Creating Unforgettable Characters: A Practical Guide to Character Development in Films, TV Series, Advertisements, Novels & Short Stories

Before I read this book, I have to admit - my characters were all pretty lame. Then, hey, I read this book, and boom! Ok, so they still need work, but this book made me understand how to keep characters exotic, good, and believable.The first part of this book didn't interest me as much, because it was advising on how to make sure your characters are good on their background - of people who live in this world. This wasn't 'really' helpful for me, because I write fantasy in other worlds, but I picked up a few helpful things.Then came a section on Dialogue, which was good too - at the time I was reading it I didn't realize it, I thought it was a bit dull, but then I realized I had started taking the advice unconciously.But then came along the next part of the book, and I could hardly wait to pick it up each time. It explains greatly how to make sure your characters aren't hollow, and how they should respond in situations according to their attitudes and past life.This book I highly recommend to any author who feels his characters aren't to their full potential (or if they don't want to admit that, this book was fun to read as well).

This is one of the most detailed books on character psychology and development for storytelling that I've encountered. Most books out there seem to focus on plot. The holy trinity is premise, plot and characters. This book is a must have for anyone that takes writing seriously. It justly references another must have, "The Art of Dramatic Writing", by Lajos Egri. It's the one book that I would say really adds to Egri's work.

The book is an ok book. It is perhaps a better book for a beginner writer rather than an intermediate or advanced writer. The examples in the book are unfortunately very dated. Because the author uses examples so much to illustrate her point it makes the book less effective than if it were just general principles. If you have little to no training about character development the book is worth a read. Otherwise, it’s just ok.

This book is geared mainly for screenwriting, but it can be useful for novelists and short story writers as well. Linda Seger discusses character backstory, relationships with supporting characters, dialogue, and so on. Plus, there are interviews with today's leading writers across the spectrum. Her narrative is clear and easy to understand, with plenty of examples of both good and bad writing. Even though I'm not a screenwriter, I found this book very useful and entertaining.

Fixing the new HBO series, Luck. By the end of the first episode my wife was complaining that the characters were not engaging, particularly in comparison with Boardwalk Empire. One of the reviews says "starts off slow and picks up." When? The people who wrote Luck should have done more prep on the characters, and their bosses should have paid more attention. We can see that they learned the lingo of the track. So what? With the possible exception of the Nick Nolte character and the Latino trainer, the people in this series are little more than stick figures. The Irish jockette has possibilities. If you want to write for film or TV, buy this book and do the work.

Good advice, and while I don't subscribe to researching your character for 7 years as in "Witness" , but, again, people write in different speed. I would say, when a character "speaks" to you and by that I mean when you know exactly what they say and how they say it, and what would they do, which is exactly their nature, because you know them well - then it's the time you know them enough; be it just months or years.

I don’t know where to begin, but if you are ever interested in writing, this book is awesome! Seger really explains how to make these characters believable. I just read this book, and read another online book with her teachings in mind. With this, I could see exactly where the author got it right. I would highly recommend this if you want to start learning to write.-Abe’s Cakes

Creating Unforgettable Characters is a wonderful tool for writers because it goes into details about the amount of backstory that is appropriate and how to set it up and the traits and characteristics that should breathe life into the characters. This book has been extremely helpful to me and I have read it three times.

If you have ambitions to write films or tv dramas, or creative work in any other medium, Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger is a really helpful tool.

Great Book if you want to learn how to create deep characters.

Maravilloso libro para profundizar y trabajar los personajes de tu novela. Imprescindible donde quiere seguir aprendiendo.

Very nice and usefull for understanding and writing characters

Linda has written good book on this subject. I am writing a novel and it surely helps me on writing a great female counterpart for my leading male character.