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Hi Saxon Scribes,

For this week in our annual theme discussion, I wanted to review a book I just read by Orson Scott Card called Characters & Viewpoint.

The short of it: this is a good solid book, not really brilliant or a game changer but still a worthy read for anyone but advanced professionals. Personally, I didn’t learn much new, but I really appreciated Card’s unique way of approaching subjects familiar to me in a way that helped me understand them even better. I also did pick up on two or so truly new ideas. Some of the

Some of the top points I appreciated about the book were:
. The four types of stories and how they influence characterization.
. “Attitude” — a really important subject I’ve only just started to come to grips with myself. He had some good thoughts on it. (Fyi, I prefer to use the term “disposition” as I think it’s more accurate, but that’s another subject.)
. His thoughts on what makes a character comic, believable, and other character qualities.
. His clear, easy to understand explanations of the different point of views.

If your schedule isn’t totally packed, I recommend you read it. My only cautions are that 1, it contains some language and 2, Card wrote one chapter which covers show don’t tell, but he didn’t cover the subject very well. His point is valid, but it is also exaggerated and not entirely reliable. Furthermore, he acted like there was only one form of telling, which is a misunderstanding. I don’t have time to go into all of this here, but basically just take his thoughts on show don’t tell with a grain of salt.

@mcnoggin @cindy @kate @elizabeth @girlsetfree @theresa-play @r-m-archer @literatureforthelight @livgiordano @lady-iliara @m_cornnemusic@j-parkhurst @gabbyj @sierra @cassandria