The dictionary definitions are similar, but empathy is the stronger of the two ideas.
With sympathy, we can understand; with empathy, we can relate.
If we sympathize with a character, we can learn to like him and will, most likely, find ourselves rooting for him in some way.
Empathizing, however, is next-level. With empathy, the events surrounding a character are heightened because what is happening to them is also happening to us. We're sharing in their experiences because we're projecting our own experiences onto them. They are like us, so we've moved past understanding them and into being them.
Empathy is what creates an emotional interest in the reader, and when we relate to a character on this visceral level, it's because we see ourselves in them.
We want them to succeed so we, too, can share in that success.
Be Brilliant!
~Katie~
