Book Review: “What Would Your Character Do?” by Maisel and Maisel

I’m sure I’m not the only avid reader who has an idea rolling around in their head for a book they intend to write someday.

As is befitting a catholic reader such as myself, I have a whole raft of ideas for dozens of very different books.

Several are novels. One, I think, has the potential to actually be a decently interesting novel.

Of course, everyone has a novel idea in their head. The knack is getting it into print.

Which is why I try to snatch time here and there (these days, it’s rare) to bang out a few hundred words on this one novel that seems to show the most promise.

The problem is, while I’ve got an interesting-ish plot, I discovered not too far in that I really didn’t have a character. At least, not a character who wasn’t me.

Which is where you’ve found me out. Most of my plots start with me trying on a different life and playing “dress-up” in my imagination.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this until you try turning it into a novel. Face it, a novel with me as the heroine is just not a good idea.

Which is where Eric Maisel and Ann Maisel’s What Would Your Character Do? comes in.

In this imaginative writing helps book, the authors set up thirty different scenarios for you to plop your character (or characters) into. Then, they have a little quiz (a la women’s magazine personality quizzes) for you to answer about your character’s response to the scenario. The quiz includes an “interpretation” that explores what your character’s responses might say about what kind of a person they are. Next, the authors give some open-ended “what if” questions for you to answer to explore your character’s response to that or similar circumstances.

I completed just one scenario (and didn’t even dig too deeply into the open-eneded “what ifs”)–and already I feel like I know my character much better than I did before. My heroine is shaping into a real live person who isn’t me. And best of all, I’m back to writing (slowly, though-very, very slowly.)

Unlike many books on writing, which I find either distract from writing the story you really want to tell or get you focused on literary analysis instead of writing, this book is actually a useful tool for the writer of fiction (actually, I can see how it might be handy for the memoirist as well…)

I’m putting this on my Amazon wish list and will be periodically checking it out of my library until I finally get around to purchasing it. It’s really that good.

Rating:5 Stars
Category:Writing Reference
Synopsis:“What if” scenarios to plop your characters into
Recommendation: A marvelous writing reference that actually furthers your story. Huzzah for that!