Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life

by William Bernhardt

Overview

Are you a Red Sneaker Writer?

All fiction is character-driven, according to William Bernhardt, despite what you might have heard elsewhere. If your characters don't interest readers, even the most exciting plots will fail. "Action is character," Aristotle wrote, but what does that mean, and how can you use that fundamental principle to create dynamic fiction that will captivate readers? This book explains the relationship between character and plot, and how the perfect melding of the two produces a mesmerizing story. Using examples spanning from The Odyssey to The Da Vinci Code, Bernhardt discusses the art of character creation in a direct and easily comprehended manner. The book also includes exercises designed to help writers apply these ideas to their own work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781087876603
Publisher:	William Bernhardt Writing Programs, Inc.
Publication date:	04/02/2020
Series:	The Red Sneaker Writers Book , #2
Pages:	134
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.34(d)

About the Author

William Bernhardt is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including the blockbuster Ben Kincaid series of legal thrillers. In addition, Bernhardt founded the Red Sneaker Writing Center in 2005, hosting writing workshops and small-group seminars and becoming one of the most in-demand writing instructors in the nation. His programs have educated many authors now published at major New York houses. He holds a Masters Degree in English Literature and is the only writer to have received the Southern Writers Guild's Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (University of Pennsylvania) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (Oklahoma State), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large." In addition to the novels, he has written plays, including a musical (book and music), humor, nonfiction books, children books, and crossword puzzles. He also has published many poems and is a member of the American Academy of Poets.

Editorial Reviews

“One of the things I love about these books is that they are so accessible to every aspiring writer.”

Rick Ludwig, author of Mirrored

“This book gives everything that it promises. And all the other writing books written by William Bernhardt are on my wish list.”

C.H. Scarlett, author

“Bernhardt shows you exactly what makes literary characters keep people interested and how to use those strengths when creating characters of your own.”

R.J. Johnson, author of The Twelve Stones

“I reread these books before I start each book I write.”

Callie Hutton, author of For the Love of the Viscount

“Easy to read while delivering good material with some occasional humor.”

David Sullivan, author

From the Publisher