I’ve found that the best stories I read give me a good understanding of who the main characters are right off the bat. If I can learn some of the character’s history and acquire a believable sense of their personality within the first couple of chapters, I’m hooked. Developing a plot and introducing action before the reader feels like they know the characters that are involved is like getting the entire family to sit down at the dinner table and then starting to cook the food. Dishing up an empty plate to a starving reader and making them wait for their interest to be cooked is down-right abuse.
Plot and action are china and silverware, setting up the story and slicing through the beef, but the characters are your meat and potatoes. Make sure your meat and potatoes are done before you set the table and invite your guests.
