Creating Characters: A Writer's Reference to the Personality Traits That Bring Fictional People to Life [Hardcover]

Howard Lauther (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786405694 | ISBN-13: 978-0786405695 | Publication Date: August 1998

A frequent problem area for fiction writers is characterization. If writers jump headlong into a story with only a fuzzy notion about the people who are in it, the result is a collection of characters who are cliched, stereotypical and not very interesting. Creating Characters is an easy to use reference work that looks at character development from many different angles. The book does not tell writers how to write. Instead, it generates a thought process by asking crucial questions about characters' internal and external traits, wants, needs, likes, dislikes, fears, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses, habits and backgrounds. Following these questions, the writer will find an ever deeper and wider array of options. Thus, Creating Characters helps writers delve as deeply into a character's psychology as they want. All characters, and the stories they people, can be made richer and more compelling.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Author Howard Lauther of Cincinnati, Ohio, accumulated the notes and insights for this project over many years of writing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786405694
• ISBN-13: 978-0786405695
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,479,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting reference book, February 28, 2007

By 

L. Massaar "Len Massaar" (Vancouver, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creating Characters: A Writer's Reference to the Personality Traits That Bring Fictional People to Life (Paperback)

This is a 230+ pages book that examines the various attributes of the human existence. It is organized in such a way as to make you think about what things make for a three-dimensional character you might need to create in your fictional world. In the hardcover version:

Table of Contents
1. What are the character's internal traits (starts p3)
2. What are the character's external traits (p33)
3. What does the character want, not want or need? (p83)
4. What does the character like or dislike? (p97)
5. What does the character fear? (p104)
6. What does the character believe? ((p116)
7. What are the character's strengths, weaknesses and habits? (p124)
8. What is the character's background? (p127)
9. What is the character's self-assessment? (p134)
10. What is the character type? (p147)
11. Does the character have a nickname? (pp189)
12. What is the character's job? (p202)
13. Will the character face a nonhuman adversary? (p212)
14. What plot drivers will affect the character? (p222)
Index (p235 -p250)

In many ways this book is simply a reference work, containing as it does lists of things and short sentences and simple questions. It is designed to spark ideas for character within the reader, not necessarily to provide a this-is-how-you-do-it instruction manual.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Writing Tool, March 24, 2000

By 

"oldreetz1" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Characters: A Writer's Reference to the Personality Traits That Bring Fictional People to Life (Hardcover)

I discovered this book at my local library and quickly determined it to be a tool best owned, not borrrowed. It is a reference that I will access repeatedly while I interview future protagonists or minor characters for my stories and learn how each character will perceive the other, or what psychological effects they will have on each other. Author Howard Lauther takes a savvy inventory of character traits as if they were stocks in a cook's pantry. He tells us about closely related traits and suggests possible mental or physical actions which might accompany those traits we choose for our character. Lauder does not supply character recipes. He merely tells us what to expect readers or other characters within the story to perceive. For example, if we join traits akin to salt and baking soda we can expect our character to expand or rise. Each chapter title is a question about the character being created. An introductory summary expands or explains the question before an array of possible ingredients is set forth for our consideration. Lauder wants to know what our character's internal and external traits are, what he/she wants, needs, dislikes, believes, and fears (to cite a few of the questions). He asks about background, strengths, weaknesses, adversaries, and habits. And for each question there are numberous possibilities shown in a well organized, easy to access format.

This is a marvelous reference tool that I will treasure for years to come.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for all fiction story writers, September 19, 2004

By 

Jeffrey L. Armbruster (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creating Characters: A Writer's Reference to the Personality Traits That Bring Fictional People to Life (Paperback)

Well-organized, examines many angles of a character. This book will help you dig into your characters to make them stand out, to make them more interesting and believeable. This book is more useful to a story writer than many story writing books. What's more important, the character, or the story?