Even if you are an absolute natural at instilling your characters with life and believability, it is vital that you know the steps you are taking, unconscious though they may be, that make your characters seem plausible and alive. Card parses out exactly what makes the characterization in any story work.

The are chapters on description, motivation and growth are solid. Combined with the wonderful and numerous contrasting examples of good characterization/bad characterization, you will be able to go back to any story you've written and add, subtract and tweak your characters to make them leap off the page. Don't sell this book short because Orson Scott Card is primarily a writer of science fiction, either. This material will make absolutely any fiction a whole measure better.