Do you ever read a book, a short story, a comic, or watch a movie/TV show and you finish it thinking "Wow, that was incredible"? For some people that's because there was action -- explosions and machine gun fire and Vin Diesel crashing his Dodge Charger into a building. Others are in it for romance scenes ranging from awkward smiles to graphic sex (thanks for that, E. L. James) or simply half-naked Chris Hemsworths.  Some folks just want a happy ending -- Shadow limping home to Peter gets us every time. For me it's a mix of all these things that can make a story great no matter the media (Lord knows I could use some more Chris Hemsworth in my life), but the underlying factor of each element is the characters. Does the Battle of Manhattan mean anything to us if we aren't shipping Percebeth so hard it hurts and praying that they both make it? Is the scene where Ripley takes on a facehugger to protect Newt nearly as gut-wrenching if we don't know how hard she's already fought to survive? *SPOILER* Are we sobbing and screaming and cursing Veronica Roth's heart-razing yet brilliantly poetic ending as hard if we haven't gone through this entire freaking journey with Tris? Don't read this and assume I'm some brilliant creator of characters -- I'm not. But I know that the reason I've read Pandemonium 17 times (the graphic novel by Chris Wooding, not the sequel to Lauren Oliver's Delirium -- though I'm told that's good), seen every episode of Sherlock 4 times, spent an ungodly amount of time reading and fangirling about Harry Potter, and *SPOILER* devoted at least 24 hours of my life to attempting to create an ending to Inheritance where Eragon gets to be with Arya, is because I am utterly in love with the characters. They make us laugh hysterically, cry, scream, swoon, and throw things because they remind us of us. THAT'S what I want to do -- make people care about a character. And if I do that even just once, I'll be so happy you'll think I've just robbed the Belagio.