Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints (Write Great Fiction)

I find that Write Great Fiction's layout is easier to comprehend - the outlines, the charts, the lists, the illustrations. My favorite part of this book is when Nancy Kress goes through with the list of traits for your characters: What are their values, what do they look like, what do they fear, what organizations do they affiliate themselves with? This helped me illustrate my characters more.

Unlike Orson Scott Card's books which are a conglomeration of paragraphs that lack visual aids, "Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint" by Nancy Kress has lists for you that are concise and easier for those with learning disabilities to understand.

In public speaking presentations, it is important to have visual aids, whether they are charts, graphs, illustrations, lists, or outlines.

It's easier for the reader, student, or aspiring writer to learn through this technique of teaching.

I have read reviews that recommend to read Orson Scott Card's book regarding this topic on Characters first. I did not find that review to be helpful for I learned that I did not understand anything in Orson Scott Card's book. Therefore, I highly recommend that you read "Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint" by Nancy Kress and any other Write Great Fiction books first. Every teacher has their own teaching mechanism and techniques, and every learner has their own learning mechanism and techniques.

Look through it in the bookstore - see if there are any visuals like charts, outlines, lists, illustrations.

Being a new writer, I can not express how extremely useful this book was to me. The book covers solidly all the topics of its title with lots of examples from fiction and to a less extent literature. I benefited most from the viewpoint part.

Writer's Digest Books stikes gold yet again with this book of the superb Write Great Fiction series. Nancy Kress smoothly covers the three areas of interest and naturally flows from one to the next as they are related.

The characterization section is wonderful. Among other things it suggests complex characters that are revealed through the problems the author brings their way. Ensure they have a backstory and if they change through the book be sure to dramatize it at the end. Also covers different types of characters for different types of fiction.

The emotion section was great. Good examples and more general than the rediculous book "creating character emotions" by hood, there, I won't even capitalize the title or author of that mess. Important emotions are covered in detail such as loving, fighting, and dying with a complete chapter on the most important emotion of all for your lead character. Can you guess what it is? Nancy Kress will tell you.

Finally viewpoint. I have read several books already on this subject yet Nancy Kress sweetens the pot even more. Good advice and examples.

I would like to add, most books I have read on writing, where the author quotes works for examples of good prose, seem to fall flat. Apparently you must read the entire book quoted to fully appreciate the snippit given as an example. Surprisingly, Nancy Kress steps up to the mound and pitches some wonderful examples that STAND ON THEIR OWN. Nice work Nancy.

I bought all but one of the Elements of Fiction Writing. Home runs. However this new series from Writers Digest Books, the Write Great Fiction series with its four books surpasses them. Together the four books are a GRAND SLAM!

As a beginning writer working on my first novel I'm constantly searching for "the book" on a particular facet of writing. As a general book for beginners, Gotham Writer's Workshop is great. However, this book takes its subject topics and provides insights that can be immediately applied to one's writing. Her chapters on point of view (POV) provide explanations that I have not found in other books. The chapters on character emotion are also very well written.

Buy this book, read it once through without doing the exercises. Then read it again, doing the exercises. You won't regret it.

Just as the title of the book says, "Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint," every book has them, and many of them. This book explains exactly how to create various characters, the different emotions that they may convey throughout your story, and the different viewpoints that may be utilized to make your writing more effective. This is a "must have" for anyone thinking of writing fiction, as are all of the books in this series. These books are worth every cent. I read all of them before I even started writing, and am glad I did, because now everything makes a lot more sense. Instead of being in a boat without a paddle, now at least I have a paddle.

I found the Characterization and Viewpoint sections of Kress's book particularly helpful. The Characterization section provides insight into 'showing-not telling' as you develop your characters and present them to your reader. The Viewpoint section looks at this topic in a fresh light, clarifying the overall scheme, as well as providing solid examples.

Book in excellent condition. Kress's book is a must have for all students that are trying to become published writers. You will want to keep it at your side all the while your writing, its the best aid I've ever laid my money down for.

Every writer, at some point in crafting his/her work, struggles with developing characters, describing emotions of his/her characters, and describing the point of view he/she wants the reader to see.

Miss Kress has put together a book that will make it so much easier to face these problems head on, and find the right words to get their story flowing in a seemingly effortless stream.

I highly recommend this book to any writer.

Mike Phelps
Author of;
DAVID JANSSEN-MY FUGITIVE (1994)
THE EXECUTION OF JUSTICE (2008)
DELAYED JUSTICE (2008)

Orson Scott Card's book Characters & Viewpoint is better, as that book actually shows how to go about creating likable characters, and which characters fit with which stories. This book has some good tips on how to bring emotion into your scenes, but other than that's it's a little too thin. Start with Card first.

Orson Scott Card's book Characters & Viewpoint is better, as that book actually shows how to go about creating likable characters, and which characters fit with which stories. This book has some good tips on how to bring emotion into your scenes, but other than that's it's a little too thin. Start with Card first.

A handbook of how to be third rate, utilising skills that take you away from your own voice and authenticity. The creative writing professional appealing to those who lack vision and whose voices are stifled into the cliches of already dead genres and yet who, perhaps because of encouragement from others, "want to write". Symptomatic of decaying civilisation, it's a book that is to writing what those atrocious 80's and 90's NLP ,"Awaken the Giant Within" tomes were to psychotherapy before that great experiment was taken over by pharmaceutical entrepreneurs , like great rock music was raped by rap-violence. Ugly.