Readers like a vicarious sense of accomplishment through characters. It’s satisfying to see characters we root for suffer and struggle with a goal in mind and then reach that goal, usually having cost them tangible or intangible things. Stories I particularly enjoy include aspects of being forced to choose between the most complicated of choices and that’s where I think characters come to life, particularly human characters.

If you do not make your characters struggle, then it is in a sense wish fulfillment. The clear sensation that things may go wrong is what keeps readers on their toes – and that builds tension. 

Have you ever sat down and analyzed why you gave up on a story or book? My current thesis is I give up when I become convinced the main characters were infallible or things are very convenient for them. If characters can go through events and come out of it just fine and improved then future story stakes are meaningless. “What will happen next?” is rooted in the desire to have things be alright, and that passion is powered by the ever-present fear that things are no longer alright. The knight must go on a dangerous quest. The girl must choose between true love and family. 

“All happy stories are similar. All unhappy stories are unique in their suffering.” Or something like that. I think what makes a story unique is the journey the characters must go through in order to reach a destination – and the scars they accumulate along the way to prove it. For the events of a story to impact the reader, it must also impact the characters.