Establishing the Identity of a Character

Characters give life to a novel.  How is that possible?  Characters are so powerful that readers identify with them, love them, hate them, dream of them, and can’t have enough of them.  How is that possible?

This is possible because characters have an identity and readers know that.  They have a name, particularities, character traits, and a distinct personality.  They have likes, dislikes, things they love and hate, challenges of their own, triumphs and battles, insecurities … – they are like the people who read them; they just are.

For a character to feel real it is important to establish his/her identity throughout the story.