Fiction Is Folks: How to Create Unforgettable Characters

by Robert Newton Peck

Gives practical advice on creating fictional characters, identifies common mistakes new writers often make, and shows how to make characters relate to other characters in the story

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Crafts

186 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1987

About the author

Robert Newton Peck is an American author of books for young adults. His titles include Soup and A Day No Pigs Would Die. He claims to have been born on February 17, 1928, in Vermont, but has refused to specify where. Similarly, he claims to have graduated from a high school in Texas, which he has also refused to identify. Some sources state that he was born in Nashville, Tennessee (supposedly where his mother was born, though other sources indicate she was born in Ticonderoga, New York, and that Peck, himself, may have been born there). The only reasonably certain Vermont connection is that his father was born in Cornwall.

Peck has written over sixty books including a great book explaining his childhood to becoming a teenager working on the farm called: A Day no Pigs would Die

He was a smart student, although his schooling was cut short by World War II. During and shortly after the conflict, he served as a machine-gunner in the U.S. Army 88th Infantry Division. Upon returning to the United States, he entered Rollins College, graduating in 1953. He then entered Cornell Law School, but never finished his course of study.

Newton married Dorothy Anne Houston and fathered two children, Anne and Christopher. The best man at the wedding and the godfather to the children was Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood fame.

A Day No Pigs Would Die was his first novel, published in 1972 when he was already 44 years old. From then on he continued his lifelong journey through literature. To date, he has been credited for writing 55 fiction books, 6 nonfiction books, 35 songs, 3 television specials and over a hundred poems.

Several of his historical novels are about Fort Ticonderoga: Fawn, Hang for Treason, The King's Iron.

In 1993, Peck was diagnosed with oral cancer, but survived. As of 2005, he was living in Longwood, Florida, where he has in the past served as the director of the Rollins College Writers Conference. Peck sings in a barbershop quartet, plays ragtime piano, and is an enthusiastic speaker. His hobby is visiting schools, "to turn kids on to books."

—From Wikipedia

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-n...

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are bits of wisdom in this book but I can't recommend it because any wisdom is overshadowed by Peck's over-the-top and often offensive personality. Finishing the book was a struggle.

[Joanie Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for helping authors infuse life into their characters. Although Mr. Peck has a very unusual and crazy writing style, it works for this book, and he has many tips and suggestions for helping you make your characters seem real.

What I liked: His personal writing style was both interesting and inspirational.

What I didn't like: For my taste, some of his illustrations were a little risque, or shocking. But if you can overlook the uncomfortable ones, you can certainly learn something from his instructions.

I highly recommend this book to anyone writing stories with fictional characters.

[Anne White]

I had this book years ago and thought it would be an enjoyable re-read, but this time around I found it a bit crude. DNF.

[Catherine King · Rating 3 out of 5]

My feelings on this book are very torn. On the one hand, Peck mostly delivers on his promise of an engaging, funny, and sincere textbook of writing advice. But in the later chapters, he gets onto this irrelevant soapbox that happens to offend every moral principle I hold dear (yes, I am one of the liberals he would torture at a party for amusement, "if a long legged blonde is absent.")

Even as a textbook, this book has its flaws. There's at least two sets of chapters that essentially say the same thing - vigilantes and reactionaries, what bugs you and planning a party, milking a scene or vaulting a fence - these sets are essentially the same lesson, in different chapters, not even placed back to back for easy association. Frequently Peck's chapters begin in one place and meander their way to someplace else, possibly a soapbox, sometimes a place of frustrating inconclusiveness.

And oh... OHHHH the soapboxes. Right towards the end of the book he gets very angry to no visible purpose. He vents his spleen about... welfare? And public transportation? And video games? Is this a writing textbook or an old man yelling at a cloud? Oh, man, it was hard to read. And that was sandwiched between objectification of his female stand-in characters, that went really, too far.

But is there some good writing advice to be had in this volume? Absolutely. The little stories within the chapters are engrossing in their shortness, and nicely illustrate the kind of effective writing that Peck advocates. His language is crisp and his ideas are clear. I particularly like his chapter on tubas versus violins, and his advocacy that your characters must talk and act as well as think. The advice about showing characterization through tools is extremely helpful.

You might need to skip generously, or else arm yourself with a grain of salt the size of a Buick. But I think that this book can be very helpful to the aspiring writer, and frankly I'd love to have Mr. Peck over for dinner. He seems like a fine conversationalist. We'll just keep the topic away from welfare.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Peck's Fiction is Folks was a difficult book for me to get through on my first read and an entertaining book on my second read. I'll read it at least one more time before I'm satisfied I've sucked all the marrow from its pages (that odd phrasing is one of his suggestions. Such odd phrasings wake the reader up. You may not like that one, that's fine, and learn the technique. Practice it. It's useful even if my example is not).

My initial challenge was the reason I was entertained on my second read: Peck is homesy and folksy. He is direct, clear, honest. He's a native Vermonter and it shows in both his prose and his examples.

An important point about his examples: most of them passed over me on my first read because this entire book is an example. He explains something and read his explanation again. It's an example of what he's explaining. Now look at the example he uses for his explanation. Yes, it's an example and it contains a thread to the next example.

Also (and like most Writers' Digest books I've read) he covers a broad range of topics well beyond character (the main item in this book). A partial list includes:

Blurbs
Plot
Character
Covers
Story
Marketing
Structure
Language
Exercises
and this doesn't touch on the general stuff you need to know to get your work published

I've written more on my blog.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This guy is annoying. I'm going to finish the book because it might have helpful suggestions. I wouldn't read another how-to book by Peck.

June 4 - I lied. I returned the book to the library without finishing it.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

For writer's block

If you can get past the out dated language, the overuse of the word "molested", and his life advice, this book gives some solid tips. Most of the tips I've heard of in other books so if you've read many craft books then this could be a skip.

This is a good book if you get stuck in your plot or with a character and literally have a block. The chapters are short and there's one tip per chapter. It pairs well with GMC Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Debra Dixon.

[Lalita Vasu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read for anyone in writing or entertainment industry.

[D.J. Warrior · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple and easy explanations.

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several helpful writing tips. But primarily a drawn out pat on the back & shameless self promotion of author’s own accomplishments.

[Andra Loy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some good points here, but the tone is off and parts are downright offensive.

[Laura Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esta es una guía hecha para guionistas y escritores con problemas a la hora de diseñar personajes coherentes y con relieve. Explica todo el proceso de creación de un personaje de ficción y puede resultar muy útil para artistas noveles.

Sin embargo, personalmente sólo he encontrado útiles los ejercicios propuestos por la autora y los últimos capítulos, ya que las tres primeras cuartas partes del libro tratan aspectos que ya había aprendido gracias a la experiencia y no me han enseñado nada nuevo.

[Margarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for quick tips on how to build memorable characters. It remained entertaining till the end, with Peck's over-the-top personality jumping repeatedly from the page and catching your attention. I can't say it was ground breaking--maybe because it was written 30 years ago--but it was good to revisit some basic concepts with new examples.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lark! A rollicking read that shows you exactly what a memorable character is. Though I disagree with some of his political views, this was a pleasure to read. His personality stole center stage and kept me turning pages, panning for gold. Eureka!

[W. Todd Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for the novice writer.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got through about 80% of this before I had to take it back to the library. I will not be checking it out again. While there are some useful tips and some good points (characters are important in story writing), the author's reference to himself in the third person and repetitive recommendations that we read his own books were a major turnoff.