Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43180 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Synopsis
In this guide, award-winning author Nancy Kress explores the crucial relationship between characterization and plot, illustrating how vibrant, well-constructed characters act as the driving force behind an exceptional story. In teaching writers the fundamentals of creating characters that will keep their readers spellbound, Kress utilizes: Dozens of excerpts from well-known fiction; Enlightening exercises to help writers build strong characters starting from the outside-in; Beginning chapters that focus on the physical elements that comprise a character, providing techniques for using external qualities to reflect personality; Building skill upon skill, writers blend these qualities with emotional and mental characterization, forming multi-dimensional characters that initiate exciting action, react to tense situations, and power the plot from beginning to end.

Customer Reviews

Wonderfully helpful book on the core of fiction, characters
I read Nancy Kress's fiction column in Writer's Digest Magazine every month and find it always has very practical suggestions. This book on characters is a wonderful compilation of all her wisdom on a topic of particular interest to writers of popular fiction. She does an outstanding job. So much so that I found myself taking extensive notes in an attempt to burn in my brain all the great advice she gives. One of the most wonderful parts of the book is the extensive outline she provides for creating a biography for each of your major characters. This is extremely helpful! I plan to use it for all my future stories.