From serial killers to business tycoons to politicians, The Writer's Guide to Character Traits profiles the mental, emotional and physical qualities of dozens of different personality types. Featuring a highly accessible format, writers can mix and match the traits of specific personality types to create original, complex characters. Unique personality styles and types are profiled including psychopaths, cult members, overachievers, addicts, amnesia victims, social climbers, career criminals and philanthropists. In addition, this guide includes sections on child personality types; physical disorders that influence personality; and outlines of typical and atypical human development.
Stereotypes exist for a reason; usually, because there's an element of truth to them. With The Writer's Guide to Character Traits, psychologist-professor Linda Edelstein has created a kind of Psych 101 for Writers. Her goal is a "friendly reference" for writers who want "to create believable characters and need accurate information about personality and behavior." Sure, disparage it if you like. But wouldn't you like to know which of your protagonist's offspring is most predisposed to warming up to their new stepfather? What kind of criminal is likely to have a religious mother? The traits of people who commit suicide? Edelstein has included more than 400 lists: of traits associated with child development, psychological disorders, criminal styles, sexual styles, love and marriage, life-changing events, physical problems, career, and so on. "Even when a writer's imagination soars to places more fascinating than reality," says Edelstein, "characters must possess an internal cohesiveness; they must make sense." And let's face it: "People," she adds, "are more consistent than not." (With real-life character anecdotes from Edelstein's own work and a huge character-trait cross-referencing index at book's end.) --Jane Steinberg
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Wikipedia is the perfect place to "start" research.:
Consider for a moment Wikipedia; the much criticized and much debated online encyclopedia. Writers who respect the research process express concern and often hatred of this online information source. Until, they understand and accept its primary purpose. Wikipedia is the perfect place to "start" research. Think of this book as the perfect writing companion to assist you during the sketch of the story to be replaced by authoritative research after the completion of the first draft. Why slow down the... more info
Shortcuts to research - but the information provided is a shortcut itself:
I wish I'd given more attention to the reviews that weren't positive. The information in this book is comprehensive but cursory, and it wouldn't take very much work on a writer's part to find the exact same information by doing a few google searches, or checking out a more thorough book at their library drawn from the psychology section. Here's the bottom line: if you use the information presented to create your entire character, you will not sell a single book. you will have a book littered with... more info
Limited...:
Okay, you already have a character in mind, you know he's crazy by any number of trait markers that would be obvious to a six year old... let's say he gets drunk and falls down the basement stairs every weekend. Now, you want to put a name on it and come up with the plausible cause/effect chain of events that got him there, right? And you think you can find the answer in a book, right? If you've read Lajos Egri, you know it's not about the author/writer talking thru characters - it's about the... more info
Broke My Writer's Block:
I had just left my computer desk in sheer frustration, without adding a single word to the fictional novel I am trying to write. My problem is that the young characters in my book sound too much like the older, supposively more mature ones. About the third chapter, they began to lose their identities and personalities. I needed help! When I got on Amazon.com, I just typed in "writer's guide" and boom! There it was. This book, 'Writer's Guide to Character Traits' is written by a real psychologist, and the... more info
Privacy policy: we don't collect information
about visitors except for the standard technical server logs. We don't send unsolicited emails. We don't
sell the information that we don't collect about you to anyone. When you follow
links to other sites, their privacy policies apply. Thanks for visiting!
