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Write Great Fiction - Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint »

Book cover image of Write Great Fiction - Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress

Authors: Nancy Kress
ISBN-13: 9781582973166, ISBN-10: 1582973164
Format: Paperback
Publisher: F+W Media, Inc.
Date Published: March 2005
Edition: (Non-applicable)

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Author Biography: Nancy Kress

Book Synopsis

How do you create a main character readers won't forget? How do you write a book in multiple-third-person point of view without confusing your readers (or yourself)? How do you plant essential information about a character's past into a story?

Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by award-winning author Nancy Kress answers all of these questions and more! This accessible book is filled with interactive exercises and valuable advice that teaches you how to: Choose and execute the best point of view for your story, Create three-dimensional and believable characters, Develop your characters' emotions, Create realistic love, fight, and death scenes, Use frustration to motivate your characters and drive your story. With dozens of excerpts from some of today's most popular writers, Write Great Fiction: Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint provides you with the techniques you need to create characters and stories sure to linger in the hearts and minds of agents, editors, and readers long after they've finished your book.

Table of Contents

Introduction : what do readers want?1
Ch. 1Types of characters - assembling your cast5
Ch. 2Introducing characters - first impressions count19
Ch. 3The genuine self - what is she really like?35
Ch. 4The motivationally complicated character - but I'm a mess inside!51
Ch. 5Showing change in your characters - if I knew then what I know now67
Ch. 6Protagonists in genre fiction - from lovers to starship captains78
Ch. 7The humorous character - all bets are off93
Ch. 8Talking about emotion - dialogue and thoughts104
Ch. 9Emotion suggested - using metaphor, symbol, and sensory details to convey feeling119
Ch. 10Special cases of emotion - loving, fighting, and dying130
Ch. 11Frustration - the most useful emotion in fiction147
Ch. 12Point of view - whose emotions are we sharing?158
Ch. 13First person - I saw it with my own eyes173
Ch. 14Third person - see Dick run185
Ch. 15Omniscient point of view - playing God205
Ch. 16Putting it all together - the fourth persona213

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