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b'All good fiction is built around a writer\\u2019s fascination with made-up people. And as practicing writers, we\\u2019re well aware that our characters should be more than \\u201ctalking heads\\u201d; they should have depth and range and complexity. But how does this happen? Part of it\\u2014the unteachable part\\u2014has to do with our own self-awareness. We understand our own flaws, contradictions, and virtues so well that we begin to understand people who are not ourselves. But another part comes down to technique. In this Eleventh Hour, John Dalton presents an array of helpful rules, suggestions, craft examples, and innovative ideas. Some of the ideas are John\\u2019s, but others have been harvested from a diverse range of writers: Gustave Flaubert, Emily St. John Mandel, Joyce Carol Oates, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. One example of vivid characterization comes from the life of a Titanic survivor.'