makes realistic characters? Is it their physica