Rating: 
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: This book is phenomenal for nearly any writer, because of the wide range of characters Seger uses as examples. She offers sage advice on making your characters unique and leaving a lasting effect on the reader/viewer. Readers of this book will undoubtly recognize every character referenced from movies, television and novels. I keep returning to this book repeatedly, trying to find an idea, a thought, a quality to give my characters. And it always works.
Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: This book is phenomenal for nearly any writer, because of the wide range of characters Seger uses as examples. She offers sage advice on making your characters unique and leaving a lasting effect on the reader/viewer. Readers of this book will undoubtly recognize every character referenced from movies, television and novels. I keep returning to this book repeatedly, trying to find an idea, a thought, a quality to give my characters. And it always works.
Rating: 
Summary: there are better books on characterization
Review: Unlike her book, Making a Good Script Great, this book is disappointing. Creating characters involves: "getting the first idea..., creating the first broad strokes, finding the core of the character...finding the paradoxes within the character..., adding emotions, attitudes, and values, adding details to make the character specific and unique" (p.23). These steps are then elaborated in separate chapters (although the elaboration consists mostly of extended examples of films most people--those who actually saw the films--would consider to be mixed bags at best, long series of autobiographical paragraphs, and extended quotes from screenwriters ruminating about their experiences in writing this or that character). Seldom is information actually added to that already given on page 23.
There are also chapters on backstory--use backstory only when you have to (p.56), minor characters, dialogue--"bad dialogue is difficult to speak...all characters sound alike...spells out every thought...simplifies people instead of revealing their complexity" (p.151), and nonrealistic characters. Also a chapter on avoiding stereotypes and other character problems such as unlikable characters and vague characters.
There is only enough actual information in the book to fill an article; but if you are a beginning screenwriter, this book (and many others) can be a help to you. The thing to be careful of is (a) emulating writing from movies that most viewers were lukewarm about. You want to learn the best techniques, not the mediocre ones. And (b) thinking that if you've read this book, you know all you need to know about characterization. You don't. Far from it.
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