Something I've learned through the years is that fully investing in your characters behind the scenes is extremely important. Having drafts and drafts of backstory and random " how sally-sue would react if she was faced with blahblahblah" type things is an amazing way to bring a character to life in your mind.
Bottom line, it's a wholeeee lot easier to write about what you know about. The emotional nuances will shine through when you know your character. Writing them even becomes easier because it can feel like they're telling you about themselves during the whole writing process.
89% of my work that ended up prematurely dwindling failed because I failed to add that behind the scenes layer of 'human' to the character *weary emoji*. I was mainly "la-dee-da-dee-da fancy prose, the character is just a tool in MY circus."
When the reality is... you're really working with your characters, they aren't just working for you. This turned into a yap, but this is something worth yapping about! Writing is such a beautiful form of expression, and it only becomes more beautiful when you breathe life into it!
