Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated [Hardcover]

Nancy Kress (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0898798159 | ISBN-13: 978-0898798159 | Publication Date: July 15, 1998 | Edition: First Edition

In Dynamic Characters, award-winning author and Writer's Digest columnist Nancy Kress explores the fundamental relationship between characterization and plot, illustrating how vibrant, well-constructed characters act as the driving force behind an exceptional story. Kress balances her writing instruction with hands-on check-lists to help you build strong characters from the outside in. Blending physical, emotional and mental characterization, you'll learn to create characters that initiate exciting action, react to tense situations, make physical and emotional transformations, and power the plot from beginning to end.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nancy Kress is the author of a number of books of fiction, which have won many awards. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; First Edition edition (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898798159
• ISBN-13: 978-0898798159
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely useful fiction-writing guide, July 28, 2001

By 

Kate McMurry "Young Adult Author" (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated (Hardcover)

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 the fiction columnist for Writer's Digest (WD) magazine, and her short fiction frequently appears in Omni magazine. She also teaches fiction-writing classes for universities and writing conferences.

I've been a fan of Kress's fiction column in WD for a long time now, and this book is an extended version of her clear, enlightening advice. The topics covered in Dynamic Characters include: (1) the definition and purpose of characters; (2) naming characters; (3) the influence of setting on characterization; (4) how dialogue reveals characters; (5) choosing telling details to describe characters; (6) basing characters on real people; (7) internal dialogue; (8) dreams; (9) villains; (10) unsympathetic protagonists; (11) how plot affects characterization; (12) secondary characters; (13) conflict leading to violence; (14) growth and transformation in characters; (15) basing plot on real-life events; (16) connections between characters, plot and theme; (17) biographical questionnaire for characters.

All of these topics are thoroughly covered in a clear, helpful manner. My favorite section of the book is the 14-page character biography form Kress calls an "Intelligence Dossier." I transcribed its questions into my computer and use it regularly to help me flesh out my characters when I am in the backstory phase.

I highly recommend this book not only to brand new fiction writers, but to experienced ones as well. Kress provides an abundance of insights useful to authors of every level of accomplishment.

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't belong closed & up on your shelf, November 9, 2002

By 

renoir-girl a.k.a. amykaywat "Amy" (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated (Hardcover)

Kress is author of the widely read Beginnings, Middles & Ends of the Writers' Digest Elements of Fiction Writing Series. Those who have been inspired and taught by Kress' work in Writers' Digest Magazine will find this book filled with material from the "Fiction" column for which Kress writes. Kress has taken a systems approach to fiction, refusing to completely segment the different elements but rather bringing all elements together to dance and balance like one of John Bradshaw's mobiles.

Dynamic Characters is divided into three parts -- covering "externals," "internals," and "plot." "Externals" deals with the character's appearance, name, setting, employment, and dialogue. Kress also includes two chapters designed to harness unhelpful characterization. "Internals" deals with internal thought processes, dreams and responses to newscasts, and villains & other unsympathetic characters. The third part on "plot" covers conflict, point of view, secondary characters, character change, and theme. The plot section also includes two chapters on where plots can come from.

Right from the start this is the type of book that you'll want to hold in one hand so the other can create characters as you read. It is infinitely more helpful than the variety of "characterization checklists" available on the internet. While such checklists can be helpful for triggering some ideas, usually they are too clinical and fail to adequately suggest life for your characters. Kress helps the reader to see the possibilities inherent in each choice made for the character. Not only does she ask us to decide what kind of vehicle the character drives, but she also prods the reader to consider how the choice of vehicle affects and is affected by the character's personality.

Those who are expecting a book in which every word is directly related to the process of characterization are bound to be disappointed or confused. At least four chapters have very little to do with characterization directly. Two chapters cover technicalities of the craft of dialogue and one covers internal monologue -- seeming out-of-place from the earlier chapters more obviously about characterization. Later, in the "plot" section, Kress has given us chapters on conflict and basic plotting. In each of these chapters Kress takes a break from strict characterization to focus on other elements of fiction craft which impact characterization indirectly.

Kress's new book does include a checklist with a good deal of the information from Dynamic Characters included. It offers almost as much suggestion as it requests response. Example:

BEDTIME

Does he/she usually go to bed at a consistent time? ___Yes ___No
What Time?____________________________
With Whom?___________________________
When does a bedtime occur at a different time?___________________________________
Does he/she usually fall asleep right away? ___Yes ___No
If no, what is s/he doing in the meantime--Reading, watching TV, sex, tossing and turning, etc.?

This checklist can easily be photocopied by the book's owner and used for a variety of characters.

Since Kress' new book does cover territory beyond mere characterization, however, it could be used by a beginning novelist still learning the elements of fiction craft. The final part of the book covering plot weaves together plot, characters, viewpoint, and structure in a unique and particularly helpful way. My favorite chapter is called "Also Featuring," in which Kress shows us how secondary characters can help us solve a variety of plot problems: Characters which are unaccounted for at the end of the plot, undermotivated actions necessary to the climax, implausibility in the plot, a too-abrupt climax, "thin spots" in the plot, cliché'd scenes, and a distant subplot. For each of these problems Kress demonstrates ways in which secondary characters can step in and save the day.

Kress has also done something particularly helpful, showing how plot itself can be about character change. We've all seen it done, but this is extraordinarily difficult to do without instruction or luck. Here's the instruction.

At the end of each chapter is a short summary -- 5 or 6 sentences in which the basic gist of the chapter is outlined. This can help the reader narrow down his selection process when seeking inspiration or a solution to a problem.

Still, Kress' writing is enjoyable enough to capture a reader's attention from cover to cover. Even if this is difficult to find, I recommend going the extra mile to get it. It doesn't belong closed up on your shelf, in belongs open -- in front of your eyes.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully helpful book on the core of fiction, characters, December 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated (Hardcover)

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.