How does this work for you?

Intro to Create a Character Clinic

My objective in writing this book is simple. I want to show you, not just how to develop a character, but how to write your characters in a compelling fashion once you come up with them. There are all sorts of books that will tell you how put together interesting characteristics, with character backstory, with powerful motivations, and all the other things well-written characters need.

I have yet to find one, though, that takes the characteristics you’ve come up with and shows you how to apply them in such a way that your character lives and breathes on the page.

That’s what I intend to do.

I want to make this simple, and to break it down into steps and techniques that you can start following immediately. I’ll show you what I do, and then take you through doing it yourself.

And I want to keep it short — you shouldn’t have to wade through tons of words to find the few kernels of useful knowledge that you can start applying to your own work.

So that you can start using it right away, the book is divided into three sections.

* Section One is Ask Them Anything — Explanations and demonstrations of seven critical areas of character development, along with printable charts offering questions that will give you a well-rounded framework for your characters. Answer as few or as many questions as you need to get a feel for the people you’ll be writing about, and ask (and answer) more as you work through your story and need new twists and turns. * Section Two is Bring Them To Life — A tutorial on how to put all the information you’ve developed into creating people who live on the page. * Section Three is The Sins of Characterization (And How to Commit Them Right) — Believe it or not, everything you can ever do wrong in putting characters on the page, you can also do right. This section shows you when a sin can be a virtue, and vice-versa.

All three sections include demonstrations of both unpublishable and publishable approaches to techniques and problems, and exercises that allow you to put what you’ve learned into practice.

I want to make this as close as I can to me reading over your shoulder, looking at what you’ve done, and saying, “Okay. Here’s what you can try next to get that scene to work.”

With that in mind, I recommend that you work through this book from front to back. Answer some Section One questions, even if only a few; do a handful of Section Two exercises, just to learn how to extract interesting story from your Q&A; and then get into the sins and virtues, and begin to practice them.

Mine aren’t the only techniques out there — in fact, I don’t know of anyone else who works the way I do, and you may find that a lot of advice you’ve already received contradicts mine. That’s okay — not every technique will work for every writer. Pick out what helps you, feel free to discard the rest.

And good luck with your writing. I hope I can help you realize your dreams.

Holly Lisle

Does this look like what you’re looking for?

Download as PDFPrint Page