I can’t say for sure, but I think this book will earn a place on my writing table, where I can reach for it without getting up. The walls of my office are lined with bookcases, all crammed to overflowing with fiction and nonfiction I used for references. Only five books live within a fingertip’s reach: an unabridged dictionary, a hardbound thesaurus, the most recent AP Stylebook, a world atlas (sadly out of date) and a baby naming book. So if Writer’s Guide to Character Traits, by Linda N. Edelstein, can make the rent payment to live there, it’ll be something to brag about. And it’s already paid the first and last months rent and the security deposit, so all it has to do is keep up from month to month. Why is it so valuable? One of the things I most harp about, when I write critiques for new fiction writers, is that their characters don’t act believably. I could give you a specific example here that would make my point, but I will spare that poor young writer who had the unfortunate luck of being in a critique group with me and speak generally instead. People act in predictable ways, and while individuals do make their own choices, there are usually good reasons (or bad consequences) when someone does something entirely unexpected. And fiction has to accommodate. Actually, this is often a problem since real life doesn’t have to follow any rules at all except maybe Newton’s Laws of Motion. New writers often try to justify an oddity by saying, “But it really did happen that way! Hint: if you ever catch yourself saying that, stop immediately and note the spot. It needs to be changed. Even choice of careers follows pretty standard lines. Someone like me, for instance (interested in people and complex puzzles, bored easily, artistic and creative), would never take a job as a data entry person—or, if I did, would find it extremely stressful and probably not be successful. But how is a new writer to learn the ins and outs of human nature? Experience helps, that elusive gift gained only by the passage of time, but most of us want to write before we’ve gathered wisdom on that scale. Enter Edelstein’s book. “Edelstein, Ph.D.,” that is. Yes, it’s Dr. Edelstein. And no, I’m not saying it with a sneer because in this case, the title is significant. See, Edelstein is a psychologist, not a writer. Someone who understands human nature (at least as much as anyone does). So when she says children who witness domestic violence “can begin to believe (it) is normal and acceptable,” I can trust the statement and use my new knowledge to make my novel about domestic violence more believable. There are sections devoted to personality types, psychological and physical disorders, criminal behavior, sexual issues, relationship issues, and more. You can use the information to design new characters, brainstorm for plots or to check single facts. It’s designed in bite-sized pieces, so you can read straight through (try it in the bathroom) or as a reference. Much of the information is formatted to see at a glance: in tables, lists or bullet points, for instance. And sidebars add interesting details, like this one on P. 319: “in assessing monetary damages in court, injured male genitals were valued about three times as highly as female genitals.” And here I stop for a moment to raise my eyebrows (expressing shocked surprise as per P. 334), and then raise my lower eyelids and cheeks (expressing rage, also P. 334). OK, deep breath, back to the book… Some of the descriptions are a little simplistic and short, and I wish more occupations had been included, but at almost 400 pages, Character Traits is already longer than many references for writers. I also wish there were a standard index in addition to the “Big Index.” The Big Index is great for developing characters, as it is cross-referenced by character trait. But it’s much harder to find a specific detail. I remembered reading a description of the body language of a woman who is flirting—and I had to search through every page of the Body Language section to find it. My most significant objection, though, is to the “Warm ups,” writing prompts scattered among the information. For one thing, there are great books full of writing prompts, and Edelstein’s just don’t inspire me (the worst was P. 298, where she suggested having your character make a sale using three steps: find a prospect, set the stage and close the deal). But my real point is more positive. The information in this book is invaluable, and she could have included more if she’d left out the warm ups. I finished reading Character Traits yesterday at lunch. Last night, while revising a scene in East of Jesus, I needed to describe a woman flirting with a stranger, and I reached for Character Traits. It was downstairs, so I ran downstairs (all the way down and back up) to get the book before I continued. And that is why I think it will earn a place on my short stack of must-have references.