Ackerman, Angela

It's a writer's job to create compelling characters who can withstand life's fallout without giving up. But building authentic, memorable heroes is no easy task. To forge realistic characters, we must hobble them with flaws that set them back while giving them positive attributes to help them achieve their goals. So how do writers choose the right blend of strengths for their characters--attributes that will render them admirable and worth rooting for--without making it too easy for them to succeed?? Character creation can be hard, but it's about to get a lot easier.

"Crafting likable, interesting characters is a balancing act, and finding that perfect mix of strengths and weaknesses can be difficult. Not only does a well-drawn protagonist need positive attributes to help him succeed, he must also have flaws that humanize him and give him something to overcome. The same is true of villains and the rest of the story's supporting cast. So how can writers figure out which flaws best fit their characters? Which negative traits will create personality clashes and conflict while making success difficult? Nothing adds complexity like character flaws. Inside the Negative Trait Thesaurus you'll find a vast collection of flaws to explore when building a character's personality, advice on building layered and memorable characters from the ground up, an in-depth look at backstory, emotional wounds, and how pain twists a character's view of himself, and his world, influencing behavior and decision making, a flaw-centric exploration of character arc, relationships, motivation, and basic needs, tips on how to best show a character's flaws to readers while avoiding common pitfalls, and downloadable tools to aid writers in character creation."--.

"One of the biggest problem areas for writers is conveying emotion to the reader in a unique, compelling way. When showing our characters' feelings, we often grab onto the first idea that comes to mind, and our characters end up smiling, shrugging, nodding, and frowning far too much. Need some inspiration to get you beyond the basics? Inside The Emotion Thesaurus, you'll find: 75 emotion entires that list body language, thoughts, and visceral responses for each, a breakdown of the biggest emotion-related writing problems and how to overcome them, body language and action cues that address both acute and suppressed forms of emotion, suggestions for each emotion that cover a range of intensity, from mild to extreme, 75 description tips on emotion, dialogue, characters, and setting."--.