Thanks for the puzzle opportunity, Amy.

I like to "build" my characters first with what makes me fall in love with them. Let's say mental strength and physical strength. Throw in a little, okay a lot of, tenacity. And a soft spot for something, perhaps music. Now I wonder why my character has such a need for physical strength. What if s/he were abused as a child and couldn't fight back? What if when s/he was finally old enough--strong enough--the abuse stopped? What if the mother was a nurse and patched the child up but did nothing to stop the abuse? The child would need mental strength to survive, to plan, to dream about an end to the abuse in one way or another. And tenacity for doing what had to be done to stay alive. What if music, a particular song or type, either played in the house during the happy times or became a solace after the abuse? Or played during the abuse?

Would you root for this character? Could there be other "forgivable" flaws related to this backstory? The trick is not to download all the backstory in the first or even first three chapters. Treat backstory as a spice, just a little will do. "Her boss's expression triggered that run-run response when her uncle used to steam toward her. The old, familiar hateful cramp slid down her throat." We know her uncle did some bad stuff to her, but we don't know the whole story. Not yet.

Hope this helps.

-Fae

Glad to be of service, ma'am. (Do you see me tipping my hat?)
-Fae

Well, it was a very interesting ride around the Giza Plateau. Let's just say I made a lot of deals with that camel.

And it's not the first time I was on a camel. Can you say Outer Mongolia in the '80s, when a camel was how you got from one yurt village to another while Russian MIG's streaked along the border?
-Fae

I'm a great believer in destiny. But it would have been nice to learn the lessons in those creative writing classes "back then" and not have to scrabble to catch up during the writing process. Oh well, everything in its time. Thanks for the support.
-Fae

Thanks for reading, Carlyle.
-Fae

I actually think math geek are very creative. You need a good math head to write music. My brother the math geek and teacher is the most creative among us. So it was your destiny 🙂

Other than (convenient) "chemistry," do you have suggestions for preventing these challenges from growing too off-putting? How do I convince the reader (let alone the people dealing with one another in the story) that these unfinished people are worth watching? (I recognize this is the question of real-life, too, but I'm curious what your story-angle is.)