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Creating Fictional Characters: The Essential Guide
Characters are the lifeblood of fiction. There is more to writing a novel than simply supplying an exciting background or location.
No one can write a successful novel without creating the right characters to people those pages.
In this comprehensive and easy guide successful novelist Jean Saunders has defined all the necessary ingredients for creating believable characters that come alive on the page.
Learning to love the characters you write about is the most obvious, yet often overlooked requirement. Then come the basics - from choosing the right name to dressing your characters in the right clothes for their personalities.
Jean explains how to understand and get to know them, giving them hopes and dreams and goals, and developing their conflicts and motivations to get the best out of them. She also demonstrates the art of visual writing to help make your characters as appealing as possible to your readers.
No one can write a successful novel without creating the right characters to people those pages.
In this comprehensive and easy guide successful novelist Jean Saunders has defined all the necessary ingredients for creating believable characters that come alive on the page.
Learning to love the characters you write about is the most obvious, yet often overlooked requirement. Then come the basics - from choosing the right name to dressing your characters in the right clothes for their personalities.
Jean explains how to understand and get to know them, giving them hopes and dreams and goals, and developing their conflicts and motivations to get the best out of them. She also demonstrates the art of visual writing to help make your characters as appealing as possible to your readers.
- GenresWriting
118 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Jean Saunders
58 books5 followersJean Innes was born on 8 February 1932 in London, England, but she have lived in the West Country almost all her life. She married with Geoff Saunders, her childhood sweetheart, and they have three grown up children. She lived in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, where she wrote full time. She passed away on 3 August 2011, after contracting an illness, after being rushed to Weston General Hospital.
Jean began her career as a magazine writer and had published around 600 short stories. She start to published gothic romance novels under her married name Jean Saunders and her maiden name Jean Innes in the 1970s. In 1980s, she created, to wrote historical romances, two pseudonyms, her most popular, Rowena Summers and Sally Blake. In 1991 her novel, "The Bannister Girls," was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of Year award. In 2004, she began to used the penname Rachel Moore.
She was an active member and enthusiast of Swanwick, the Writers' Summer School, which takes place in Derbyshire, England, every August, she was a committee member several times, and also Vice-Chairman. She was elected the seventeenth Chairman (1993-1995) of the Romantic Novelists' Association. As a member of the Romance Writers of America she had given talks at conferences in various venues of the USA. She was a member of the Crime Writers' Association. She also was a member and past committee member of the West Country Writers' Association.
Jean began her career as a magazine writer and had published around 600 short stories. She start to published gothic romance novels under her married name Jean Saunders and her maiden name Jean Innes in the 1970s. In 1980s, she created, to wrote historical romances, two pseudonyms, her most popular, Rowena Summers and Sally Blake. In 1991 her novel, "The Bannister Girls," was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of Year award. In 2004, she began to used the penname Rachel Moore.
She was an active member and enthusiast of Swanwick, the Writers' Summer School, which takes place in Derbyshire, England, every August, she was a committee member several times, and also Vice-Chairman. She was elected the seventeenth Chairman (1993-1995) of the Romantic Novelists' Association. As a member of the Romance Writers of America she had given talks at conferences in various venues of the USA. She was a member of the Crime Writers' Association. She also was a member and past committee member of the West Country Writers' Association.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 27, 2025
Muy técnico. Muy practico. Al grano de los básicos que hay que aprender. Subrayado y en la librería bien a mano para cada vez que desarrolle personajes.
November 11, 2015
Surely this book is one of the most interesting ones of the entire collection of the writer's guides. Although it may not seem so, developing a character is one of the most difficult tasks. Trace their physical traits, their personality, the way they move or their voices are a tremendous and previous exercise before starting to write any story. So for all the authors who are beginning to develop their novels, stories or tales I recommend to read this booklet that provides techniques and teachings of great importance.
Seguramente este es uno de los libros más interesantes de toda la colección de guías del escritor. Aunque pueda no parecerlo, desarrollar un personaje no es una tarea nada fácil. Trazar sus rasgos físicos, su personalidad, su manera de moverse o su tono de voz son ejercicios previos a la escritura de cualquier historia si queremos comprender y hacer creíbles a nuestros personajes. Así que para todos los autores que empiecen a desarrollar sus novelas, relatos o cuentos les aconsejo que lean este libreto que aporta técnicas y enseñanzas de gran importancia.
Seguramente este es uno de los libros más interesantes de toda la colección de guías del escritor. Aunque pueda no parecerlo, desarrollar un personaje no es una tarea nada fácil. Trazar sus rasgos físicos, su personalidad, su manera de moverse o su tono de voz son ejercicios previos a la escritura de cualquier historia si queremos comprender y hacer creíbles a nuestros personajes. Así que para todos los autores que empiecen a desarrollar sus novelas, relatos o cuentos les aconsejo que lean este libreto que aporta técnicas y enseñanzas de gran importancia.
November 28, 2018
Un libro idóneo para guiarte mejor en cuanto a la creación de personajes y cómo trabajarlos en tus novelas. Este libro te hace un resumen rápido y fácil de leer para tener las ideas claras antes de empezar una historia o corregir levemente si ya la has empezado. He agradecido que en cada explicación hubiera unos ejemplos para comparar y entender mejor la situación. Temas a tratar en este tomo han sido, entre otros, diálogos, personalidades, voces, tipo de narrador, personajes necesarios...
January 20, 2024
Describe de manera clara como crear personajes de ficción. En mi opinión no se deja ningún punto por tocar. Es verdad que en ocasiones la lectura se hace un poco pesada, pero por la densidad de información
October 18, 2020
Muy genérico, pero no está mal.
November 28, 2023
Flojito flojito
May 24, 2025
Tiene buenos consejos pero hasta ahi, no viene el paso a paso de como crear un personaje, siento que le faltó.
February 13, 2017
Una guía básica pero muy recomendable para aquellos que se inician en el oficio de la literatura. Bien estructurado y con ejemplos clarificadores.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews