Table of Contents
Foreword vi
Introduction 1
Part I Getting Started
Chapter 1 25 Things You Should Know About Character Chuck Wendig 4
Chapter 2 Character Concerting Joseph Bates 12
Chapter 3 Choose a Name Wisely Nancy Kress 16
Chapter 4 Name-Dropping Elizabeth Sims 21
Chapter 5 Introducing Your Character for the First Time Jeff Gerke 29
Part II Point of View
Chapter 6 Whose Emotions are We Sharing? Nancy Kress 33
Chapter 7 What POV Communicates About Your Story Alicia Rasley 45
Chapter 8 Dealing with Multiple Points of View Jordan E. Rosenfeld 60
Part III Dialogue
Chapter 9 Writing Dialogue Hallie Ephron 69
Chapter 10 Dialogue That Propels the Story Forward Gloria Kempton 75
Chapter 11 Using Profanity and Other Raw Talk In Your Fiction Elizabeth Sims 90
Chapter 12 The UHS, Ands, and ERS of Dialogue Gloria Kempton 96
Part IV Protagonists
Chapter 13 The Hero and the Common Man Orson Scott Card 107
Chapter 14 From Zero to Hero Dawn Wilson 116
Chapter 15 How to Challenge Your Protagonist Larry Brooks 120
Chapter 16 Relate to Readers with a Lead Character James Scott Bell 125
Part V Antagonists
Chapter 17 Creating an Anti-Hero Jessica Page Morrell 141
Chapter 18 The Three-Dimensional Villain Donald Maass 158
Chapter 19 AMP Up Your Antagonists Laura DiSilverio 163
Chapter 20 Sympathy for the Devil Jessica Page Morrell 170
Part VI Supporting Characters
Chapter 21 Developing Your Supporting Cast Joseph Bates 189
Chapter 22 The Character Hierarchy Orson Scott Card 193
Chapter 23 Crafting Effective Supporting Characters Hallie Ephron 205
Part VII Conflict
Chapter 24 A Character's Emotional Thread Jordan E. Rosenfeld 211
Chapter 25 Push Your Character to the Limits David Corbett 218
Chapter 26 Character Objective and Conflict Mary Kole 227
Chapter 27 Coping with Conflict Rachel Ballon 240
Part VIII Motivations & Relationships
Chapter 28 Motivation and Realism Cheryl St. John 257
Chapter 29 Showing Change In Your Characters Nancy Kress 266
Chapter 30 Romantic Relationships Victoria Lynn Schmidt 276
Part IX Character Arcs
Chapter 31 Creating a Character Arc Joseph Bates 287
Chapter 32 The Arc Within Plot James Scott Bell 291
Chapter 33 The Knot Jeff Gerke 301
Chapter 34 The Moment of Truth Jeff Gerke 308
Chapter 35 Revising for Strong Character Jack Smith 318
