Thank you to both NetGalley and Twelve Books for providing me an advance copy of the third installment in Robert McKee’s ‘on the art of fiction’ series， Character， in exchange for an honest review。 Character is an eponymously titled reference work on…drum roll please…creating characters。 The book is divided into four main sections that each contain one to three chapters， with the exception of part two which has ten chapters and is the primary focus of the work， namely， building characters。 Every Thank you to both NetGalley and Twelve Books for providing me an advance copy of the third installment in Robert McKee’s ‘on the art of fiction’ series， Character， in exchange for an honest review。 Character is an eponymously titled reference work on…drum roll please…creating characters。 The book is divided into four main sections that each contain one to three chapters， with the exception of part two which has ten chapters and is the primary focus of the work， namely， building characters。 Every chapter is then further split into bitesize subsections。 This format can be convenient for those who intend to use this book as a reference guide。Part one offers a discussion on characters versus humans。 The author posits that examining this dichotomy can train writers to become more observant， which in theory， will help them reach maximum creativity。 He also debunks the character versus plot debate in this section and explores the two grand theories （i。e。， intrinsic vs。 extrinsic） through the lens of various cultures。As mentioned， part two contains the meat of the work and is where the reader learns how to build unconventional characters。 The author uses a plethora of examples from various mediums to demonstrate how a writer can draw on inspiration that stems from five concentric spheres: external， internal， genres， backstories， and reality/self。 Chapter five includes some great examples of the “four selves” as applied to the cast of Mad Men; which I never watched， but the break down of each character using this method was intriguing。 He also conducts character studies of Odysseus and Tony Soprano in chapter nine to convey how multidimensional characters are created， as well as provides snippets of how a positive arc operates with the women from SATC。 This is just a quick summary for review purposes。 There are many more examples throughout the text。 Part three examines characters based on the genre of a work， their actions， and from the perspective of the intended audience。 Here， readers learn about the ten plots of fortune and the six plots of character， or alternatively， the sixteen primary genres。 There is a wealth of material in this section that may or may not be useful， depending on how advanced you are as a writer。Finally， part four looks at how to map and design a work’s cast of characters in a way that will benefit the protagonist or co-protagonists。 Fortunately， there are many case studies in this section to demonstrate how such character maps operate。 Just beware that if you have not read or seen something yet， there will be spoilers。In short， the idea of contradictions runs rampant throughout the text。 There are dozens of examples that the author pulls from， despite claiming that this is a “what is” and not a “how to” book。 There are also some bits of amusing commentary scattered in different sections， which a reader might miss if they are not paying close enough attention。 For me， those little jabs made it easier to tolerate some of the hyperbolic absolutisms being preached by the author in that he may not be as sanctimonious as those statements would lead one to believe。 Overall， fascinating work！ 。。。more