Character and Viewpoint
Review by Louise E. Sawyer
Are your fictional characters vivid and memorable? When I read John Grisham’s novels I am amazed at how well I get to know his major characters. I either love them or hate them and I find myself smiling or anxious.
The three sections of Character & Viewpoint cover Inventing Characters, Constructing Characters, and Performing Characters.
Orson Scott Card explains how to distinguish major, minor, and walk-on people you create. You learn how to develop each one appropriately and have fun interrogating them! Then raise their emotional stakes and see how they respond. You will empathize with your heroes and engage with their goals, challenges, and opportunities for transformation.
As you use the tools offered in this book, you will develop your characters more deeply, so that you really believe in them and either love them or hate them–just like your future readers.
You will learn how to balance romance and realism. And explore the makings of comic people and serious ones.
Did you know you have many voices? You will learn about them as well as how your narrator voice relates to your audience just like in a performance. There are many details for first and third voice choices too. And you discover whether you are writing in a representational or presentational way. Dramatic or Narrative?
As one of the Writer’s Digest’s Elements of Fiction series, this is a readable and very useful book to refer to when you are in the midst of developing those vivid and memorable characters you hope to become famous for!
Louise Sawyer writes mostly non-fiction but enjoys reading and writing novels as well as watching movies and writing screenplays. She is a Creativity and Lifestyle Coach for women with challenges, including chronic illnesses. Her passion is teaching Tortoise Step workshops on stress reduction, play, and creativity. Louise is a senior and lives on beautiful Vancouver Island with her guinea pig Neuron, who squeals at the top of her lungs for lettuce whenever she hears the fridge door open.
