If you ever have any questions about how to write a character and present that character's viewpoint, read this book. And even if you don't have questions, you'll gain by reading this book -- it is that well written.

The discussion of the various ways of presenting viewpoint. It is one of the best discussions of the various distances each viewpoint from first person to the various levels of third person will present.

Why go out and write some super characters.

"Orson Scott Card is an award-winning science fiction novelist whose credits include the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. His most recent novels include Ender's Shadow and Shadow of Hegemon."

As one of the Elements of Fiction Writing published by Writer's Digest, it is an excellent book to hone one's skill in telling a story.

Sections and chapters are



Part I: Inventing Characters



1. What is a character?



2. What makes a good fictional character?

The Three Questions Readers Ask - You Are the First Audience - Interrogating the Character - From Character to Story, from Story to Character



3. Where do characters come from?

Ideas from Life - Ideas from the Story - Servants of the Idea - Serendipity



4. Making Decisions

Names - Keeping a Bible



Part II: Constructing Chracters



5. What kind of story are you telling?

The "MICE" Quotient - Milieu - Idea - Character - Event - The Contract with the Reader



6. The hierarchy

Walk-ons and Placeholders - Minor Characters - Major Characters



7. How to raise the emotional stakes

Suffering - Sacrifice - Jeopardy - Sexual Tension - Signs and Portents



8. What should we feel about the character?

First Impressions - Characters We Love - Characters We Hate



9. The hero and the common man



10. The comic character: controlled disbelief

Doing a "Take" - Exaggeration - Downplaying - Oddness



11. The serious character: make us believe

Elaboration of Motive - Attitude - The Remembered Past - The Implied Past - Justification



12. Transformations

Why People Change - Justifying Changes



Part III: Performing Characters



13. Voices

Person - Tense



14. Presentation Vs. Representation



15. Dramatic Vs. Narrative



16. First-Person narrative

Which Person Is First? - No Fourth Wall - Unreliable Narrators - Distance in Time - Withholding Information - Lapses



17. Third person

Omniscient vs. Limited Point of View - Making Up Your Mind - Levels of Penetration



18. A private population explosion

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing)   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jul 04, 2003 at 11:35pm • Submit your own review...