Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated

by Kress, Nancy

• ISBN13: 9781582973197
• ISBN10: 1582973199
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-15
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books

Summary

A truly unforgettable story is defined by its characters. Their motivations, their changes, their actions compel us to read on, anxiously trying to discern what will happen next.

Author Biography

Nancy Kress is the author of over a dozen books of fiction, including Beggars in Spain, which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. She is a regular columnist for Writer's Digest magazine, and her short fiction frequently appears in Omni magazine. She also teaches fiction-writing classes for universities and writing conferences.

Table of Contents

introduction Who are These People, and Who Needs Them?	1	(6)
part one Creating Strong and Believable Characters: The Externals	7	(75)
Beauty and/or the Beast
Choosing Descriptive Details	8	(11)
What's in a Name?
Using Monikers to Convey Character	19	(5)
Zip Code, Please
The Role of Setting in Creating Character	24	(11)
What Did You Say You Do?
Using the World of Work to Enhance Characterization	35	(10)
Say What?
Characterizing Through Dialogue	45	(9)
The Artful Deception
Making Dialogue Read Naturally (Even Though It's Not Natural)	54	(12)
When Less is More
Pruning Character Descriptors to a Manageable Number	66	(8)
Don't I Know You?
Basing Characters on Real People	74	(8)
part two Creating Strong and Believable Characters: The Internals	82	(75)
She's Got an Attitude
Using Personal Thoughts to Characterize	83	(7)
Lost in Thought
Making Clear What, When and How Your Character Is Thinking	90	(9)
The Pygmalion Trap
How to Not Let Your Assumptions Torpedo Characterization	99	(8)
Airy Dreams and Solid News
How to Use Dreams and Newscasts to Enhance Characterization	107	(15)
The Bad Guys
How to Make Your Villians As Readable As Your Heroes	122	(10)
Do I Want to Know You?
How to Create an Unsympathetic Protagonist Without Driving Your Readers Away	132	(7)
The Intelligence Dossier
A Wrap-Up System for Investigating Your Character	139	(18)
part three Character and Plot	157	(106)
The Yellow Brick Road
How to Start Anywhere and Arrive at Plot	158	(10)
Fight! Fight! Fight!
When Conflict Leads to Violence	168	(7)
Whose Story is it, Anyway?
How Point of View Begins With Character and Leads to Plot	175	(7)
Also Featuring
Secondary Characters and Plot Construction	182	(15)
The Characters, They are A-Changing
How to Make Character Change a Strong Element of Plot	197	(8)
Seeing is Believing
A Concrete Example of How Character, Change and Plot Intertwine	205	(14)
``But it Really Happened!''
Basing Plots on Real-Life Events	219	(6)
Archetypal Attractions
Using Rich Old Plots in Rich New Ways	225	(22)
I See a Pattern Emerging
The Connections Among Characters, Plot and Theme	247	(7)
The Characters and the Writer	254	(9)
index	263