As you write your novel each characters' connection to the reader is one of
the most important techniques a writer can use to capture the readers' attention.
It does not matter if the reader develops a positive or negative connection.
As each character is introduced the goal is to emotionally attract the reader
to the character. Again, the emotional reaction from the reader can be either
positive or negative. The key point is that now the writer has the reader's
attention. As the reader senses an emotional link to various characters within
the novel or short story, the reader develops a desire to continue to read.

An example from His World Her World Their World:

READING THE GOLD TRIMMED, elegant invitation for the fourth time, Essie
fingered the luxurious paper admiring its quality. Her name, ESSIE FERGUSON,
engraved at the top; appeared to jump off of the expensive paper. For a second
or two, Essie felt honored as she looked at the invitation, and then almost
immediately she was perplexed as she wondered whether it was sent to her in
error. I don't know this man, Leo Mattison. Why is he inviting me to his wedding?

Looking at the date, her thoughts continued, it's only about a month away!
Anyway, she thought, I'll figure this out later. I have to leave to get to work on time. I have to open up. She placed the envelope on top of her Victorian-style
dresser, grabbed her purse and locked the door behind her. Essie and her sister,
Marjorie jointly own and run a mid-sized restaurant on the part of town that
is going through gentrification. Their shop, Home Inn, an old-style restaurant
that seats between forty five to fifty people, has been serving good, filling
food for the last twenty eight years.

Taking a break between the breakfast and lunch crowd around 10:40, Essie
and Marjorie finally had a few moments to themselves.

"You know, I received the strangest thing in the mail yesterday," Essie
remembered. "I received this fancy, rich invitation to a wedding from somebody
called Leo Mattison. I received it yesterday."

"What! You're kidding!" Marjorie interrupted, "I received an invitation
from him too! I don't know who he is either, but it is quite obvious that he
is rich. Did you check out the gold engraving? The paper is heavy, thick and
expensive. It costs a lot of money. But, who is he?" she finished.

"There's something strange going on here," said Essie suspiciously. "I want
to ignore it, but my name was even engraved on the invitation, not just the
envelope. What do you think? Do you think we should go?" Essie asked warily.

"I don't know," said Marjorie, curiosity filling her voice. "I'll probably
go just to find out whom this man IS, and why he invited me to his wedding,"
said Marjorie excitedly as a couple of people entered for lunch.

The above is an example of introducing the characters at the beginning of the story. When a novel or short story is written to draw the reader into the lives of
the characters in the book and if the story is written well, the ending also
has to be quite memorable and carry an impact. The ending of the story should
be very unexpected or surprising or even somewhat shocking!