Creating Characters Kids Will Love by Elaine Marie Alphin (http://elainealphin.blogspot.com/)
Published by Writer’s Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio. 2000.
“Kids read because a magical closeness springs up between them and the characters in books and stories…They read because a writer has brought a character to life on the page for them.” (Introduction to Creating Characters Kids Will Love)
This book makes a promise to inform me with specifics and techniques of creating characters I want my readers to identify with. And it DELIVERS!
I give it 5 out of 5 highlighters!
Each section of each chapter of each unit contains numerous recommendations for me to “Read the Pros” who have succeeded in using the principle or technique Alphin explained in that section. Reading just a few of the recommended books kept my library card white hot for months.
Each section also contains several writing exercises (dubbed “Try it Yourself”) specific to that principle or technique. I actually DID some of them and they helped.
Alphin divides her book into four sections:
I believe that ug what I learned in Creating Characters has elevated my skills at creating, developing and revealing memorable characters.
Two big things that I have applied to my writing are:
Though I am nowhere near perfecting these two skills, Creating Characters explained and detailed them in a way that I could put them to work in my own manuscripts.