Scan barcode
Reviews
The Art of Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV by David Corbett
mscottfowler's review
5.0
One of the most exciting takeaways about this book is that there's always more to learn about writing. This book is now one of my new references. I plan on referring back to it again and again and again.
marshaniemeijer's review
4.0
feels like i just got out of a really good, informative, inspiring, and empathetic writing class ❤️
davenash's review
3.0
This book on character starts and ends with examining your own life and using that as source for writing. There are other sources for character which Corbett explains and they can be used with your own examined life to form real characters. The Art of Character tackles character in the first third - about 100 pages with lots of excercises and examples from a variety of books, plays, movies and TV shows. It also covers other writing topics such as scenes, dialogue, perspective and voice. I found the character and scene help to be the best.
reveal's review
4.0
Great but not godtier - but I suspect the author knew this anyway. I wonder if this will get better when I go back to it for reference.
nightrays's review
yes it did take me literal months to finish this (my own lack of ability to read anything, nothing to do with the book) but i found it to be very helpful and insightful. if you are a writer and want to find new ways to shape and get to know your characters, this book has some really creative and stimulating exercises
rosepetals1984's review
5.0
Pre-read thoughts: Yet another book I randomly bought from my university's bookstore (and yeah I've splurge spent on a number of fiction reads and writing guides in recent weeks). I'll probably be using it quite soon because I'm trying to re-examine some of my characters from my WIPs. Hope it turns out worth the read and buy.
Post read thoughts: Worth every penny. I'm definitely going to be revisiting this guide more often. What I liked about it was that the book constructively examines aspects of character motivation, conflict, internal rationale, among other dimensions to make it possible to delve into a deeper POV set. There were exercises at the end of each chapter to not only look into your own experiences as a guide for character (because people are the characters of their own stories), but also active exercises to refer to and examine in your own WIPs. I liked that the examples given from multiple sources of media were plausible and great examples, but it may be limiting for some depending on whether or not you've watched/perused that show or series. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this and I will be using it as an active guide. I would highly recommend it for anyone who want to develop their characters more in their stories.
Post read thoughts: Worth every penny. I'm definitely going to be revisiting this guide more often. What I liked about it was that the book constructively examines aspects of character motivation, conflict, internal rationale, among other dimensions to make it possible to delve into a deeper POV set. There were exercises at the end of each chapter to not only look into your own experiences as a guide for character (because people are the characters of their own stories), but also active exercises to refer to and examine in your own WIPs. I liked that the examples given from multiple sources of media were plausible and great examples, but it may be limiting for some depending on whether or not you've watched/perused that show or series. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this and I will be using it as an active guide. I would highly recommend it for anyone who want to develop their characters more in their stories.
jenniferworrell's review
4.0
Good advice in here. A more cerebral approach to writing than you usually see. Beware, there are a lot of spoilers! Includes exercises.
bookishclaire's review
5.0
Packed full of useful stuff. Not always an easy read, but worth it. The last chapter's a bit airy fairy (in my opinion) but that wasn't enough for me to mark it down .
victoriaknow's review against another edition
4.0
Very dense and heavy going at times but definitely worth the effort for the moments of insight it offered. This book has changed how I think about some aspects of writing and provided clarification for others.
More...