To read an exclusive interview with Orson Scott Card visit writersdigest.com/article/card-interview. --Book Jacket.

Includes index.

What is a character? -- What makes a good fictional character? -- Where do characters come from? -- Making decisions -- What kind of story are you telling? -- The hierarchy -- How to raise the emotional stakes -- What should we feel about the character? -- The hero and the common man -- The comic character: controlled disbelief -- The serious character: make us believe -- Transformations -- Voices -- Presentation vs. representation -- Dramatic vs. narrative -- First-person narrative -- Third person -- A private population explosion.