“Writing the Intimate Character” by Jordan Rosenfeld

The key to excellent fiction lies in its characters: the unforgettable protagonists, antagonists, and secondary characters who populate the world of your story. Understanding and effectively using point of view allows you to write a powerful narrative that draws readers in and engages them with characters in a meaningful way. Through a blend of practical instruction, useful examples, and helpful exercises this book shows you how to create the experience of living through a character rather than just reading about one.

Also available in eBook.

“The Art of Character” by David Corbett

Corbett provides an inventive, inspiring, and vastly entertaining blueprint to all the elements of characterization—from initial inspiration to realization—with special insights into the power of secrets and contradictions, the embodiment of roles, managing the “tyranny of motive,” and mastering crucial techniques required for memorable dialogue and unforgettable scenes. This is a how-to guide for both aspiring and accomplished writers that renders all other books of its kind obsolete.

“A Writer’s Guide to Characterization” by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

In the best novels, characters undergo dramatic changes that keep readers turning pages. This comprehensive guide examines cross-cultural archetypes to illustrate how they can make your work more powerful and compelling. With the help of this book you’ll have the information you need to infuse the development of your characters with drama and authenticity.

Also available in eBook.

“45 Master Characters” by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

Want to make your characters and their stories more compelling, complex, and original than ever before? “45 Master Characters” is here to help you explore the most common male and female archetypes–the mythic, cross-cultural models from which all characters originate. Complete with examples culled from literature, television, and film, “45 Master Characters” illustrates just how memorable and effective these archetypes can be. Great heroes and villains are necessary to bring any story to life; let this guide help you create characters that stand the test of time.

Also available in eBook.

“Creating Characters” from the Editors of Writer’s Digest

Populating your fiction with authentic, vivid characters is a surefire way to captivate your readers from the first sentence to the last. Whether you’re writing a series, novel, short story, or flash fiction, “Creating Characters” is an invaluable guide to bringing your fictional cast to life. This book gives you the tools necessary to create realistic, fascinating characters that your readers will root for and remember long after they’ve finished the story.

Also available in eBook.

“The Negative Trait Thesaurus” by Angela Ackerman and Becca Publisi

Crafting likable, interesting characters is a balancing act, and finding that perfect mix of strengths and weaknesses can be difficult. Through its flaw-centric exploration of character arc, motivation, emotional wounds, and basic needs, writers will learn which flaws make the most sense for their heroes, villains, and other members of the story’s cast. This brainstorming resource is perfect for creating deep, flawed characters that readers will relate to.

“The Positive Trait Thesaurus” by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

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?
This book is brimming with ideas to help you develop one-of-a-kind, dynamic characters that readers will love.

“Developing Your Characters” by Anne Perry

“Developing Your Characters,” like its predecessors, aims to give the viewer an all-important one-to-one learning experience which they can peruse at their leisure, stopping to take in what is being imparted, or to consider their own responses to questions posed, and there is homework in the way of exercises for those who are writing, to think about, such as what does each main character want? What do they need in their life that provides a motivating force for them through the story? These exercises have been compiled by Anne’s long-term literary agent Meg Davis.

“Characters and Viewpoint” by Orson Scott Card

This book is a set of tools: literary crowbars, chisels, mallets, pliers and tongs. Use them to pry, chip, yank and sift good characters out of the place where they live in your imagination. Award-winning author Orson Scott Card explains in depth the techniques of inventing, developing and presenting characters, plus handling viewpoint in novels and short stories. With specific examples, he spells out your narrative options—the choices you’ll make in creating fictional people so “real” that readers will feel they know them like members of their own families.

Also available in eBook.