Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

"Writer's Guide to Character Traits" by Linda N. Edelstein (Writer's Digest Books, 2006)

I found reading cover-to-cover a slog, but that's not the way the book's intended to be read. In this 2nd edition, there's "Comprehensive instruction on how best to use this book" and "New Information" paragraphs (the latter detracting further from the readability). I'd have liked examples taken from literature. My favourite section was on "Group Influences". I made some notes -

  • "Adventurers" are often unaware of others' feelings, and have an overt interest in sex. "His preference for adventure over intimacy encourages women to compete for him" (p.180)
  • "Victims" translate their self-denial into social concerns
  • over-attachment is a manifestation of fear as much as love
  • depressed people seem "resentful about having to be a responsible adult"
  • People with schizophrenia may suffer from inability to smell certain things, specifically cheese and bananas (p.114)
  • A skyjacker "Often has religious mother" (p.135)
  • Fencers are Reserved, Aggressive, Autonomous, Experimental, and Creative
  • Female Tennis Players have a "Tendency to be conservative when young; older players are more radical" (p.289)
  • Writers are "Wounded; creates in order to heal own wounds, or old family wounds ... Dismissive of ordinary problems ... Not adaptable" (p.301)
  • "The basic conflict on entering any group is 'How much of myself do I surrender in order to belong?'" (p.309)

Other reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment