Excellent book to help in developing fictional characters
339930
Speaking as one who has read many books on every aspect of writing, including character development, I think Melinda Curtiss book, Frankly, My Dear Creating Unforgettable Characters stands out above the crowd.  This book is organized and written in a style that is easy to follow and understand.  Ms. Curtis explains the use of Schemas (wounds, beliefs, or coping mechanisms that characters have developed) to give life to characters in your fiction.  She goes into detail with each one, giving examples of the Schemas and providing probing questions to ask yourself about your characters, their growth, and motivation.

This helpful guide deserves the highest praise for its thorough, but concise, exploration of how to develop fictional characters.
2081695
The Mythic Guide to Characters is a wonderful book for aspiring authors. There are a few character outline sheets out on the web but with this book it really helps you define a character with examples that the average person would be able to more understand.

I found myself using the book to label family members as well as using it to look at myself a little differently. It made me think about myself at well.

The book used Layers.

Layer 1: The Character Within - This area talked about the 9 enneagrams

Layer 2: The Character In Their World - Talked about different bartle types and how they react, their particular style.

Layer 3: The Character In Your Story - Discusses the archetypes and the roles your character will step into. I found this very informative in how you can trigger emotions from a past and how it can shape characters within a story, even if we do not remember the incident from which those feelings came from.

I found that even if your not interested in writing about a character, it was a very though provoking book to read.
916267
I took a long time working my way through the prompts in this book, refining about one every day into a short story or book idea for my own fantasy world setting. Sadly, because of the parameters of my own fantasy setting, I was only able to use about half of these fun ideas directly. But all of the ideas were interesting and sparked the imagination in some way, and I am very glad I used this book. There's even a nifty little appendix at the back of obscure measurements (like ells and furlongs), parts of an army, types of medieval European weaponry, sci-fi world design, and so forth.
2782623
This is a really excellent book. I bought in on the referral of a novelist friend, and I've found it really useful for creating a strong plot backbone in a novel. I don't outline before writing, but I do in revision, and I find it very helpful at that stage, as well as for writing query hooks. There are a few differences between novels and movies--the text part of movies is much more simplified than books, and if you wrote your novel characters the way this book suggests, they would come off somewhat less than three dimensional. But books and movies are just different, and you have to pick out the bits they have in common when reading screenwriting books, and not worry about the rest. I would (and have!) recommend this one!
4071461
Review:  Voice James Scott Bell

Voice by author James Scott Bell is an excellent presentation on the art of writing so others will want to read your novel.  The book reads like a workshop presentation, and may well be a workshop outline as Mr. Bell does writing workshops.  But that does not distract from this books value.  It would have been fun to have attended a workshop on Voice by Mr. Bell with this book as the text.

Basically Voice is the art of writing strong characters in a manner (voice) that will make others read your book cover to cover, and recommend it to others.  This book is a series of techniques and practices that will help and enable you as the author to do just that.  While this material is not new, it is freshly and well presented in a manner making it accessible and useful.

The techniques include writing a biography and mood analysis for each major character to being  in the same mood you want your character to be in, to letting your writing show your joy in writing.  Mr. Bell describes several techniques such as speed writing and then editing later, 200 plus word page long sentences and their place in certain genres.  Mr. Bell discusses how to set up and plan your days for writing, especially if being an author is your full time profession.

Mr. Bell includes lots and lots of examples from many and various authors.  These examples are well introduced and pertinent to the point Mr. Bell is making.  The examples themselves are also intriguing and good examples of good writing.

The book ends with a wide selection of literary genres and a brief discussion of the voicing of each with examples of how to voice each one.  This section is well done, and very informative.

This book is excellent for budding authors and for others who want to improve their writing skills.
2321977
I really enjoyed this book and the way it showed the process of writing a novel from the middle, mirror moment. James Scott Bell does a nice, clean job of showing this approach with good examples. He also includes great questions that help with plotting and character development. I'm sure that I'll return to this book again and again for plotting technique.
1158842
This book has been a blessing, packed full of traits to use, along with descriptors and examples. It truly helps adding new life to my fiction and is close to my laptop at all times. As a reader. I do get tired of reading the exact same descriptions for characters created by various authors. They could all be clones of one another. This book allows a writer to add a few negative traits to all characters, allowing them the space to flesh out and become three dimensional. I heartedly recommend this book!
4077880
This kindlebook of Writing Genre Fiction: Creating Imaginary Worlds: The 12 Rules by Charles Christian caught my attention because of my intent to use the element of world building in my storytelling. Charles Christian touches on areas such as historical elements when writing stories and he cites the 1982 movie Blade Runner. Christian also mentions about writing what you know such as if you're writing a western andor steampunk. Although I admit to respectfully disagreeing with just what you know and I have my ideas on some of the resources I intend to turn to for world building. Still this is a worthwhile kindlebook purchase especially because he explains in rule 12 why it is also fine to be open to breaking the rules (which I admit resonates with me because Im sometimes my happiest when I metaphorically color outside the lines, i.e. bending the rules in a harm-free manner from time to time especially as it pertains to my storytelling regardless of whether Im met with praise or objection).
2791086
While ideas are a dime a dozen, the concept of generating ideas may seem like an elusive task. This book will be a great help in this quest.
Generating Story Ideas proposes several techniques and tips for generating and developing ideas for fiction. The format is practical with exercises, instructions and  examples showing the "how is done" part.
Here there is no space for generic (and questionable) advice like "get out of your comfort zone" or "watch people", "eavesdrop conversations".
Instead an active attitude is proposed, gathering raw material and working on it to build your idea, making inspiration feel like a process that can be performed, instead of an incident that happen to some lucky author.
The techniques may not be all original and new, who have goggled the topic may have read about similar tips.
I still advice to read this book, the collection and the time saved having the techniques gathered, is alone worth the price. Above this the presentation is wonderful and really helpful in making the process of generating ideas actionable.
123577
I really enjoyed reading this excellent book which is professional, practical and fun. I have recommended it to clients and friends who are experienced writers, or are starting their writing careers, and they have also given excellent comments on Make a Scene. We all have it on our desks now.

The book is full of great examples which make explanations very easy to understand. The style is extremely clear and easy to read. Humour is present too. The result is a must for writers and students, or for those who have always wanted to write but didn't know where to start. This book has the surprising ability to give tools to the starter and to the expert as well.

I seriously recommend your reading this book right away and improve your fiction writing overnight.
4743890
First, I have to say that without this book I would not have been able to create compelling personalities for my characters. I am now a soon to be published author.
Now onto the review.  I've read other character books before but this book by far had the most information I could hang my hat on. You find out how your chosen character relates to his world, what his and her fears are, what their villain archetype traits are. You also get to study the hero and heroine journeys. This is a wonderful resource for beginning and  established writers.
Fun tip: Watch reruns of "Friends", have 45 MASTER CHARACTERS next to you and match the archetypes. It's fun, addictive. Best bang for my buck, ever.
2558953
I found this book to be extremely helpful. It wasn't about grammar or how to structure a story. Instead it was about the elements in 'breakout' novels that make us love them. Donald Maass pushes writers to take characters, conflict, and setting to the next level, to make them extraordinary. I'm excited to use these ideas in my next project!
1371726
A fantastic book and addition to the Now Write! series.
This book (and the others in the series) is like taking a creative writing course. You're given exercises on a number of different fronts: from creating settings, to tackling writers block, to adding depth to characters and creating your characters in the first place (and much more).
Laurie Lamson has once again done a great job of gathering up a plethora of authors and creative writing teachers and organizing all of the information in an easily accessible volume. The introductions to the "teachers" are just the right length. Not too long, not too short. So you can get right to the exercises.
The thing I like so much about this book is that unlike many other creative writing books which seem to be more theory based this one is exercised based. It's sort of akin to trying to teach someone to swim by having them read a book but never getting in the pool. Really, the first thing they need to do is get in the pool. This book does just that for writers.
A few other things I find helpful are...
--While it can certainly be read start to finish it does not have to be. If you want to dive into character development, have at it. Same for world creation, and on and on.
--If you aren't in the middle of writing anything use the exercises to "sharpen your tools". And you never know maybe that writing exercise is the genesis of a short story, novel, etc. (it worked for me!).
--The other part that really helped me is this: I am in the midst of writing a sci-fi/fantasy novel and was stuck on some plot and character development. The exercises in this book helped me along greatly in the process. Great for generating ideas and helping to expand the imagination.
--Lastly, while the book obviously slants towards specific genres there are still plenty of exercises and advice (most actually) that can be applied to almost any genre.

Highly recommended!
98719
This is a useful guide, almost in checklist form, about a solid structured way to create a plot.  It makes use of the standard Story Arc approach with one or two additional tips.  Almost any writer, aspiring or published, can use this book to give an idea form that can be turned into a plot.  The only issue with it, in my view, is that it makes the assumption that virtually all successful fiction uses this format.  Read fiction other than mysteries or romance and you may be hard pressed to identify some of plot points defined in this book.  That is not to say that such points don't exist, but they are not as important, obvious or critical in the story line as this guide would suggest.  The author, however, is very good with one structural form that works very well everywhere - Goal-Motivation-Conflict.  Using this to design major characters is almost invariably helpful (keeping in mind that some important characters will not require that much development).  Highly recommended and good value for money.
2367376
The author gives great advice about character concept design from imagination to the sketchbook. This is a perfect book for those who struggle with coming up with conceptual design.
4973479
This is part of the Write Great Fiction series from Writer's Digest. Each book in the series covers one broad aspect of writing fiction, and of course there is some overlap as well.

I liked this book a lot, and learned a good deal from it. Bell recognizes that different stories and different writers need to approach plotting in different ways, so this is not a cookie-cutter approach to plot construction. Earlier on, we are introduced to the difference between literary fiction and commercial fiction, which Bell elucidates particularly well. The book includes a lot of diagrams to clarify things like rising intensity, crisis points, setbacks, and so on.

Bell's mnemonic for basic plotting is LOCK (lead, objective, confrontation, knockout). After introducing that framework, he goes on to talk about what makes a good beginning, middle, and end. Although most of the examples come from novels, the basic ideas apply to short fiction with little adaptation.

There is a good discussion of the three-act structure (and how it relates to other structures, such as the hero's journey). The chapter on scene writing is solid - he describes action and reaction as the major chords in fiction, and setup and deepening as minor chords. This is a good way to stay focused on what a scene needs to do, without getting pulled into excessive exposition.

There is a lot of good advice in dealing with complex plots and common plot problems, and a review of common plot patterns and what each entails. The interaction between plot and character development is approached from several different angles.

When it comes to outlining, Bell recognizes that some writers are drawn to outlining and others avoid it; he offers tips for people in both camps, without trying to impose his own method on his readers.

This book has exercises at the end of each chapter, which I did not do much with. Mostly, they are just questions to ask about books you have read or about your own work in progress.

While I don't necessarily think every writer needs to own each book in this series, getting one or two of them (on subjects that you find particularly interesting or challenging) is probably a worthwhile investment. I can recommend this book as a solid resource for dealing with plot and structure in fiction writing.
2318381
I am an author and make use of this book when writing dialog for characters who aren't native English speakers. The book is concise and nicely laid out by language. I'd recommend this book for authors like myself to write realistic dialog.