Being A Reader

Hello all,

I have recently started rereading the Hush, Hush series and even though I have read the books multiple times, I find that I am overwhelmingly and desperately in love with Patch Cipriano. This makes me wonder why, we as readers, get so attached to the characters we read about. I mean, goodness, Edward and Bella made millions of people fall in love with them, Harry Potter, Eragon, Katnis and Peeta. What is it about these characters that makes us readers fall so in love, so quickly, that we would rather dream about being with them then live our real lives. I have a great boyfriend, but given the chance to be with Patch, I would take it, no questions asked.

So why do we readers get so attached? Is it because it is the people we are? I know that I am an emotional person and that I get attached to real people too easily, so is that why I get so attached to the characters I read? Is it the way the author writes the characters or the events the characters are put in? I wrote a book and let my friend read it and she said she cried at the end. I was so happy that I could write characters that my friends could connect with and care deeply enough about that they would cry at the end. I felt that I did my job as a writer.

I can tell, usually, in the first five pages whether or not I will like a book. I instantly fall in love with the male characters of the books I read. Is it because I am trying to escape inside these books? Is it because we are looking for something that we don't have? Why is it that we as readers fall so in love with the characters we read?