Rating: 
Summary: At last, a writer's resource with MEAT!
Review: All I have to say, is what took you so long! Finally, an owner's manual for all the people in your life, as well as the characters running through a writer's imagination. Because of the organized way the information is presented, this reference can be used on the fly when a character might be giving a writer trouble or can be devoured as a whole. Without solid, 3-dimensional characters, a writer doesn't have a story and this resource is invaluable for helping a writer create story people that jump off the page and into a reader's life. Through the authors' masterful use of abundant examples, characterization is demystified. This resource puts a name to sixteen archetypes (eight female and eight male) that have existed throughout literature and film. This book is practical and incredibly interesting. If you write fiction, you'll want to have this book! I can't imagine having to do characterization without it! BRAVO, Caro, Sue and Tami!
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Summary: Open the book and see the possibilities
Review: Begin with Hero Archetypes and learn about the Chief or the Lost Soul or the Warrior. See what might make them tick. Move to your Heroine Archetypes to visit with the Free Spirit, the Nurturer or my favorite the Spunky Kid. Learn how they got to be who they are. Then you will learn how to use the Archetypes to Create Characters. As most writers understand, great characters are not one-dimensional and flawless. It is their layers that make them truly intriguing. Indiana Jones' fear of snakes made him believable. Finally play with Archetype Interactions and see how the Waif might react to the Professor type. What if the Waif were layered with the Librarian and the Professor had a bit of the Swashbuckler in him. What would these two encounter? Where would they take your story? Tami et al's book is invaluable to me. If I had no other book on characterization, I would be fine. My only quibble is that we didn't get the Villains, but Tami teaches a Villains Archetype class online as well as face-to-face. I just recently had the pleasure of taking that class with From The Heart Romance Writers. Put this on your "must have" list if you want rich, complex characters.
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Summary: Writing character driven fiction? This is the book for you!
Review: Cowden, LaFever and Viders have written a terrific book for authors of character driven fiction. Bit by bit they explain the character archtypes, give examples and how they interact with each other. It seems like a simple concept, but when I used the book to help me plot and plan my latest book, it really did help me focus on my main characters and their motivations and goals, as well as put them at odds with each other on several levels. Any writer can be sure that if this book is on their shelf, it will be well-used and well-read.
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Summary: Good characterizations
Review: Extremely useful, helpful thumbnail sketches of how certain "stock" characters might react to certain situations or in relationships with other "stock" characters. I think the value comes from layering the characteristics--otherwise, you might rely too heavily on a single portrayal and your writing would become stiff and unimaginitive. This does give you a place to start, and that is its best feature. It also sparks ideas for characters you might not otherwise have thought to write about. But it is sort of like baking from a cake mix--you have to add your own ingrediants to really make it work. I would definitely recommend it to a writer who finds that all of his or her characters tend to think or act alike.
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Summary: Just What I Needed. . .
Review: HEROES & HEROINES makes the process of getting to know my characters much faster, and also makes it easier to stay true to their character once I begin writing. I've used H&H twice now when I don't really have much of an idea for the story, maybe only a scene and I'm not sure of the characters. The keywords, descriptions, and examples always help shape both the character and the scenes to come by providing character templates to build upon. An excellent reference for any popular fiction writer.
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Summary: An Indispensable Tool for the Fiction Writer!
Review: I recently purchased a copy of this book for a writing class I'm taking. Little did I know what a little goldmine I'd found! The book is superbly laid out, easy to use and contains information that could fill a much larger volume (but doesn't -- that's the beauty of it and what makes it so handy!) The book is loaded with examples of the character types, from classic literature through familiar roles in current movies. These samplings allow for quick recognition and complete understanding. The book is a marvelous research tool that should help any author overcome writer's block or who is just trying to get a story going. I know I'll be using this little book for years to come. The authors better come out with a second edition before this one starts falling apart at the seams.
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Summary: Impressive Writer's Resource
Review: If there's a book that will give you good ideas about characterization is this. After some pages, new characters will appear in your head and you will see the old ones under a new light. Buy this if you make fiction. Literary or not.
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Summary: Great Archetype Reference Guide
Review: If you are looking for a book that will help you to outline your story, move your main player out of your mind and onto your paper and then journey your main character from point A to point B by using the right formulaic sidekicks and secondary players, this guide is written just for you. It may help you avoid the typical and strive for something a little more nuanced -- outside the usual box.
The authors mix and match 8 hero archetypes (the chief, the bad boy, the best friend, the charmer, the lost soul, the professor, the swashbuckler and the warrior) with 8 heroine archetypes (the boss, the seductress, the spunky kid, the free spirit, the waif, the librarian, the crusader and the nurturer) and come up with all the mathematically possible permutations along with hints about how to evolve characters with one main archetypal trait or characters with less definable layered archetypes. The authors freely use many familiar examples (not just tedious classic literary examples) to illustrate how such interactions successfully play off one another in today's popular films, books and television shows. (Ex: In the movie Blade Runner, Harrison Ford is the Warrior while Darryl Hannah is the Waif.)
Indeed, many of the examples are stereotypical and when you read them your reaction will most likely be, "Okay, this is a no brainer -- I am well aware of this archetype and can recognize it easily in film and books." While this may be true, it is wonderful to have this book where all the archetypes are already laid out for you in a marvelously straightfoward format -- as a reference guide so that time spent pondering over the myriad of personality related intereactions can now be spent on crafting a story with great dialogue, settings, tone and plot instead of worrying wheither or not the characters mesh or not. With this guide, that portion of the thinking is done for you -- you need only see what works for you by looking through the examples or by tweaking your characters after learning about certain reactions in order to facilitate outcomes primary to your plot.
On a purely fun level, this book gets 5 stars. I enjoyed categorizing the characters in the book and then applying the criteria to some of my own personal favorites.
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Summary: Eye-Opening and Entertaining
Review: In the quest of refining character, I have devoured a number of psychology texts and writer's guides, and I do believe that this one may be the best book on that topic I have ever discovered. I would quibble with Cowden, LaFever and Viders in their assertion that the 16 Master Archetypes are the only archetypes, but it's such a small point that it doesn't detract from what they present. Peppered with easily accessible examples, their book breaks down character into strong, clearly sketched components and then discusses how the palates may be blended--in individual character development and interpersonal relationships. I don't know if I would ever use any guide to create a character from scratch, but I'm always happy to find something to help me ensure that my characters behave consistently once they've been created. I expect this book to prove valuable for that, and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great
Review: Probably a handy reference for some but I found many of the examples to be trite or obvious. Can draw same character correlations just by observing people around you. A little too Psych 101 for my taste.
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