Writer's Guide to Character Traits

Writer's Guide to Character Traits Review

From Sex to Schizophrenia: Everything You Need to Develop Your Characters!

What makes a person commit a white-collar crime? Who is a likely candidate to join a cult? Why do children have imaginary friends? How does birth order affect whether or not a person gets married? When does mind over matter become a crippling problem?

Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition answers all of these questions and many others. With more than 400 easy-to-reference lists of traits blended from a variety of behaviors and influences, you'll gain the knowledge you need to create distinctive characters whose personalities correspond to their thoughts and actions - no matter how normal or psychotic they might be. In this updated and expanded edition, you'll also find:

• Comprehensive instruction on how to use this book
  
  
• New statistical information to help you create true-to-life characters
  
  
• Corresponding exercises that show you how to put the material to work in your stories
  
  
• A quick-reference index to make cross-referencing a snap
  
  
• Idea sparkers to get your thoughts out of your head and onto the page

Plus, you'll learn about common - and not so common - psychological, physical, and relationship disorders; delve into the minds of criminals; find out what it takes to be a professional athlete, scientist, and truck driver; discover what life is like for a gang member, suicidal teen, and alcoholic; and more.

In Writer's Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition, note psychologist and author Dr. Linda Edelstein takes you beyond generic personality types and into the depths of the human psyche where you're sure to find the resources you need to make your characters stand out from the crowd.

The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook

The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook Review

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Character NamesWriters give as much thought and consideration to naming characters as they would to naming a newborn child. Back in print and better than ever, The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook has been updated and expanded to help you find character names and their meanings quickly and easily!This one-of-a-kind resource was specifically designed with the writer in mind. Inside you'll find:25,000+ first names and surnames, and their meanings, listed by originNames and surnames from more than 45 countriesA reverse lookup of names by meaningAn alphabetical index of namesAn explanation of naming practices and historical context for each originA list of the top ten most popular names in the United States every year from 1880-2003Instruction on how to create believable names that fit your characters and your storyThis exciting new edition also includes advice from a number of best-selling authors, including Elizabeth George, Alexander McCall Smith, Homer Hickam, Marian Keyes, Big Fish author Daniel Wallace, and others. You'll get the inside scoop on their naming methods, plus the stories behind the names of their most famous characters.So throw out your old telephone books and baby-naming guides—The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook meets all your naming needs!

Growing Great Characters From the Ground Up: A Thorough Primer for Writers of Fiction and Nonfiction

Growing Great Characters From the Ground Up: A Thorough Primer for Writers of Fiction and Nonfiction Review

As Growing Great Characters From the Ground Up states, character development is the most important facet of any character-based book, because "readers won't follow for long if they find the people you're writing about dull, one-dimensional or unbelievable." After listing the three attributes of a great character, the book takes readers through a step-by-step process that teaches them how to develop characters from start to finish.