One of our goals at Story Embers is to release series that unpack different resolutions from our manifesto and help writers pursue our vision for Christian fiction. This year, as we discussed which resolution to focus on, empathetic characters rose to the top of our list. Readers need to bond with characters, or they won’t enjoy and be impacted by a story. Accomplishing this as writers involves understanding “readers’ thought processes, emotions, and worldviews so we can connect meaningfully with them in our storytelling, knowing that human nature is repelled by simplistic representations.”