You have to know even though the story is good, what makes readers close to you is not the story itself, but the characters. So, you need to put a lot of effort in writing your characters while you put the same effort to the plot itself.
Fill out this form before you get started for your main characters;
1. Name of the character -
2. Description (physical as well as mental) -
3. Whom does he/she/they resemble in the real life? (you can use actors to imagine them) -
4. Profession and interests -
5. Good qualities or skills -
6. Main internal conflict -
7. Bad qualities (some kind of phobias if included)-
8. End goal (s) of the character -
9. Love interest (whom does she finally end up with?) -
10. A basic synopsis on how that's going to happen or what actions that she must do (indirectly or directly) in order to achieve the end goal -
11. Misbelief (the belief that makes them prevent from achieving the end goal): optional -
Ex -
1. Katniss Everdeen.
2. Olive skin, Dark hair, skinny but attractive, tough looking.
3. Jennifer Lawrence.
4. Hunting and exploring in the forest.
5. Loyal, caring and very protective, smart and logical.
Good with bow and arrow as well as climbing trees and knowledge on forest.
6. Need of protecting her loved ones and survival.
7. Closed off, cold-looking demeanour, not socializing enough, fear of intimacy and abandonment.
8. Live a life with Peeta peacefully and surviving in the rebellion/the hunger games.
9. Peeta Mellark.
10. She needs to win the hunger games, join the rebellion and win it and lose her dear sister as well as some of her friends to end up with Peeta.
11. For hunger games, there isn't a misbelief. It is totally optional if you don't have a misbelief but you cover it up with the internal conflicts or phobias, like in hunger games.
So, make sure you fill this chart for every main character in your story :)