Character

From the best-selling author of Story and Dialogue, McKee teaches what is not yet taught. He shines his unwavering analytical light on the structure and invisible sub-structure of dialogue. He takes a craft that is often considered instinctual or magical and reveals its chemical secrets. "I've been writing dialogue for forty years and McKee's observations have re-inspired me." — Terry Johnson, dramatist, Critics' Circle Theatre Award, Writers' Guild Award, Olivier Award, BAFTA.

Character is an excellent companion volume to Robert McKee's hugely successful Story and Dialogue. Divided into four parts (In Praise of Character, Character Creation, The Character Universe, and Character Relationships), Character has the primary purpose of enriching the reader's insight into the nature of a fictional character. It sharpens the creative techniques necessary to invent a complex cast of personalities, starting with the protagonist and then adding the first, second, and third tiers of supporting roles.

McKee uses scenes from classic films and television programmes, such as Sex and the City, Casablanca, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and Fawlty Towers, and the works of classical dramatists like Homer, Shakespeare, and Samuel Beckett, to demonstrate how characters are constructed and developed for page, stage, and screen.

"A character is a work of art – an emotive, meaningful, memorable metaphor for humanity, born in the mind-womb of an author, held safe in the arms of story, destined to live forever."

"Who has driven more deeply into character, structure & literary technique? Who else has inspired so many with his passion for the calling of the writer? Robert McKee is in a category of one." — Steve Pressfield, bestselling novelist, The Legend of Bagger Vance.