Dynamic Characters: How to Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated

by Nancy Kress

In this guide, award-winning author Nancy Kress explores the crucial relationship between characterization and plot, illustrating how vibrant, well-constructed characters act as the driving force behind an exceptional story. In teaching writers the fundamentals of creating characters that will keep their readers spellbound, Kress * Dozens of excerpts from well-known fiction * Enlightening exercises to help writers build strong characters starting from the outside-in * Beginning chapters that focus on the physical elements that comprise a character, providing techniques for using external qualities to reflect personality Building skill upon skill, writers blend these qualities with emotional and mental characterization, forming multidimensional characters that initiate exciting action, react to tense situations and power the plot from beginning to end.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Research, How To, Self Help

264 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Nancy Kress is an American science fiction writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo and Nebula-winning 1991 novella Beggars in Spain which was later expanded into a novel with the same title. In addition to her novels, Kress has written numerous short stories and is a regular columnist for Writer's Digest. She is a regular at Clarion writing workshops and at The Writers Center in Bethesda, Maryland. During the Winter of 2008/09, Nancy Kress is the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the University of Leipzig's Institute for American Studies in Leipzig, Germany.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[رزی - Woman, Life, Liberty · Rating 4 out of 5]

درد و بلات بخوره تو سر اون کتاب‌های فیلمنامه‌نویسی. به نویسنده‌ها پیشنهادش می‌کنم. عالی.

[Gabriela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Kress does an outstanding job outlining all the elements that contribute to creating believable 3 dimensional characters, elaborating on them, and tying them all together.

The book covers topics such as:

- the definition and purpose of characters
- the influence of setting on characterization
- defying characters through dialogue
- naming characters
- how plot affects characterization
- growth and transformation in characters
- setting up protagonist, antagonist, other secondary characters
- and much more.

I must say after hours of researching the topic both in the book stores and on the web, I found this book to be one of the best resources.

While many references purely state facts, Kress takes the time and effort to explain them and shows in a very clear, understandable manner, how certain small choices we make about our characters can make a huge impact on how the readers will perceive them.

A must read for every aspiring fiction writer out there.

[Suzannah Rowntree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great handbook on creating and developing characters, definitely one of the better writing-advice books I've come across. I enjoyed the two chapters on character change most of all, as well as the chapter on using secondary characters to fill plot holes and tie up loose ends. Plenty of tips and tricks of the trade to help you craft compelling characters, which cover but go well beyond the basics.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, excellent book for those who wish to truly delve into deep characterization. I confess, I was a bit of a bio sheet skeptic before I read this, but Nancy's converted me. Her step-by-step outlining of precisely why you need to know certain things about your character is wonderful. It makes perfect sense to me now that my protagonist's parents and upbringing have a definite impact on who he or she is now. The entire first half of the book is pure gold for prompting in-depth thought about your characters.

The flaws I found in the book are quite certainly related to my own journey as a writer. Ms. Kress speaks a lot about how to create plot from character, spending a good deal of time on this process in the last section of the book. Except for me, I have very little trouble discovering plots, so this portion bored me, a little. I don't *need* characters to create plot, I kept saying to myself. I don't have enough time in my day to write all the plots I already have!

That aside, this is a brilliant book for those wanting to take the next step in their character creation. It challenged me and made me want to reevaluate my characters-in-progress. That, I'd say, is the mark of a successful craft book.

Pick it up. I'm pretty sure you won't regret it.

[Suzie Quint · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've never read any writing advice by Nancy Kress, you're in for a treat. I've been familiar with Ms. Kress's marvelous talent for writing about writing for years, and she never fails to give me a light bulb moment. I often feel like she's uncovered something that I already knew, but didn't know I knew. She brings concepts out of the dark and into the light where I can use them. It always pays for me to keep whatever I'm working on in the back of my mind as I read a good writing book, so I can see the places where I might apply what I'm learning (or being reminded of.) This book helped illuminate a character I've been struggling with, so of course, I'm going to recommend it highly.

See the full review at http://suziequint.blogspot.com/2012/0...

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 4 out of 5]

Need to be reviewed.

[S.L. Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her writing advice. I'm going to get her books in real life so I may refer to them at any time, mark them, highlight, etc.

[David Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Dynamic Characters, Nancy Kress, best known for writing science fiction stories, systematically goes through the process of creating compelling and realistic characters. She breaks the book down into three main sections: external, internal, and the characters' relations to the plot. The external section covers more than just looks and clothing. It also includes the choosing of names and the configuring of dialect. The internal covers everything from incorporating dreams and newscasts into a character's world views to establishing the distance between the narrator's and protagonist's thoughts. The last section focuses more on the types of plots that are available and how these plots can spring from well-thought out characters.

For someone who has never read a book on writing, this one would likely be informative. For anyone who has even skimmed through one before, this will only provide a limited amount of new information.

For me, it was moderately helpful. I found the chapters on creating pertinent dialogue, infusing that dialogue with the right amount of descriptions, and judiciously making use of descriptions to be helpful. Even more helpful was the intelligence dossier, which contained a long list of questions and characteristics to fill out for each main character, and the chapter on point of view, which gave great examples of how to slip back and forth from the narrator's thoughts to the protagonist's.

There were other chapters that were only marginally helpful, if even that, though. These would include chapters on avoiding stereotypical dreams and villains, unlikeable protagonists, and boring fights. I also feel like most writers can figure out how to avoid offending friends when they incorporate their faults into a book.

And all too often, Kress ends sections with some bland advice: use your best judgment. I understand that writers need to do this, but I don't need to hear it over and over again. Just stick to the examples, please.

[Ced Crawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the first works I read when learning how to write for myself, and one of the first which took me from enthusiastic errors in writing to being a knowledgeable writer who knew the rules and when and how to successfully break them and still be taken seriously.

Kress shows one not only the basic mechanics of writing here, but also takes one into how to construct characters - their thoughts, emotions, motivations, even how their dress and manners influence their actions and the reader's response to them.

Although this book is not a highly detailed book, there are plentiful examples given to the aspiring writer to aid him or her in their journey toward more successful and creative writing.

Add it to your collection of writing instruction books and it will definitely assist your development.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flying through this and finding it very helpful! My favorite sections were about the different kinds of villians that exist in fiction and how to write them well as well as the character bio sheet where you can fill in important details to help flesh out your character.



I also like that it's a light read, accessible, and not bogged down or too technical! There are also some fantastic examples and I found myself brainstorming new ideas while reading.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kress makes use of well known characters and storylines to get her points across, which makes her book an easy read. Her tone is easy and a quick read, and the summaries at the end of every chapter are great resources to back to for a quick fix/lesson. She explains characters, theory, and plots in this book and ties them together. She writes as a reader and a writer for writers and readers. Definitely recommend it!

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book helps you create fictional characters that readers want to read about, it guides you step by step thru the process and its actually really addicting once i started it i just wanted to read the whole thing, i'm almost there

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book on the art of creating a character. Kress stops at nothing to give you helpful and insightful tips on how to breathe life into your characters. Has the most complete character survey I have ever encountered. Definitely a must for any writer!

[Bob Conder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting in the insight it gives one in the creation of characters. Reading this book for a class I discovered an immense knowledge as to who my characters are. I strongly suggest this book for anyone who is a writer or wants to understand the writing process.

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent character dossier! I gained a better understanding of what makes plots sizzle.

[Anne Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging, informative and well written. Need a copy

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book about creating vibrant characters! It has definitely helped me with the novel I'm working on.

[Tracy]

I'm doing some last minute prep work for the 2009 NaNoWriMo. I love this book so far...just wish I had more time to absorb all of the great information.

[eric williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the character worksheet, useful. Liked Characters & Viewpoint slightly more, but that's nothing on this one.

[Katherynne Boham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource. I'm going to add it to my personal library.

[Ann Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kress knows her stuff. I've read it once and referred back to it while writing, but it deserves another reading. A lot to digest. Very helpful.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful information on creating multidimensional characters that keep the reader intrigued.

[Lauren Wiseman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of good information from Kress.

[Robin Yaklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fantastic teacher.

[Howard Gibbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Kress is an award-winning author and colonist for writers digest magazine. In this book she looks at a number of different topics that all relate to characterization, how the characters influence the plotting, and the story's world view.

The book itself is separated into three major sections the first is creating strong and believable characters: the externals, the second is creating strong and believable characters: the internals, and third she goes into a discussion of how character and plot interact and influence each other, and how they work within the story's worldview.

Each of the sections is separated into a few sub-sections. For example in the first she talks about things such as what's in a name, the role of setting in creating a character, dialogue and how to enhance characters through it, how to make dialogue read naturally, amongst others.

In the second part she deals with such things as using a character's attitudes, their dreams and news casts to enhance the character. She also looks at how to make the bad guys better, Creating an unsympathetic protagonists, etc.

The third section has sub-sections such as starting in various places within a story and still establishing a plot, point-of-view, secondary characters and their influences on plot construction, basing stories on real events, and much more.

I found this to be an extremely well written book, that is very informative and gives excellent advice and examples. The vast majority of the examples are chosen from very well known books, which therefore gives the aspiring writer even more information to ground their characters on.

Well worth the read, but also good advice for practising authors.

[Alan Kraskow · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea on what level of amateurishness one has to be, to benefit from this book. Concepts that other authors convey in a single sentence, this author stretches into entire chapters, yet the depth of understanding remains unchanged. It's 262 pages of rambling about the most obvious points. The book feels like it's simultaneously crammed with everything and nothing. I found most of the author's perspectives unappealing, and I was frustrated by her attempt to cover all aspects of writing, while awkwardly forcing the theme of Dynamic Characters into everything rather than diving deeply into the topic of character development itself. Two concepts did stick with me, offering valuable perspectives on characters, and that's the only reason this book won't end up at the bottom of my list. The first is that you should write each main character as if the entire story could be told from their perspective. The second is that, when writing a story, you should focus primarily on the main characters and their arcs, while secondary characters should be woven in during the revision process. Other than that I was extremely disappointed with this book—it wasn’t worth the money or the time spent reading it.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first half of this book rather informative and interesting. After the section on including dreams in your stories I kind of lost interest for some time. I then decided the other day to try and finish it. My thoughts on the second half of the book? I didn't enjoy it near as much as the first half. In fact in some areas I found it to be a bit boring and monotonous. Why? I believe it's because a lot of the second half of the book was about things I already knew about and have read about in the past. Plus I've written enough in my time to not need a re-hash of what to do and what not to do with plot, themes and the like. The second half just didn't interest me near as much.

Overall I'd give this a rating of 3 stars because while the first half was good and helpful, the second half for me was not.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1998, this is a great book on all the details of fictional characters. Useful for creating characters, the book is divided into crating strong and believable characters, the external details, the internal details, how character and plot flow together and the characters and the writer. Lots of great tips within these pages with a lot of examples from various books. What I really liked about this book were the lists like "how your protagonist copes with conflict,"and the idea of creating a dossier on a character. These were great gems from this book on creating dynamic characters. Kress also suggests a number of books for further reading about characters. Overall this was a great book, but it felt a bit dated.

[Norman Birnbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this is the only book on writing you read, there's definitely some good tips and insights. If you've read others, Kress still offers useful information. As indicated by its title, this book is focused on character rather than plot points. I think it's useful to look at characters, not just plot. Some parts of the book won't be new if you've read other how-to books but overall, I found it helpful.

[Russ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although some of the examples in this book are a bit dated (it was published in 1998) it is still very good. It is far more than a "how to get to make interesting characters" book. Nancy Kress addresses how different approaches to characterization interact with different setting, plots and themes. Some really good stuff here.