Product Description

Proven techniques for creating vivid, believable characters

Want to bring characters to life on the page as vividly as fine actors do on the stage or screen? Getting into Character will give you a whole new way of thinking about your writing. Drawing on the Method acting theory that theater professionals have used for decades, this in-depth guide explains seven characterization techniques and adapts them for the novelist's use.

In this unique and practical book, you'll discover concepts that will help you understand and communicate the behavior, motivation, and psychology of every fictional character you create. Examples from classic and contemporary novels show you how these techniques have been used to dazzling effect by Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Steve Martini, Anne Rivers Siddons, and others. These simple yet highly effective techniques will help you:
* Create characters whose distinctive traits become plot components
* Determine each character's specific objectives and motivations
* Write natural-sounding dialogue rich in meaning
* Endow your characters with three-dimensional emotional lives
* Use character to bring action sequences to exuberant life
* Write convincingly about any character facing any circumstance

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139214 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Back Cover
Proven techniques for creating vivid, believable characters

Want to bring characters to life on the page as vividly as fine actors do on the stage or screen? Getting into Character will give you a whole new way of thinking about your writing. Drawing on the Method acting theory that theater professionals have used for decades, this in-depth guide explains seven characterization techniques and adapts them for the novelist’s use.

In this unique and practical book, you’ll discover concepts that will help you understand and communicate the behavior, motivation, and psychology of every fictional character you create. Examples from classic and contemporary novels show you how these techniques have been used to dazzling effect by Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Steve Martini, Anne Rivers Siddons, and others. These simple yet highly effective techniques will help you:

• Create characters whose distinctive traits become plot components
• Determine each character’s specific objectives and motivations
• Write natural-sounding dialogue rich in meaning
• Endow your characters with three-dimensional emotional lives
• Use character to bring action sequences to exuberant life
• Write convincingly about any character facing any circumstance

About the Author
Bestselling author BRANDILYN COLLINS writes novels in both the women's fiction and suspense genres. She is also the author of the well-received true crime title A Question of Innocence. Before turning to writing, she was a longtime student of drama, including Stanislavsky's writings on Method acting. Visit her Web site at: www.brandilyncollins.com.

Customer Reviews

A polished gem
As a writer of character-based novels, I found this book to be a veritable fountain of perspicacity, chock full of pithy analogies and examples. As someone who was an actor before a writer, I really appreciated new insights presented by Brandilyn, an accomplished writer of gripping novels who practices what she preaches. This is not a book you read and donate to Goodwill but rather one that should take a prominent place on your bookshelf so it can be easily found and accessed for a refresher course.
Donald James Parker
Author of Reforming the Potter's Clay

Take a closer look
It's true, writers often say it rather than show it. This book helps you take a look at a character and like an actor would show their action gives writers tips on how to make your characters look believable. The book also gives some very good suggestions on the use of color (emotional that is) and rhythm. Some of the book's material may be exactly what you knew before but then it never hurts to refresh you memory. I liked the book more as a look at acting and since plays are one of my favorite hobbies, it gave some nice tips on how to spot bad acting. I would recommend the book for all writers.

Illuminating
I don't usually write reviews, but I found this book too enlightening to not. Getting Into Character is full of excellent ideas and excellent examples. I am in the process of editing my National Novel Writing Month novel using Collins' ideas. Her examples are clear and illuminating. The recommended reading at the back of the book is extensive and well-explained.

I would have liked a little more on creating a good "Level A," but that is my only complaint.