Characters and Viewpoint

An editor once told me that if you're going to take advice on writing, take it either from name-bestselling writers or gatekeepers such as acquiring editors or agents--not necessarily anyone who writes for Writer's Digest. Well, I've ordinarily liked the Elements of Fiction Writing series Writer's Digest put out, but in this case you get the "name" too, and Orson Scott Card happens to be someone whose writing I admire. I liked the various examples he gave, especially in illustrating the effects of different points of view. Particularly memorable was his treatment of omniscience, which he said was particularly effective in comedy--complete with an example. The book is a keeper.

Card's written a very good handbook here. There isn't much in the way of anectdotes or stories to keep you interested; this is a fairly bare-bones manual to the different types of viewpoint and characterization you can use, and the pitfalls of each. It can be hard to find writing books that actually give you useful information without a lot of fluff on the side, so this book is worth it if that's what you're looking for.

There's nothing new in books about writing fiction, only on how they're presented.

Some are written by academics and you need to be one to understand them. Others are written by authors who use them as a means of self-aggrandizement constantly quoting examples from their own work. These may not necessarily be good examples of what they're trying to demonstrate, but they're not about to let an opportunity to promote their work slip by.

In Characters and Viewpoint, Card uses straight forward prose and not a lot of examples from his own work and gives good insight into these two important aspects of writing fiction.

This is a solid book about what is stated in the title.

Love Orson Scott Card's science fiction books and loved this book, especially the portions on characterization. He gives excellent examples that he writes specifically for this book. The information he provides are clear and useful.

I was initially skeptical about reading this book because of a few bad reviews I read before picking it up. Then I saw several good reviews and decided to give it a go. I do like "Ender's Game" after all. I can't say I was surprised by what I read in the book, it did cover a lot of common ground with other books on the same subject. However, I found the in depth discussions and use of well written examples to be very useful in illustrating the points. In my opinion, one of the better books on this topic out there.

This book concentrates on inventing and writing memorable characters and telling their stories from different viewpoints. It is part of Writer's Digest Elements of Fiction Writing series. Because of its limited scope, it delves further into its subject matter than many writing books. It provides lots of hints, ideas, and techniques for bringing characters into existence, how to develop their profiles, and how each viewpoint can be used to tell their stories in different ways. The subject matter is provided with a little humour, which helps lighten it. But there are none of the exercises you might see in other writing books. I give this book 4 stars.

I thought this book on writing was very good, although I tend to like Card's later, more informal discussions better. Seeing how I've read almost all of his work, it's interesting to see what he has to say about it, too. :)