Challenge
Empathy
Make your readers care about your characters. It’s a piece of advice you hear a lot in the writing world. Strange, isn’t it, that invoking empathy is a marketable skill?
Anyway, try to make us connect with a character in one short paragraph.
Not Gonna Lose
It took all of their energy to keep their shoulders from slumping, but they held their head high. They may never win, but they still would not lose- even when it took all their might.
Even when it left them biting back their tears until they were in a soft bed with a pillow to muffle their sorrow.