by Beth K. Vogt, @bethvogt

“The character that lasts is an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities.”

—Raymond Chandler (1888-1959), American-British novelist & screenwriter  In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression.

Raymond Chandler was an ordinary guy with some extraordinary qualities.

Don’t know who Raymond Chandler was? You must have skimmed the quote at the top of this blog post. Go back and read it, please. I’ll wait.

Okay, let’s start again.

Why was Raymond Chandler an ordinary guy with extraordinary qualities? Thing about it: In his mid-forties, he lost his cushy job as an oil company exec. But he didn’t end it all, like so many people did during the stock market crash of the Great Depression. Nope. He became a novelist. Consider his literary accomplishments:

• He wrote seven novels.

• All but one of his books were made into movies.

• The year before he died, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America.

• He’s considered one of the founders of hard-boiled detective fiction.

Wouldn’t you love to have had the chance to meet this guy?

And that’s exactly how our readers should feel about the characters in our books. Readers won’t stick with our  stories if they don’t care about our characters. If they don’t think, “I wish I could meet this imaginary person for coffee.”

Readers need to connect with our characters in an authentic way. Sure, some of us write fantasy and science fiction, but even in those worlds, readers can – and should – bond with characters.

Think about the real life people you admire and respect. I would imagine most, if not all of them, are normal men and women whose extraordinary qualities are similar to ones seen in well-known fictional characters who are, at the start of the story, pretty ordinary:

• Perseverance – gardener Samwise Gangee in the Lord of the Rings
• Courage – governess Jane Eyre in the gothic tale Jane Eyre
• Love – lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
• Forgiveness – ex-convict Jean Valjean in Les Misérables

Readers identify with and are inspired by each one of these characters’ daily lives, their struggles, their hopes – as well as their extraordinary qualities that help them overcome adversity.

Consider the story you’re working on: Will your readers relate to your characters? Have you given them something extraordinary that will intrigue and inspire your readers?

Things I Never Told You by Beth K. Vogt

It’s been ten years since Payton Thatcher’s twin sister died in an accident, leaving the entire family to cope in whatever ways they could. No longer half of a pair, Payton reinvents herself as a partner in a successful party-planning business and is doing just fine—as long as she manages to hold her memories and her family at arm’s length.

But with her middle sister Jillian’s engagement, Payton’s party-planning skills are called into action. Which means working alongside her opinionated oldest sister, Johanna, who always seems ready for a fight. They can only hope that a wedding might be just the occasion to heal the resentment and jealousy that divides them . . . until a frightening diagnosis threatens Jillian’s plans and her future. As old wounds are reopened and the family faces the possibility of another tragedy, the Thatchers must decide if they will pull together or be driven further apart.

Includes discussion questions.

Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Beth’s first women’s fiction novel for Tyndale House Publishers, Things I Never Told You, releases May 2018. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Having authored nine contemporary romance novels or novellas, Beth believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.