Creating Characters: How to Build Story People

by Dwight V. Swain, Swain

The basics and fine points of successful fictional characters: traits, relationships, motivations, emotions, humor, strong dialog, and -- above all -- the ability to care. A first-class lesson in empathy and believability for all writers.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help, How To, Research, Crafts

195 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Dwight Vreeland Swain's first published story was "Henry Horn's Super Solvent", which appeared in Fantastic Adventures in 1941. He contributed stories in the science fiction, mystery, Western, and action adventure genres to a variety of pulp magazines.

He joined the staff in the extremely successful Professional Writing Program at the University of Oklahoma training writers of commercial fiction and film. He pioneered scripting documentaries and educational/instructional films using dramatic techniques rather than the previously common talking heads. In the 1960s, he scripted a motion picture, Stark Fear, starring Beverly Garland and Keith Toby. He later wrote non-fiction books about writing, including Techniques of the Selling Writer, Film Scriptwriting, Creating Characters, and Scripting for Video and Audiovisual Media, and was much in demand as a speaker at writers' conferences throughout the US and Mexico.

Reviews

[Brittany McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some interesting ways of looking at people so far. Although I'm not a complete fan of the author's comments, the basic idea are good for finding new perspectives.

3 Stars overall

[Allan Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creating Characters – How to Build Story People by Dwight V. Swain is a non-fiction title for writers that delves into the art of character creation.

The Cover: I’ll start by saying that this book is almost 30 years old. Yet, while the cover art feels somewhat dated, it is only due to the character images and the clothing they wear. But then, they are characters and no doubt represent the stories they are set in. The colours are vibrant, the font is clear and it is a simple and clean cover. Combine this with the title and it represents a great match for the contents of this book. It clearly depicts the topic in a visual representation of the content inside.

The Good Stuff: There is solid advice within this book that will help writers create better characters. The advice is explained well, simple to understand, and helpful. There are things that I know that I’d say are common sense, yet the author made me stop and think about them, considering them more than I would have if I had not read this title. I found the book interesting in places and breezed through these sections with gusto.

The Bad Stuff: I felt there was unnecessary wordage in places that stunted the read for me. It was explaining things more than once or a little too much. I didn’t feel this way all through the book though, only in places, and it was easy to scan over and pick up the thread further on.

Overall, this is a good book for anyone who wants to gain a clear insight into creating interesting characters. If all it does is stimulate your mind to think a little more about people’s drives, quirks, and mannerisms, I’d say it has done its job. I’m giving this one a thought-provoking 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks.

[Eric Heiden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recommend this book but do so with a word of caution, especially for any Christian would-be writers out there. I'll come back to this point at the end of the review.

First, a bit about myself. I would like to be a professional author some day and, to that end, like to read as many resources as I can. The fact that you're reading reviews about this book indicates that you might be in the same boat.

"Creating Characters" has mostly sound advice on how to approach the craft. For example, despite all the pointers he gives, Swain is careful to mention that a step-by-step writing approach can lead to frustration and make you too overwhelmed to complete a single story; he instead recommends writing the story first, and then go back over what you've written and apply his rules (and even then, only to do so on the areas where you think the story needs work). As someone who has seen the pitfalls of a too-rigid approach, I really appreciate this and wish that more writing books mentioned it. Had I come across his book earlier, this could have saved me a great deal of grief (although it will definitely save me from some future grief, at least).

That said, not all of his advice is as useful.

Take the chapter on humor, for instance. I agreed with the basic idea (create an expectation and then subvert it in a ridiculous way), but the jokes he included as examples (and his explanations on why they were good jokes) really didn't make me laugh at all; they just made me groan and roll my eyes. Also, his examples on good writing include extensive use of adverbs; I feel that, when used to the extent that Swain uses them, adverbs amount to telling instead of showing in your writing, and most writers (Swain himself included) agree that this usually weakens a story.

So check it out, but be prepared to take some of its contents with a grain of salt, especially since Swain is more well regarded for his books on writing than he is for his actual fiction (I've noticed, with a mixture of amusement and frustration, that this is rather common when it comes to books on writing in general).

Now, about my warning from earlier. Chapter 15, "The Character Out of Time", talks about how to write about characters who are not like you or come from a different background than you do. One of the things Swain recommends is reading magazines and publications you don't normally read in order to better get inside the heads of other demographics. I think that, within reason, this is a great idea, but note that I said "within reason". Expanding on this advice, Swain advises reading, among other things, Playboy Magazine.

For any young Christian who is struggling with lust or other sexual-related sins, I can think of very few worse things than following Swain's advice here. Even if you don't wrestle with those issues, exposing yourself to this stuff could plant very destructive seeds in your life; somewhere down the line, you may find yourself struggling with things that you had been immune to before.

So, to any Brothers or Sisters out there who have been bitten by the writing bug, I implore you: do not follow that advice to the extent that Swain recommends. Do not expose yourself to destructive things (including things that don't even involve sex), even if someone tells you it will help you become a better writer. I've been there; it won't.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my recent story rejections contained a personal note from the editor. "I felt too distanced from the main character to be captivated by the story." It took me a few days to get over the sting of rejection, but when I finally came back to reality, I saw my problem. A few of my stories have great characters. I love those stories, because I love the characters. But it had happened accidentally. If I plan to continue writing, I need to learn how to write characters.

Enter this book. I had it on my shelves, but I'd never read it. Let me tell you, this is exactly the book I needed. If you're struggling with how to write characters that are both believable and unique, then consider getting this one. The language is straight-forward and personable. There are no magic tricks here, just a nice list of things to take care of and things to look out for, and dozens of admonishments to PAY ATTENTION to your life and the characters in it.

I especially enjoyed the chapter on writing humor. I flipped the idea and used the techniques for some of the horror I'm writing, and it helped tremendously.

If you're a writer and your characters aren't springing to life on the page, consider reading this one. I'm sure there will be a few tips in here that will help any writer improve their craft.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The core thesis of this book is that people's characters can only be understood by their actions. Excellent book, well worth a read, light on psychology and heavy on mechanics.

[Joshua Castleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has a lot of great things to keep in mind and help create dynamic characters. I ended up skimming a lot mostly because I've either heard it already or I've figured it out on my own, but that's not to take away from what it has to offer, which is a lot.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

All sorts of useful techniques. Working back from events to suitable character. The difference between motives and purposes, and the need for them. Humor. Background. And more

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing advice is generally pretty timeless. Fundamentally, little changes between the classics written hundreds of years ago and the classics written today. Sure, there might be some new way to go about creating plots, or there might be a scientific breakthrough that tweaks a setting or two, but the one thing that remains constant throughout is characters. Complex characters have always been interesting, even if it can be a challenge to create them for a story. This is where Creating Characters: How to Build Story People comes in to help.

While there is plenty of great advice in this book, I did find that it to be somewhat dated in a few spots. We’re now almost 30 years after this book was initially written, so the author's advice for writers working on radio plays might work for someone doing podcasts, but not much else. Similarly, there are tons of great examples of characters written since 1990, but there were also many examples contained in the book that I had no reference to understand. It didn’t help that most of these examples were rapid-fire lists that didn’t explore the details of what made the character any good.

I would definitely recommend this book to any authors who are starting out and trying to refine their craft. I’ve read plenty of stories that certainly could have used some of the techniques gathered here. Some of these concepts were relatively basic, but if you’ve just picked this book up and only have it for an hour, the absolute best advice contained in it is in the last chapter. I don’t know how many stories I’ve read where I’ve been pulled out of the story because my suspension of disbelief broke. Solving this problem with better characters can do wonders for a writer’s story.

Some solid advice that can help many amateur authors on their craft, I give Creating Characters 3.0 stars out of 5.
  

For more reviews of books and movies like this, please visit www.benjamin-m-weilert.com

[Jennifer Griffith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend recommended this to me, and it was exactly what I'd been looking for. Tons of great information, with vivid examples, and not so preachy that I came away feeling hopeless or creatively shackled. Good stuff!

[Zara West · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the genre writer's writing bible. Almost all writing advice, emanates from this classic in the field of writing genre fiction. If you seriously want to write popular books, you need to read and study and read and study this book again and again.

[Savanna Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I’m not the correct audience for this book and that’s why I didn’t enjoy it as much. The information included would be incredibly insightful for new/young writers and give them a base point for building characters. Book is a little outdated though, so readers should keep that in mind.

[Megan]

W/several

[Jackee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though dated, I loved his tell-it-how-it-is style. A great, easy to read reference book!

[Destine Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twas awesome as per usual for Swain's writing books. The humor section was a bit iffy, but all the other chapters were quite sound. Very helpful.

[Kate McMurry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another terrific how-to book for writing popular fiction by the amazing Dwight Swain.

[Scott D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invaluable guidance for fiction writers.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came out in 2012 (or 2008, depending on the edition). It is refreshing to see that Swain has updated his writing style and hes stance on race and gender to a 21st century standard. Much of this material was covered in a more condensed manner in the book for which he is primarily noted--Techniques of the Selling Writer--but it goes down easier.

There are dozens of books about character creation, some of them much more profound than this one, but the idea Swain presents that is particularly useful to me is the notion of assigning labels to characters, and fleshing out the labels with tags, traits, and relationships. This produces characters that are vivid and distinct from each other. It gives the author a handle on the inner nature of the character, and gives them a consistent framework for portraying the character to the reader.

In Swain's epistemology, a Label is the dominant impression the character makes upon the reader. A label is a four-plex of age, sex, vocation, and manner. For age, Swain refers to adjectives like young, adolescent, mature, old. For sex (to which in this third decade of the 21st century we would probably refer as gender) he means descriptive adjectives that imply rather than state the gender. Vocation goes beyond traditional occupations, and extends to other social roles, e.g. housewife, bum, significant other. Manner is the individual’s personal bearing—their habitual stance and style.

Applying this to one of my protagonists, I would label her the "angry, middle-aged, sorceress."

Swain then suggests fleshing out the character with Tags, Traits, and Relationships.

A tag is a limited, specialized label. A name or a nickname is a tag. Categories of other tags are: appearance, ability, speech, mannerism, and attitude.

Appearance is any item that strikes a distinctive note. Swain suggest two or three items per main character.

Attitude is habitual behavior patterns exhibited when a character reacts to particular kinds of situations. Racism, sexism, sanctimony, suspicion, anxiety, discontent are examples of character attitudes which are expressed in their behavior. =Behavior= is the key, here. Only you know what the non-POV character is thinking. You can only show it to the reader through their behavior. Even for the POV character--they are probably blind to their own biases. Show it through their behavior.

Moving on to Traits. A Trait is a character’s habitual mode of response or pattern of behavior. Traits as an aspect of character are abstract and general, but behavior is concrete and specific.

A relationship is the way a character interlaces with others, their associations with others and reactions to the people with whom they deal or come in contact. Each if these dealings and contacts are different, depending upon the nature of the relationship.

So, fleshing out my example protagonist with Tags, Traits, and Relationships--my protagonist is an "angry, middle-aged, sorceress, whose locks of unbound auburn hair writhe like serpents, but who has come to fear that her husband--a powerful magus--has come to disrespect her." Boy Howdie! is she pissed. Her rage at his disrespect drive the first third of the novel.

I don't know how well this will sell, and I don't know how useful Swain's advice will be, but I'll let you know as a comment to this post.

[Teza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great. It may be a good bit older than I am, but the core advice rings true even 30+ years on from its publication. The way Swain breaks down the process of characterising our "story people" and plugging them into the narrative is both very insightful and distinctly practical. I got it from the library, and I'm currently chasing down a copy to buy so I can go through it with a highlighter.

The one thing that keeps it from being perfect is simply age. The actual attitudes are progressive for the time, with emphasis placed on fleshing out female characters and minorities, and careful research when depicting cultures and experiences not your own, but some of it gets lost in linguistic drift. I had to look up words like "Balt" and "Hottentot", which have fallen so far out of popular use as to be totally unfamiliar.

All in all a fantastic book. After a single read I can see the tools and techniques in any novel I chose to dissect from that angle, and it's certainly improved my work by leaps and bounds. 10/10.

[Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains some great advice on character. It might be worthy of five stars, but the severely dated references are probably meaningless to anyone under the age of sixty, and some of the statements on gender and "contemporary attitudes" are often cringy. That being said, the first few chapters inspired me to re-create my templates for character creation.

[Justin Banham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book with good suggestions on technique. Provided some insights and I feel like it will help grow me as a writer. However, there are definitely some problematic viewpoints, very dated language, and world views.

[anonymousreader]

to-read

[D.J. Warrior · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all his books.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of many writing books I read over three months. Good, but his other one's a bit better, I think.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are ever going to try to write ANYTHING, you just gotta read Dwight Swain.

enough said.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

All right, but very basic in my opinion. It's a good book for someone just starting and offers good practical advise on how to get started with forming a character. Don't expect anything too in depth though.

[Erica]

Very useful information-I really like that he states that the only way to learn to write is to write. Some of his examples may be a bit dated, but his information is very useful. Very helpful resource.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A horrible writer. The author of a dime a dozen stories tries hard to help you write at his wonderful level. The advice is rather poor and written as paid by the word. The horror part is when he gets to the examples: mysoginy and pettiness.