Customer Reviews

Writer's Guide to Character Traits

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

It's very important you understand what the function of this book is. This is not a book written to advise you on how to write characters. This is a book to help you create extra depth to your characters. That may sound like a contridiction, but I assure you it's not.

The book offers straight forward profiles of various personality types. It covers normal personality types, abnormal types, types connected with various occupations, etc. These profiles are presented in an easy to read and understand manner.

Use this book to create personality profiles for your characters. The book won't show you how to bring those traits out. It won't show you how to develop characters or add subtext or any of those things. What it does is give you a foundation on which to build your characters. It helps you keep your characters real and plausable.

It's excellent within its intended function. I highly recommend it. Just don't think that it's a cure all for character issues.

As I read some of the reviews of THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO CHARACTER TRAITS I found a wide variety of points of view. Some love the book, others hate it. One reviewer calls it a guide for lazy writers, others praised it as an excellent resource especially for novice writers. Now I could take one side, or another, or some middle ground position that says that each reviewer is partially correct. I think it depends on how you use the resource and what you want to accomplish as a writer as to whether the book has any merit.

If you use the book as a means of developing all of your characters in a short story, novel or play, you will end up with characters that are either stereotypes or cliché. Some people like stereotypes and cliché, but isn't one of the challenges of writing trying to present original characters in a memorable way to teach us something about ourselves and give meaning to our world? If you are tempted to buy this book as a dictionary to create characters for a story, use the money you would use for this book and buy some books by Dickens, Austen, or Shakespeare. You could probably buy three since there are mid priced editions of the works of any of these masters and you will encounter memorable and interesting characters. See how the characters are developed and why they speak to us so powerfully, and emulate these great writers in your writing. Of course if you are planning on developing predictable and boring characters you probably stopped reading after the names Dickens, Austen, and Shakespeare were mentioned.

Since most of us would rather walk barefoot on broken glass than create a dry, predictable, ordinary character, probably the words above seemed intended for someone else. After all, as we spend countless hours at the computer, writing words we hope will not be considered drivel by our writing groups. We share these words with our mothers and fathers and pray they will not decide after reading our output that our education was a waste of their time and money. We plug away and hope for the day be our works will be included in the same category as GREAT EXPECTATIONS, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and HAMLET. So will this book be helpful to those of us who await greatness, hoping it is only a few words away?

If you type in my name in the Amazon search, you will not find the great American novel yet, so maybe my recommendation may not be of merit, at least yet, but this is not a bad reference tool to include in a writing library. It should not be the basis for developing main characters. It may help with secondary characters, and it can be used as a checklist of sorts to see if our main characters are believable. The character traits included in the book are based on the norm of a drug addict, cheating spouse, dysfunctional family member, alcoholic, etc. These would also be the traits of someone we might see on television or in a formulaic book. So checking the traits listed in this book could help a writer diversify a character (e.g. not the typical alcoholic underachiever). Basically, the book will be helpful resource for people who have already done the difficult work of characterization, but it is not a substitute fro the hard work of creating characters. In all fairness to the book's author Linda Edelstein, she does not claim that the book is a one step approach to character development, but the book is marketed in this manner.

I received this book as a gift by a well meaning friend who knew I was struggling to develop a character in my novel in progress. I probably would not have purchased it on my own. Most of my main characters are already developed but I have used the book to make sure they are somewhat believable and realistic. People who have read my work and like it do say my characters are believable, so this book may have been helpful, but the traits do not seem to make my characters memorable to the people in my writing classes, the dialogue, interaction with other characters and expressions of their emotions and feelings make them believable and in some cases, not believable. If you want the traits to be believable, this book will be somewhat helpful, but it does not do the work of creating memorable characters. Characters that have their life breath coming from a writer who loves and nurtures them and puts them in believable situations where they become real are the characters we remember and can only come from a writer dedicated to the task of writing.

I almost passed on this book due to some of the negative reviews here, but I'm glad I didn't. I spotted this on the shelf at a local book store and sat down with it for ten minutes. After that I bought it without hesitation. I'm only knocking one star off because it could be better organized (mostly inconsistencies in presentation, though it's easy to read, it would just be easier to scan through with a little reworking).

I think most of the negative reviewers were either expecting a book about creating characters (similar to Orson Scott Card's wonderful Characters and Viewpoints, for example), or were expecting an in depth discussion of psychological issues. This book is neither of those. I'd almost call it an overview of armchair psychology, in that is briefly discusses the behaviors most commonly associated with various disorders and life circumstances, but doesn't get into the subtleties or the exceptions. For example, the traits listed for first born children don't really fit me, but they do apply to most other first born children I've known. On the other hand, one of the personality types fits me perfectly (The Creative), and people I've known with various disorders are certainly present in the descriptions given, even if it doesn't all apply.

All of this is merely a starting point, a list of the most common traits associated with these topics. Nothing is set in stone, there are no "rules" for how to apply this information. Personally, I found this to be very helpful. For example, I was having some trouble defining an important character in a story I'm working on. At first, he was basically a collection of traits designed to serve the plot. That's fine, except that he was so important I needed him to breath, but was having trouble nailing down interesting but believable behaviors for him. After going through the personality types, it was obvious that he was a Manipulator type. Not 100%, but then no one is. The brief description and list of internal traits and interpersonal behaviors got me thinking in new directions about how he sees himself and how he acts towards others. I didn't take the traits listed and make him exactly that, because then he would be simply a stereotype, rather I took what was there as a starting point, threw half of it away, and meshed what was left with what I already had. Voila, I now have a more interesting character who rings true, and drives the story forward without being simply a plot device.

If you're looking for a brief overview of typical human behavior, this is a great resource. If you want more depth, this will still give you a solid starting point. Just expect to do the real work yourself, and to take your characters beyond that starting point if you want to make them "real".

Based on the Amazon description for this book, I had imagined it would be useful in fleshing out existing characters. I already write very detailed histories on major characters, but there are always those minor characters whose stories I'd like to explore without taking massive amounts of time to do it. When this book arrived, I decided to run through it with one particular fellow and see what it could tell me about him.

Nothing. Sure, he fits within several categories, but there's no detailed information about any of them. And some of them are so sketchy as to defy classification as traits.

Take "symphorophiliac" for instance. Edelstein advises that "Individual is sexually aroused by accidents or catastrophes." She explains that at the extreme, individuals may arrange accidents for personal pleasure. She doesn't say who these symphorophiliacs are or where they come from. It takes quite a stretch to consider that a profile of a human behavior or personality type.

I give the book some credit for its potential in sparking ideas. Read through it and you might find inspiration for a character you'd like to create. However, if you really want to know what makes that character tick, you're going to have to look somewhere else. The answer simply isn't here.

The Writer's Guide to Character Traits is certainly a valuable resource, and for that I give it five stars. I deduct two stars, however, because it is so badly laid out that it is almost unusable. There is little cross-referencing so the reader simply finds him(her)self battling through pages and pages and pages of interesting but unrelated waffle before they chance upon the section they want. A work such as this requires full tabulation to make it useful.

It's fine if you decide one of your characters is a type four retarded delinquent-hater with a mother-breast complex but, if you've already determined your character's traits without knowing which category the character fits into, it's tough discovering what other traits you can give to him/her and remain in type (type as in character type, not type as in keyboard!). In other words, to use this book to its fullest, you ned to look up a character type and write your novel to suit. That's not the way it works! When writing a book, the characters just develop, and often they develop the story themselves.

The information in The Writer's Guide to Character Traits is excellent. It's just badly presented.

THIS BOOK IS GREAT! I'm a new writer and it gave me tons of information, quickly and simply. I've also enjoyed using it as a quick reference guide for different personalities among people I know as well as potiential characters. I highly reccomend it, for writers and those looking for some psychology written with the novice in mind.

I find it difficult to believe that any serious writer would feel comfortable using this overly simplistic approach to character development.

A character created from a mish-mash of bullet point-ed traits would be very flat...existing merely as a stereotype.

And I can't decide whether to be overjoyed or dismayed that librarians are not included (omitted perhaps to leave room for the 'careers' of "kept woman", "corporate wife", or "shadow mom"). Perhaps some "types" of people are already so stereotyped that Dr. Edelstein felt no need for inclusion.

Oh yes, and did I mention that use of eyedrops and incense is a sure sign that the character is a marijuana user?

Please.

I was pleasantly surprised by the enormous amount of valuable information that this ambitious text presented in an easily accessible and truly informational format. The examples given are clear and understandable and the information itself is invaluable. This book should be on a writer's shelf next to the Thesaurus and Dictionary. It will undoubtedly help writers to create more authentic characters and more realistic interactions between characters who encounter each other and a variety of scenarios as booksand stories unfold. I think it will be a great resource when authors are struggling with which type of character to introduce into their writings. Well done.

I purchased this book more then a year ago, and have slowly made my way through it. This book is written by a psychologist with many years of experience, and this is a conclusive guide to everything you could ever want to know about human social development. From personality style to love, marriage, birth order, group influence, and career traits to the sexual and criminal styles to physical and psychological disorders, this covers everything.

This is not a book that will help you in the immediate development of a character. There are plenty of other books for that. This is for the developed character whose life experiences- be it with autism, alcoholism, a sexual dysfunction, or the stereotypical first born- need some severe fleshing out. If you are completely baffled as to exactly how your "Man's Man" or "Ultra-Femme" character became how they are, this is the book for you.

Dr. Edelstein provides her readers with superb background information on every possible stage in life. The book is not only a lifesaver for the stumped writer, but it is a fascinating read in general. I found that this is not just a book for helping in the development of my Conformist turned Adventurer character- it is a thorough study in human nature. I found myself, my family, and my friends in many of the 400+ traits/problems/characteristics listed in this book.

In short, this is a reference book that should be purchased, not merely read in a library. It is not a how-to for character development, or an instruction manual on exactly how your character should behave. It gives you accurate information on human traits. Is it the best character development book? Probably not. Is it the best reference for every possible dysfunction/position/personality/situation your character could be placed in? Undoubtedly.

Highly recommended.

-JK

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but when I picked it up looking for assistance, I found the format extremely useful and easy to employ.

Edelstein gives us "people ingredients -- components that work together naturally, coherently, and authentically." _The Writer's Guide to Character Traits_ is, in many ways, a simplified _Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders_ that drops much of the information which would be less useful for writers, and presents the crux of each personality style, disorder, et cetera.

There are chapters on many useful subjects, such as psychological disorders, criminal styles, sexual styles, love and marriage, career traits, and many others. Edelstein's career as a psychologist has given her a vast experience in observing people and the ways in which they behave, and she distills it down to very concise, informative lists and chapters, while giving advice on how to create believable characters by selecting traits she mentions.

This isn't so much a book to be read cover-to-cover as it's a reference to be flipped through when needed. There are a few general informational chapters that will be helpful to read all the way through, but by and large, it's a "search for X Type of Character" resource.

I really recommend this book for any writer of fiction.