Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters & Viewpoint [Paperback]

Orson Scott Card (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0898799279 | ISBN-13: 978-0898799279

Vivid and memorable characters aren't born: they have to be made.

This book is a set of tools: literary crowbars, chisels, mallets, pliers and tongs. Use them to pry, chip, yank and sift good characters out of the place where they live in your memory, your imagination and your soul.

Award-winning author Orson Scott Card explains in depth the techniques of inventing, developing and presenting characters, plus handling viewpoint in novels and short stories. With specific examples, he spells out your narrative options–the choices you'll make in creating fictional people so real" that readers will feel they know them like members of their own families.

You'll learn how to:

• draw the characters from a variety of sources, including a story's basic idea, real life–even a character's social circumstances
  
  
• make characters show who they are by the things they do and say, and by their individual "style"
  
  
• develop characters readers will love–or love to hate
  
  
• distinguish among major characters, minor characters and walk-ons, and develop each one appropriately
  
  
• choose the most effective viewpoint to reveal the characters and move the storytelling
  
  
• decide how deeply you should explore your characters' thoughts, emotions and attitudes

"

Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books (March 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898799279
• ISBN-13: 978-0898799279
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (101 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #289,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #39 in Books > Education & Reference > Writing, Research & Publishing Guides > Writing > Fiction

More About the Author

Orson Scott Card is the bestselling author best known for the classic Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and other novels in the Ender universe. Most recently, he was awarded the 2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in Young Adult literature, from the American Library Association. Card has written sixty-one books, assorted plays, comics, and essays and newspaper columns. His work has won multiple awards, including back-to-back wins of the Hugo and the Nebula Awards-the only author to have done so in consecutive years. His titles have also landed on 'best of' lists and been adopted by cities, universities and libraries for reading programs. The Ender novels have inspired a Marvel Comics series, a forthcoming video game from Chair Entertainment, and pre-production on a film version. A highly anticipated The Authorized Ender Companion, written by Jake Black, is also forthcoming.Card offers writing workshops from time to time and occasionally teaches writing and literature at universities.Orson Scott Card currently lives with his family in Greensboro, NC.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#17 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#4 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

#17 in Books

#22 in Books > Literature & Fiction

#2 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Science Fiction

#4 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

#17 in Books

#22 in Books > Literature & Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

125 of 126 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're a writer, you owe this one to yourself July 25, 2002

By blakletter

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'd recommend this book to any author, novice to frequently-published. Even if you are an absolute natural at instilling your characters with life and believability, it is vital that you know the steps you are taking, unconscious though they may be, that make your characters seem plausible and alive. Card parses out exactly what makes the characterization in any story work.

The are chapters on description, motivation and growth are solid. Combined with the wonderful and numerous contrasting examples of good characterization/bad characterization, you will be able to go back to any story you've written and add, subtract and tweak your characters to make them leap off the page. Don't sell this book short because Orson Scott Card is primarily a writer of science fiction, either. This material will make absolutely any fiction a whole measure better.

Worth the money. Revise your stories with it. Write new, better ones after reading it. Run your writing workshops according to it. Card has given the writers' community a true winner here.

131 of 134 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars All you want to know and more. June 1, 2004

By M. E. Volmar

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Orson Scott Card, a well-known, successful sci-fi writer, master of the craft of characterization, gives us with this book one of the few writing reference volumes that flawlessly delivers everything it promises and more. Whether you want to write fiction of any genre, or scripts and plays, and whether you are a beginner or an experienced writer, this book has tons of essential, useful and solid information to offer.
Written in a clear, engaging style and organized in a user-friendly format this thoroughly informative volume is divided into three parts (Inventing Characters, Constructing Characters and Performing Characters) that cover everything you need to know to breathe life and believability into your characters and mold them to accurately fit your story, including among others:
*The factors that make a good character
*How to come up with ideas for your characters
*How different types of stories relate to the characters
*How to give emotion to the characters
*The different types of characters
*Transformations in the lives of characters
*The pros and cons of each point-of-view
The author's suggested exercises reinforced by the excellent examples that illustrate his exposition are helpful additions that allow the reader to immediately apply the lessons learned. Humorous anecdotes and important advice on general storytelling (sources for ideas, plot twists, story structure) are an added bonus.
With this book, you will not only learn how to create great, memorable characters, but you will also attain a greater appreciation of fiction, whether in book or film format, by gaining understanding of the processes required in all aspects of characterization.
With a great binding, sure to resist constant rereads and quick consultations, and a modest price this book is the best value on the market for the advice offered.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book by an Excellent Author August 14, 2002

By chemikalguy

Format:Paperback

Orson Scott Card is one of the foremost Sci-Fi authors today. He has written numerous novels and short stories, several of which have become major motion pictures.

He gives his advice on character development and viewpoint in this book, which does it rather well. Viewpoint, for me, was a tough subject, and Card covers the basics rather well. He discusses common mistakes, as well as ways to improve. He explains the good points, as well as the bad points about each point of view, then lets you decide which to use.

His characterization help is flawless. I have read several other books on this, and his advice is similar, if not the same as other authors. I have found that his basic format is probably the best way to "create" a person - writing character back-stories, etc. He gives his advice for creating the necessary changes that have to occur over the course of a story, and also gives the reasons why these changes must occur.

This book deserves to be on any beginning writer's bookshelf, although experienced writers may not find the point of view information useful. I feel any writer, experienced or not would benefit from the characterization info.