writer's persona in book review

A 7-Step Guide To Building Your Author Persona

Before we begin, let’s break down the words. 

Author: The writer of a book, the face behind a writing piece, maker of the manuscript, wordsmith of a document, owner of an article, dramatist of an incident in terms of write-ups, correspondent of a topic, screenwriter of a movie, scriptwriter of a web series, biographer of a personality, novelist of a novel, reporter of a worldly issue, journalist of the events witnessed, poet of the stanzas, songwriter of a song, pen-pusher of letters, and columnist of a newspaper. 

Persona: A person’s personality, facade worn by a man or a woman, identity of an individual, mask put on by a person, the front portion of a human being, exterior guise adorned by a character, role played by someone, the personality of an actor, the image of a mortal soul, the public face of a fellow.

As we can see, an author can be so many things in so many ways. Therefore, an author’s persona is an ideal way to define who the author is. A good author persona can help communicate the background and personality of the author to the reader. The author’s persona is the projection of the author, their personality, and the person behind the words the readers have come to like. 

In the age of social media, it is easy to find out information about a particular author or person with just a few simple searches. However, the author’s persona is not just the author’s bio; it also gives insights that help resonate with the audience and create a brand!

This article will detail the step-by-step process of creating an author persona, which will help you to define the best brand for your book – YOU! 

What is an Author Persona?

Be it Earnest Hemingway, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen King, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, or modern-day authors like Dan Brown, John Grisham, Paulo Coelho, George Orwell, or Neil Gaiman, all these authors do not just have a fantastic storyline and narration, but a knack of creating stellar author personas. 

And it is not just authors who have a unique persona of their own; you can see it in public figures like Michael Jackson, Vincent Van Gough, and Pablo Picasso, who have created larger-than-life images. But have you ever wondered how much of their public version is actually true? Is Hemingway the man he showcases himself to be: regal, shotgun-wielding, drunk, adventurer-genius? Is Stephen King always wise and spooky, identifying the world’s fears and taking us on a rollercoaster ride? Or is he funny, wise, and a regular person?

The author’s persona is what you would call “’your brand,” the story, the emotion, or the real-life version of who you are. An author persona will help your readers better connect with you and create a unique brand that people will be drawn to. It can be based on the characters in your stories or be a version of you that considers all the emotions, instances, and experiences that make you “YOU.”

The author persona doesn’t have to be a mask you wear to create a whole new brand or something you hide behind. Instead, it can be an eccentric version of who you are, as real as you can be. Everyone’s persona is unique, so it is your personal story or brand that you want to communicate to your readers in the form of your persona.

How to Create Your Author Persona in 7 Steps

Now that you have understood the author’s persona let us dive into understanding seven easy steps to craft an author’s persona. 

1. Determine what you’d want to communicate with your audience

Remember when you fell in love with a book or a story and decided to look for the author? What is the information that you looked for? What was it about their story that instantly connected with you?

The author’s persona is a way for the writer to give the reader a glimpse of their personality and life. To craft the perfect persona, start by understanding what you want your readers to know about you. Depending on how you want to position yourself, you will need to look at several facets of your personality and craft a short bio that you want to share with your audience.

2. Understand your target readership or audience

Next, try to find out who your target audience is. What is it that they expect from the author or the writer? Your author’s persona should be such that your target audience can instantly connect with it and make you part of their tribe. 

While you may not always share the same age, gender, or have similar beliefs as your target audience, understanding their perspective and ensuring that your persona addresses them are vital to creating a good impression. 

For example, if you write children’s novels, you do not have to be their age to understand them. Just talk about the child within you, what compelled you to write, and the stories you have grown up with. 

3. Find out your unique strengths.

To write a stellar author or writer’s persona, it is a good starting point to answer some questions such as:

• What qualities about yourself do you like the most? Do you wish to communicate these qualities to your readers?
• What do your family and friends tell you about you? What is it about you that they like the most?
• How were you introduced to writing? What made you take the plunge in writing the book or article or pursuing a career in writing?
• What makes you, YOU?
• Who do you want to be in the near future?
• What’s the best thing about you?

Knowing your strengths is essential, as you can focus on and amplify them in your persona, allowing your audience to know just what makes you tick! 

4. Be open to talking about your weaknesses.

The most honest persona openly talks about a person’s flaws or weaknesses and accepts them. No one in this world is perfect, and your audience doesn’t expect you to be either. Instead, if you are open to sharing the ups and downs of your life, do that! 

It is always inspiring when someone you are in awe of tells you about the situations they have experienced, failures, or challenges of their own, and your audience will value you for being vocal about it!

5. Carve a niche

Every person is unique, and your persona should reflect that. It is important to identify your niche and focus on amplifying the person you are and the expertise you bring to the table for your persona to stand out. You can write about much, but focusing on your core proposition helps keep the persona short but impactful.

6. Have fun

Do you find the process of creating your persona tiring, tedious, or daunting? Writing about oneself is a tough job and will make you restless, but do not worry. Remember that you know yourself best. 

Instead of worrying about how it sounds or how your audience will perceive you, just make sure to relax and have fun! 

7. Do some soul searching

Finally, creating an author’s persona is an opportunity to do some soul searching and understand the multiple facets of your personality. Look deep within and uncover what you want to communicate with your readers. Ask questions like:

• What is my purpose?
• Why did I choose writing as my salvation?
• What is it that defines your writing?
• Where do you see yourself in a few years?

Source 

These questions will help you create a genuine author persona, which is essential for your readers.

As famous American Novelist David Guterson has said, “I have relaxed into my persona as an author, although I used to fight that.” That is truly the key to creating a stellar and real persona, just ease into it, and allow the magic that you can weave with your words to also reflect in the person you are! 

This blog should help you discover your unique writer’s persona and enable you to polish it until it feels natural and real. Enjoy the writing process, and remember, it is all about having fun and allowing your passion to take over! 

Key Takeaways

• The author’s persona is what you would call “your brand,” the story, emotion, or real-life version of who you are. An author persona will help your readers connect with you better and creates a unique brand that people will be drawn to.
• To craft the perfect persona, start by understanding what you want your readers to know about you.
• Next, try to find out who your target audience is. What is it that they expect from the author or the writer? Your author’s persona should be such that your target audience can instantly connect with it and make you part of their tribe.
• Know your strengths and play on them when writing your author persona.
• Also, do not just focus on the positives. If there are weaknesses or flaws you think will add value, go ahead and share them. 
• Finally, creating an author’s persona is an opportunity to do some soul searching and understand the multiple facets of your personality. Look deep within and uncover what you want to communicate with your readers.

The author’s persona is what you would call “your brand,” story, emotion, or a real-life version of who you are. An author persona will help your readers connect with you better and creates a unique brand that people will be drawn to. It can be based on the characters in your stories or be a version of you that considers all the emotions, instances, and learnings that make you “YOU.”

1. Determine what you’d want to communicate with your audience 2. Understand your target readership or audience 3. Find out your unique strengths 4. Be open to talking about your weaknesses 5. Carve a niche 6. Have fun 7. Do some soul searching

As a storyteller, the reader is genuinely interested in knowing the story behind the storyteller, and this is where an author’s persona comes into play. It tells the reader about the writer and their story, enabling them to better connect with the book, article, or any written piece. 

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Voice, Tone, and Persona

Enhance the likelihood that readers will respond favorably to your document by projecting an effective voice, tone, and persona.Voice, Tone, and Persona are slippery terms/concepts. In some instances, these terms can be used interchangeably, yet important differences do exist.

The term voice may be used to define a writer’s stance toward his subject or readers. For example, a writer could say, “I’m using a satirical (or humorous, condescending, patronizing) voice in this editorial.”

Alternatively, some writers and English instructors talk about a writer’s voice as a representation of the trueness of a document. An accomplished writer is said to have found his or her voice while a beginning writer is said to be searching for his or her voice. When used in this way, voice refers to the “trueness” or “honesty” or “authority” or “power” of a writer’s message. Back in the 1960s, some writing instructors suggested inexperienced writers needed to find their true voice–that each of us has a specific voice that we need to find, that voice is a powerful, mystical force that helps us convey truth or the inner quality of a topic.

When writers and English instructors talk about tone, they are typically referring to the author’s stance toward his or her readers and message. Specific documents or authors can be described as having a condescending, arrogant, pedantic, racist, confident, or satirical tone (or voice). In this way, tone is used interchangeably with voice, although tone does not refer to the “truth” of the writer’s message, unlike voice.

The term persona refers to an author’s use of a literary mask to hide his or her true opinion about a matter. For example, if you were writing about how you act while waiting in long lines, you might want to honestly inform your reader that you become a raging lunatic, that your heart rate doubles, and that you can keep calm only by doing sit-ups and push-ups. Yet if you are not proud of this type-A tendency, you might present the persona of a patient person who has mastered the ability to meditate calmly and think deeply about important issues when forced to wait in a seemingly endless line.

Different readers may make different assessments regarding a particular author’s voice, tone, and persona. An author may describe his tone as reasoned, thoughtful, and intelligent whereas the reader might dismiss the author’s text as biased, underdeveloped, or emotional.

Why Should You Consider Your Voice, Tone, and Persona?

Just as listeners make assumptions about your personality by observing how you dress and act and by listening to the tone of your voice, readers make judgments about your personality and feelings regarding a subject based on what and how you write. When you avoid use of the first person and personal references, readers make judgments about what kind of person you are and about your professional abilities. Readers make assumptions about how clever and fair a thinker you are by noting the quality of your reasoning, the words you choose, and the way you format your text. By noting an author’s examples, organization, and word choices, we might say, for instance, that he or she displays an opinionated, logical, or emotional persona. Problems such as spelling and punctuation errors or pronoun agreement errors can turn readers against you, making them consider you to be careless or uneducated.

Consider these questions when revising a document:

• What inferences about my personality do I want my readers to make?
• Given my audience and purpose, is it appropriate to express my feelings about this subject?
• Would it be more appropriate for me to project a strong, passionate tone, or should I try to appear more objective?
• Based on what I have written, what sense about my personality or feelings about the subject will readers be likely to infer?
• Have I used any words or examples that are emotionally charged and likely to alienate my readers?
• What personal examples should I add or delete to help my readers better understand me and my message?

Why Read Your Work Out Loud?

The challenge of juggling apparently unrelated ideas can be so great that you may overlook your voice or tone. When attempting to explain complex ideas and processes, you may understandably focus your critical energies on being coherent and logical. Yet, you might also remember that readers are people too, and they are likely to be swayed as much by their sense of how credible you are as by the logic of your argument. One trick that writers use to gauge the voice in a document is to read a manuscript aloud or to speak it into a tape recorder and then listen to how they sound.

Create an Energetic Voice

The vitality of a writer’s voice or persona often has a tremendous influence on readers’ responses. Sometimes readers say they enjoy a text because an author seems straightforward and personable. In contrast, sometimes readers dislike a book because the author seems stuffy or cold-hearted. As an example of the latter, note the “computer tone” in the following letter, which I received after the birth of my first child:

Thank you for cooperating with the hospital stay verification component of your Health Insurance Policy. The company has been notified of the patient’s emergency admission. The information submitted has been reviewed and a length of stay has been assigned. This emergency stay is certified for two days.

We remind you that the review of your hospital stay was limited to determining the appropriate length of stay for the emergency admitting diagnosis and did not question medical necessity. We further remind you that payment of benefits is still subject to the terms of your Health Insurance Policy.

Surely this is an impersonal, mechanical way to say that my newborn would be covered by my insurance policy–a fact that I already knew. Although the letter was signed by a person, it seems to have been written by a computer. If I had called this person on the phone, she probably would have said something like, “Congratulations on the birth of your baby. As you already know, your insurance covers expenses for two days of hospitalization. Enjoy that little one!” One message, two very different voices.

Trying to communicate your subject in a coherent way can be so overwhelming that you forget to consider the influence of your voice or persona on the reader.

Avoid a Pedantic, Passive Tone

Based on what you say, your readers will make judgments about whether you seem knowledgeable, educated, compassionate, angry, or confused. If you use excessive jargon, write extensively in the passive voice, fail to offer specific examples to illustrate your point, or do not elaborate on essential information, then some readers might consider you to be aloof or pompous, while others might assume that you are reluctant or unable to communicate.

Sometimes people believe they need to sound “academic” when they write; they don’t think they can simply be themselves and write naturally. Rather than trying to simplify their prose, they reach for a thesaurus and select the least understood or most impressive-sounding word. Here’s a sample of terribly technical language that a colleague of mine wrote to satirize the humorous elements of jargon-ridden prose:

Health is generally benefited by the voluntary ingestion of 4000 to 5000 ml of hydrogen hydroxide in each 24-hour period, distributed more or less equally across the time period in 250 to 500 ml units.

When you read this, it may at first seem sophisticated, enshrouded as it is in pseudoscientific garb. Yet, properly translated into readable English, it simply says, “Drink eight glasses of water a day.” Pretentious jargon and obscure language can at first be intimidating because the authors appear to be implying that we should understand the message. However, college-educated, critical readers are rarely impressed by vague, abstract language. For example, what do you think of the following prose, which is excerpted from a draft of a graduate student’s essay on language development?

An oral language production system is the first one learned by children. The task of learning a written language production system occurs when children enter school. A noticeable difference between these two systems is the presence of a conversational partner. This difference is significant when you compare speaking and writing at the level of continuous discourse. Conversational partners provide constant cues, such as to elaborate, to clarify, to keep a goal in mind, to stay on the topic, etc. Evidence of children’s dependence on conversational inputs when learning to write comes from observing effects of prompting children to continue, that is to take another conversational turn. Children are dependent to some extent on conversation interchange to develop a text. However, no conversational partner exists in written composition. Learning to write involves a transition from a language introduction system dependent on inputs from a conversational partner to a system capable of functioning autonomously. Without conversational supports, children have problems in thinking what to say, in making choices appropriate to a remote audience, in staying on the topic, and in producing an intelligible whole.

Clearly, this passage is weakened by jargon. A critical reader will wonder, for example, about the need for such terms as “oral language production system,” “continuous discourse,” or “conversational interchange.” More insidious in this example, however, is the abundance of passive constructions and lack of people-oriented references. For example, who is doing the observing in the following sentence: “Evidence of children’s dependence on conversational inputs when learning to write comes from observing effects of prompting children to continue, that is to take another conversational turn”? Also, take a look at the emptiness of the third sentence: “A noticeable difference between these two systems is the presence of a conversational partner.” Even with rereading, it is unclear whether the “oral language production system” or the “written language production system” has “the presence of a conversational partner.” Of course, the author could argue that everyone knows that conversation usually involves a dialogue between speakers while writing usually lacks such an exchange. Naturally, clever readers will see through the fog with a discerning eye and recognize that the writer’s ideas are in fact relatively simple:

Perhaps children don’t learn to write until they enter school because writing demands more than speech. Whereas children can easily develop their ideas through dialogue—that is, by listening to queries and comments and suggestions from other speakers—they must conceptualize an audience when they write.

Ultimately, however, if you think about the gist of this writer’s message long enough, it becomes so obvious that you wonder about the need to say it at all. Surprisingly, you will often find this to be the case: pedantic, long-winded speakers and writers are often hiding simple concepts behind verbal smoke screens. Thus, when you read, remember to be a critical reader.

Adapted from Consider Your Voice, Tone, and Persona  by Joseph M. Moxley ( Writing Commons ) licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Check Your Understanding

Writing as Critical Inquiry Copyright © by Keri Sanburn Behre, Ph.D. and Kate Comer, Ph.D. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Use Persona

I. What is Persona?

Have you ever tried to make a particular impression upon people? Such as when giving a presentation or meeting new people? Perhaps you tried to speak and act a little differently than you would if you weren’t trying to make any impression; in other words, you might have used your voice, appearance, and body language to present a particular personality to people.  This personality, that you present to people, is a kind of persona (pronounced ‘per-SO-na’).

Persona is a Latin word for a type of mask that was worn by stage actors at that time, which represented their character.  Nowadays , persona can refer to the characters in any dramatic or literary work.  But it has another special meaning in literary studies, where it refers to the voice of a particular kind of character—the character who is also the narrator within a literary work written from the first-person point of view.

Finally, in psychology, a persona is the “mask” (the personality) that you present to the world, the role you play in public.

Simply, a persona is a personality.

The plural of persona is personae (pronounced ’per-SO-nigh’)

II. Examples of Personae

In terms of social / psychological personae, many politicians present the persona of being conscientious (caring and honest) and responsible. They want to be seen as caring about the people they represent, whether this is true or not.

For another example, the persona I use in front of the child I babysit is different from the one I use in front of my school-friends.  Most people show a different persona when working than with friends.

In terms of literary personae, T.S. Elliot is well known for the unique personae of the narrators of some of his poems, such as the persona of J. Alfred Prufrock, who narrates the poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”  Another unique persona is the un-named femal narrator of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” There is a good reason that we use the special word persona for these narrator-characters; we only know them through their own words and thoughts, so we only know the persona they are presenting to the reader.

And don’t forget that the word is also used to refer to the characters in a dramatic production; the first character listed in the dramatis personae for Shakespeare’s Hamlet is Claudius, the King of Denmark.

III. Types of Persona

There are not really “types” of persona , only the different meanings of persona; once again:

a. Character

If you look at the beginning of any play, you will see the “dramatis personae,” the list of all of the characters, the personae. Novels also have dramatis personae, although they are usually not listed. Some novels might show you an illustration of a family tree. Every work of literature, dramatic, prosaic, or poetic has characters, or at least one—the narrator—at minimum. Every literary work has personae.

When an author writes a first-person narrator, he or she needs to adopt a particular “voice”—a verbal personality for that narrator. This is also a persona. But only when the narrator is a character—even if we don’t know their name. To be a persona, the narrator must simply have a personality and identity which is not supposed to be that of the actual author.  We don’t use the word persona for the voice of the actual author.

c. Public (fake) personality

When you go out in public, you dress a certain way, talk a certain way, act a certain way. All of these behaviors change, depending upon whom you meet and what impression you want to make on them. These personalities are your public personae.

In addition, there are generic personae—personality types; we have specific ideas about how certain people should look and behave. A teacher should be like this . . .  A doctor should be like this . . .  A pirate is like this . . . These are also personae.

IV. The Importance of Using Personae

The importance of using persona has been discussed since ancient times. “Aristotle in the Poetics says that the poet should say very little in propria persona (in his own voice), as he is no imitator or poet when speaking from himself.” What this means is that in works of fiction (prosaic, poetic or dramatic) the author must put her own personality aside, and become a character—the narrator. This is because every word you write should be part of the art of your creation; there is no place for your real self in a piece of fiction; you should use the role of the narrator to further entertain and enlighten the reader.

Personae are also important because they are a part of how we interact with others in our lives. In front of your parents, you adopt one persona. In front of your friends, another. In front of your teachers, a third. These personas may be vastly different, or they may be similar, but they are all personas.

Using personae in your writing is important because characters must have unique personae, with different feelings and voices than you have; otherwise they would really all be you!

V. Examples of Persona in Literature

Examples of persona can be found in dramatic literature, poetry and prose.

Example 1: Dramatic Literature (plays)

This is the list of Dramatis Personae for Shakespeare’s Romero and Juliet :

Montague, Capulet,  heads of warring households Romeo,  son to Montague Mercutio,  kinsman to the prince, and friend to Romeo Friar Laurence, Friar John,  Franciscans An Apothecary Lady Montague,  wife to Montague Lady Capulet,  wife to Capulet Juliet,  daughter to Capulet Citizens of Verona; Maskers, Guards, Watchmen, and Attendants

Example  2: Poetry

In his poem, Annabel Lee , Edgar Allan Poe uses a persona to tell his story. Poe wrote the poem, but he is not the “me” who is speaking in it. That “me” is another character, another voice.

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.

Example  3: Prose

Tracy Chevalier writes historical fiction. These are fictional stories based upon historical events. In her novel, Girl with A Pearl Earring , Chevalier takes on the persona of a girl named Griet and writes the novel so that it seems as though Griet is narrating her own story:

My mother did not tell me they were coming. Afterwards she said she did not want me to appear nervous. I was surprised, for I thought she knew me well. Strangers would think I was calm. I did not cry as a baby. Only my mother would note the tightness along my jaw, the widening of my already wide eyes.

VI. Examples of Persona in Popular Culture

Look at most social groups, especially in High School; they are defined in terms of stereotypes , which have personas associated with them. Here is a list you might recognize: jocks, goths, nerds, punks, rebels, drama queens, and hippies. The list goes on.  Of course, people aren’t really stereotypes; there are nerds that get bad grades and jocks who make art! But these stereotypes have personas associated with them that we all recognize and can even put on and off.

Performers almost always use personas. We can see this easily when looking at musicians. Many rappers use the “gangsta” persona, like Snoop Dogg or Dr. Dre.  Gorillaz is a virtual band that uses a totally fictional persona, depicted through animation. Each member of the classic 1970’s band, The Village People, had a different persona: native American, soldier, biker, construction worker, policeman and cowboy.

Celebrities do, and to a certain extent, MUST adopt personas. If you go to a book or album signing for your favorite writer or performer, you want to meet the idealized version of this person. You are not there to hear about how normal they are, or how they have a headache or how tired they feel. You want to see the stage version. Celebrities are by definition personas. They are larger than life. They exist apart from reality.

You can also find examples of literary-like personas in television shows and movies, when a show is narrated by a character, such as in Mr. Robot .  Or in shows that have a host.  For example, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert have both become famous for their personae, because they host their non-fiction comedy shows in the roles of ultra-right-wing commentators, although their real political views are more left-wing.

VII. Related Terms

“The attitude toward the subject expressed in a work. Tone usually is understood as the author’s attitude but need not be identified with the author.”

The voice an author uses when writing, usually their own writing style or point of view.

• Point of View

When you write, you can use three different points of view: first person (I), second person (you), or third person (he or she).  Whichever point of view you use, the narrator has a persona, but since in the third-person point of view, the narrator is supposed to be the author, usually we only talk about persona for first-person narratives .  However, even a third-person narrator can have a persona which is not that of the true author.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website

Table of Contents

Ai, ethics & human agency, collaboration, information literacy, writing process.

• © 2023 by Joseph M. Moxley - University of South Florida

Persona in writing shapes the perspective through which ideas, characters or individuals are understood, blending foundational roles like 'The Hero' or 'The Rebel' with personal histories and motivations. In writing, t's the intersection of your backstory with your values, strengths, interactions, and goals that lends depth and context. This article explores the myriad ways personas shape our daily interactions, stories, and self-presentations. Gain insights into how you can effectively craft an appropriate and effective persona.

Persona is a multifaceted representation of how an individual, literary character, or entity portrays their identity to the world. It’s about masks, roles, and how these shift depending on context.

Persona in writing and communication is a complex construct of characteristics that define how an individual, character, or entity is presented. Specifically, it entails:

• Role and Archetype: Foundational character types or roles, such as ‘The Hero,’ ‘The Mentor,’ or ‘The Rebel,’ offer a primary lens for understanding behavior, responses, and motivations in a narrative or real-world context.
• Background and Experience: Every individual or character carries a backstory, a history that impacts current decisions, actions, and worldviews, granting depth and context to their persona.
• Values and Motivations: Beyond mere actions, the driving forces behind decisions and behaviors are deeply tied to the core beliefs, principles, and desires that guide an individual or character.
• Strengths and Vulnerabilities: These inherent attributes influence interactions, reactions, and decisions. They shape the nature of the persona’s engagements, whether leading to success, conflict, or growth.
• Interactions and Dynamics: How a persona connects with others, the nature of their relationships (friendly, adversarial, neutral), and the quality of their engagements play a crucial role in defining them.
• Physical and Emotional Attributes: Observable traits and internal emotions, moods, and feelings add layers of depth, making the persona relatable, distinctive, or memorable.
• Goals and Aspirations: |What the persona aims for, their dreams, ambitions, or objectives, defines their journey, guiding their decisions and actions in various scenarios.

Key Concepts: Rhetorical Reasoning ; Rhetorical Stance ; Customer Discovery ; Venture Design .

Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception. Niccolo Machiavelli

Persona from a Rhetorical Perspective

For writers, persona functions as a rhetorical tool: writers meticulously engaged in rhetorical analysis , rhetorical reasoning , and customer discovery to determine the persona they need to project to accomplish their aims of discourse . For instance,

• a politician could pander by attempting to appear religious when the last time he viewed a church was watching the Exorcist or The Two Popes .
• a self-assessed introvert could present herself as an extrovert when applying for a job as a salesperson or some other sort of role that involves dealing with the public.
• a writer who views a topic to be deadly serious (e.g., environmental degradation) could use humor or satire to lighten the tone of their text.

Adopting a persona is not necessarily disingenuous. The politician could be deeply concerned about representing her constituents. The car salesman could really care that he finds the car that fits your needs and desires.

Persona as a Subjective, Interpretative Framework

Readers, right or wrong, make judgments about who you are based on their interpretation of your persona. Communication is invariably a psychosocial, semiotic process . At one level, you cannot control the interpretations of your audience. As a rhetor you may consider your tone and voice as reasoned, thoughtful, and intelligent whereas the reader might dismiss your text as biased, underdeveloped, or emotional.

Yet because your persona may play a big role in establishing whether your audience will give sufficient time to reflect on your persona–and to ask different readers to give you feedback on whether the tone of a particular text is appropriate and effective.

Persona in Literature

Persona in literature refers to a a mask, a role, a performance, which someone (a person, a literary character) projects to others in response to a particular exigency and rhetorical situation .

In 1895, Vladimir Propp, a Soviet folklorist and structuralist, analyzed hundreds of traditional Russian fairy tales to identify recurring plot structures and character roles. From his work, he delineated a set of character roles, often termed “spheres of action,” that appear consistently in tales. 

• The Hero: Often the protagonist, embarking on a quest or challenged to prove their worth.
• The Villain: Opposes the hero, creating the central conflict in the narrative.
• The Donor: Provides the hero with a magical object or crucial piece of knowledge.
• The Helper: Assists and supports the hero throughout their journey.
• The Princess (or Prize): Typically the hero’s objective; their plight often prompts the hero’s journey.
• Her Father: Can act as an impediment to the hero or as the individual setting the task for the hero.
• The Dispatcher: Sends the hero on their quest.
• The False Hero: Initially perceived as good, their true nature is revealed as deceitful or malevolent.

Persona in Customer Discovery & Usability

In Customer Discovery as well as Usability Studies , two common empirical research methods, persona (sometimes Customer Persona or User Persona ) refers to a type of user who represents a cohort of other users. Founders/Developers/Investigators engage in customer discovery or venture design in order to better understand the problem space from the customer’s point of view . By interviewing loads of customers, they hope to identify how the user navigates the problem space. They talk one-on-one with customers to understand what each customer thinks, sees, feels, and does when facing a problem in a problem space . Then, over time, after repeated customer discovery interviews, founders/developers/investigators look for patterns in customer interviews. They come to divide customers into customer segments by examining how the customer navigates the problem space. For example, when interviewing customers about their experiences learning new technologies for his research study on what influences people regarding their adoption of new technologies, Everett Rogers (2003) theorized there are five major types of consumers:

• Early Adopters
• Early Majority
• Late Majority

In the world of product design and marketing, a persona shifts its meaning to represent a specific user demographic. This profile, often crafted from research and interviews, amalgamates preferences, habits, and needs of similar users, providing designers with a blueprint of who they’re catering to with a product, application, or service.

Propp, V. (1927). Morphology of the Folk Tale . Trans., Laurence Scott. 2nd ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968.

Rogers, E. M. (2003).  Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.

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What is a Persona? || Oregon State Guide to Literary Terms

"what is a persona": a literary guide for english students and teachers.

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What is a Persona? Transcript (English subtitles available in video)

By Walter Moore

1 April 2021

As we learned from JT Bushnell’s “What is a Narrator?” video, when we read fiction, we should not assume that the work of literature has been written in the voice of the creator of the document.  The same goes for poetry.  Consider this poem by Billy Collins called “The Revenant”:

I am the dog you put to sleep, as you like to call the needle of oblivion, come back to tell you this simple thing: I never liked you--not one bit.

When I licked your face, I thought of biting off your nose. When I watched you toweling yourself dry, I wanted to leap and unman you with a snap…

You’ll notice that this poem is not written in the voice of the poet Billy Collins. Instead, Collins has chosen to write in the first-person voice of a deceased dog who has returned from the dead (as “the revenant”) to make his confessions and explanations—a final word of sorts in a voice that is not the poet.

In poetry, this literary device is what we call persona.

billy_collins_revenant_persona.jpg

Persona derives from the Latin, meaning mask, or more specifically a mask in the theater or on the stage. The employ of persona has been around for centuries, but people did not use the term until the middle of the 18th Century—and they only used it then to describe characters in stage plays. In the 19th Century, the literary scope widened and the term persona was used to describe particular poems, short stories, and novels.

More recently, in the 20th and 21st Centuries, we have used the term beyond literature to describe politicians, pop stars, and other celebrities who project a public image or, in some extreme cases, an alter ego, that drastically differs from a private identity, sometimes to the point of bizarro delusion. Just think of people such as Norma Jeane Mortenson as Marilyn Monroe, Robert Zimmerman as Bob Dylan, David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust, Stephani Germanota as Lady Gaga, Niki Minaj as countless characters and/or identities, or just consider the persona of pretty much anyone in the United States Congress.

lady_gaga_persona.jpg

Famous literary examples of persona abound. We think about William Blake writing in the voice of a young chimney sweeper, or Sylvia Plath writing in the voice of Lady Lazarus, or Gwendolyn Brooks writing in the voice of teenagers who have skipped school to play pool at a bar.

As you read, ask yourself what the effect is of any given literary persona? Who is the speaker? Who is the “I” of the poem or story? Is the poet or writer being ironic ? Is the persona a vehicle for parody or satire ? Is the persona in the form of a monologue or soliloquy ? Is it written as stream-of-consciousness ? More broadly, by using a voice of a person or thing that is not themselves, what message is the poet or writer trying to convey? Why did they make this narrative choice?

In the poem “The Revenant,” Collins conveys the message that sometimes human dog owners are perhaps too self-involved to completely know what their dogs need or even want—that there is often a communicative disconnect between a dog and its owner. Collins could have written this message in the voice of a dog owner or at least in the voice of some “woke” human, but the message wouldn’t have been as convincing probably. At the very least, it wouldn’t have been as funny.

Given all of this—just think, generally, anytime a writer or an artist writes or speaks or presents themselves in the voice of someone (or even something) else, it is considered an exhibition of persona.

Want to cite this?

MLA Citation: Moore, Walter. "What is a Persona?" Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms, 1 Apr. 2021, Oregon State University, https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-persona . Accessed [insert date].

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Book Reviews

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews.

What is a review?

A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of literature, architecture, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews. For a similar assignment, see our handout on literature reviews .

Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work’s creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:

• First, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
• Second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
• Finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.

Becoming an expert reviewer: three short examples

Reviewing can be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your opinion about something that you may feel unqualified to evaluate. Who are you to criticize Toni Morrison’s new book if you’ve never written a novel yourself, much less won a Nobel Prize? The point is that someone—a professor, a journal editor, peers in a study group—wants to know what you think about a particular work. You may not be (or feel like) an expert, but you need to pretend to be one for your particular audience. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the work’s creator, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.

Consider the following brief book review written for a history course on medieval Europe by a student who is fascinated with beer:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, investigates how women used to brew and sell the majority of ale drunk in England. Historically, ale and beer (not milk, wine, or water) were important elements of the English diet. Ale brewing was low-skill and low status labor that was complimentary to women’s domestic responsibilities. In the early fifteenth century, brewers began to make ale with hops, and they called this new drink “beer.” This technique allowed brewers to produce their beverages at a lower cost and to sell it more easily, although women generally stopped brewing once the business became more profitable.

The student describes the subject of the book and provides an accurate summary of its contents. But the reader does not learn some key information expected from a review: the author’s argument, the student’s appraisal of the book and its argument, and whether or not the student would recommend the book. As a critical assessment, a book review should focus on opinions, not facts and details. Summary should be kept to a minimum, and specific details should serve to illustrate arguments.

Now consider a review of the same book written by a slightly more opinionated student:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 was a colossal disappointment. I wanted to know about the rituals surrounding drinking in medieval England: the songs, the games, the parties. Bennett provided none of that information. I liked how the book showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost in the details of prices and wages. I was more interested in the private lives of the women brewsters. The book was divided into eight long chapters, and I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to read it.

There’s no shortage of judgments in this review! But the student does not display a working knowledge of the book’s argument. The reader has a sense of what the student expected of the book, but no sense of what the author herself set out to prove. Although the student gives several reasons for the negative review, those examples do not clearly relate to each other as part of an overall evaluation—in other words, in support of a specific thesis. This review is indeed an assessment, but not a critical one.

Here is one final review of the same book:

One of feminism’s paradoxes—one that challenges many of its optimistic histories—is how patriarchy remains persistent over time. While Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 recognizes medieval women as historical actors through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the advent of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a “patriarchal equilibrium” shut women out of economic life as well. Her analysis of women’s wages in ale and beer production proves that a change in women’s work does not equate to a change in working women’s status. Contemporary feminists and historians alike should read Bennett’s book and think twice when they crack open their next brewsky.

This student’s review avoids the problems of the previous two examples. It combines balanced opinion and concrete example, a critical assessment based on an explicitly stated rationale, and a recommendation to a potential audience. The reader gets a sense of what the book’s author intended to demonstrate. Moreover, the student refers to an argument about feminist history in general that places the book in a specific genre and that reaches out to a general audience. The example of analyzing wages illustrates an argument, the analysis engages significant intellectual debates, and the reasons for the overall positive review are plainly visible. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can agree or disagree.

Developing an assessment: before you write

There is no definitive method to writing a review, although some critical thinking about the work at hand is necessary before you actually begin writing. Thus, writing a review is a two-step process: developing an argument about the work under consideration, and making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported draft. See our handout on argument .

What follows is a series of questions to focus your thinking as you dig into the work at hand. While the questions specifically consider book reviews, you can easily transpose them to an analysis of performances, exhibitions, and other review subjects. Don’t feel obligated to address each of the questions; some will be more relevant than others to the book in question.

• What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
• What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
• How does the author support their argument? What evidence do they use to prove their point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you’ve read, courses you’ve taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
• How does the author structure their argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
• How has this book helped you understand the subject? Would you recommend the book to your reader?

Beyond the internal workings of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the circumstances of the text’s production:

• Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the biographer was the subject’s best friend? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events they write about?
• What is the book’s genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or literary standard on which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know. Keep in mind, though, that naming “firsts”—alongside naming “bests” and “onlys”—can be a risky business unless you’re absolutely certain.

Writing the review

Once you have made your observations and assessments of the work under review, carefully survey your notes and attempt to unify your impressions into a statement that will describe the purpose or thesis of your review. Check out our handout on thesis statements . Then, outline the arguments that support your thesis.

Your arguments should develop the thesis in a logical manner. That logic, unlike more standard academic writing, may initially emphasize the author’s argument while you develop your own in the course of the review. The relative emphasis depends on the nature of the review: if readers may be more interested in the work itself, you may want to make the work and the author more prominent; if you want the review to be about your perspective and opinions, then you may structure the review to privilege your observations over (but never separate from) those of the work under review. What follows is just one of many ways to organize a review.

Introduction

Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a catchy quip or anecdote that succinctly delivers their argument. But you can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. The Writing Center’s handout on introductions can help you find an approach that works. In general, you should include:

• The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
• Relevant details about who the author is and where they stand in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject to show how the title explains the subject matter.
• The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your “take” on the book. Perhaps you want to situate a book about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold War rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the book in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your choice of context informs your argument.
• The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely have explicit arguments. But identifying the book’s particular novelty, angle, or originality allows you to show what specific contribution the piece is trying to make.
• Your thesis about the book.

Summary of content

This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you’ll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.

The necessary amount of summary also depends on your audience. Graduate students, beware! If you are writing book reviews for colleagues—to prepare for comprehensive exams, for example—you may want to devote more attention to summarizing the book’s contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the book—such as a class assignment on the same work—you may have more liberty to explore more subtle points and to emphasize your own argument. See our handout on summary for more tips.

Analysis and evaluation of the book

Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement can be challenging when your purpose is to consider the book as a whole, but it can help you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more clearly. You do not necessarily need to work chronologically through the book as you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book. If you find it useful to include comparisons to other books, keep them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight. Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in parentheses when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author’s points in your own words.

Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis. This paragraph needs to balance the book’s strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? The Writing Center’s handout on conclusions can help you make a final assessment.

Finally, a few general considerations:

• Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written. You can and should point out shortcomings or failures, but don’t criticize the book for not being something it was never intended to be.
• With any luck, the author of the book worked hard to find the right words to express her ideas. You should attempt to do the same. Precise language allows you to control the tone of your review.
• Never hesitate to challenge an assumption, approach, or argument. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
• Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You’re entitled—and sometimes obligated—to voice strong agreement or disagreement. But keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every author deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to prove and can give readers the sense that you were unfair in your assessment.
• A great place to learn about book reviews is to look at examples. The New York Times Sunday Book Review and The New York Review of Books can show you how professional writers review books.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Drewry, John. 1974. Writing Book Reviews. Boston: Greenwood Press.

Hoge, James. 1987. Literary Reviewing. Charlottesville: University Virginia of Press.

Sova, Dawn, and Harry Teitelbaum. 2002. How to Write Book Reports , 4th ed. Lawrenceville, NY: Thomson/Arco.

Walford, A.J. 1986. Reviews and Reviewing: A Guide. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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What is a Persona — Definition & Examples in Literature & Art

I t’s not so much that there are different types of personas so much as there are different interpretations of the word. An artist’s persona, a literary work’s personae, or the persona a writer takes on in a written work. So what is a persona exactly? And how do you know when you’re looking at one? Take a look at our definition and examples below to learn why all of these interpretations are correct, and how they each influence art of all media. 

What is Persona?

First, let’s define persona.

We run into different personae on a daily basis. Whether through the art we consume or the people we meet. But if you need to define it more concretely, here’s what we suggest:  

PERSONA DEFINITION

What is a persona.

A persona is typically the person understood to be speaking or narrating a given work. The persona is often intended to be someone other than the author of that work, even if we never learn who the persona is. The persona, pluralized as personae or personas, is a chosen voice by which a work or story is told, always for a storytelling purpose. A persona can also be a character or mask someone (like a performer, for instance) puts on for the purpose of elevating their work and/or concealing their own identity. 

Persona examples: 

• A book’s narrator
• Beyonce’s alter ego Sasha Fierce
• Public-facing behaviors and personalities which may shift depending on whom you are surrounded by

Implementing personae is a common literary tool. In fact, it's so common that you’ve likely seen it a million times and had no idea (especially if you’re an avid reader). In literature, a persona is frequently the voice by which your narration is told. Consider for example the Harry Potter book series. 

Clearly, the novel is written by J.K. Rowling. However, the voice explaining the action is not J.K. Rowling herself. It’s never revealed who the voice is, nor is it meant to be any kind of mystery necessarily. But we know the voice is not Harry’s (or any other character’s for that matter). We also know it is not intended to be Rowling’s.

Rowling is not meant to be an omniscient witness to the events of Harry’s life. Therefore, the voice of the narrator is a conduit for the reader. Sometimes, the narrator will be a character from the story (whether a reliable narrator or unreliable narrator ), but if not, you’re reading through the author’s persona. 

This is the more common interpretation of personae as a literary device . Check out the video below for more on how else it translates into other written works. 

Persona as a Literary Term

As you can see, persona comes into play with poetry, just as much as it can with works like novels and even lyric-writing. This can perhaps be attributed to the notion that much of our storytelling norms come from Aristotle’s Poetics . In that book, Aristotle emphasizes the importance of an artist separating themselves from their work in order to lend every part of their efforts, and thus themselves, to their story. Which brings us to the next section.

Characters or Personae

Persona as a character.

A number of iconic performers would do Aristotle proud. And that’s because this concept is very popular with musicians in particular. What’s particularly interesting is that artists carry out their personas in their own special way, never necessarily beholden to a set of rules or norms. 

For example, Lady Gaga is Stefani Germonatta’s stage name. Whether she is in a film or in concert, Lady Gaga is the name in lights (or credits), not Stefani Germonatta. David Bowie took on a whole new persona for each era of his music. In fact, he may be responsible for some of the most iconic performer personae of all time.

Check out this video to see how these identities were integral to his career. 

David Bowie's Personae

Of course, many of us don’t necessarily utilize persona on David Bowie’s level (no matter how much we wish we could). But, as human beings, we inherently understand the concept of identity. In this way, characters within our own works would understand the concept of persona as well. 

Persona is, at its core, the fact that humans behave a certain way. Our actions, our personality, our “mask” is our persona, which can change depending on whether we are alone, with parents, with coworkers, or with friends. But just because our persona can change, doesn’t mean it always will. Your characters also fall somewhere on this spectrum, so it’s worth considering when you’re designing your characters or narrators. 

What is Personification?

You’ve mastered persona, but don’t get it twisted: personification is its own thing entirely. Click the link below to learn about personification, and understand how it fits into your literary technique arsenal.

Up Next: Personification Explained →

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Whether you write romance novels or space operas, self-help or poetry, business advice or kidlit, you have an author persona! Identifying your persona can give you insights into your process, illustrate what inspires you, and help you stay focused on your goals. 

Read on to find out about different author personas and those of your writing friends and colleagues. You never know what might speak to you or what might encourage you to take your writing to the next level!

The rainy-day romantic

You are a rainy-day romantic! If there’s anything you like more than watching raindrops spatter against your windowpane, it’s writing a beautiful description of raindrops glistening like little opals on glass. Or of tiny seed pearls sewn into the lace of a cuff. Or of how the clink of silver on china sounds like lost hope. Your voice is expressive and poetic, and you write lush, lovely books that transport readers to beautiful places and times while taking their hearts on emotional rollercoasters.

If you’re a rainy-day romantic, you might be a little worried about how often you find yourself lost in your daydreams, but embrace that tendency! It’s part of what feeds your creativity. Try journaling what goes through your mind at idle moments or keep a vision board of beautiful pictures and phrases that inspire you. 

Your love of beauty means that when the time comes, getting your book’s cover design just right will be key—and then a video book trailer will let you captivate your readers with a few choice words and images drawn from your active imagination. 

Schedules might not work for you, so lean into your writing when the literary muse finds you, and at other times, engage with other aspects of your artistry! Paint, sing in the sunshine, dance in the rain—just create!

The coffee-shop connoisseur

You are a coffee-shop connoisseur! Fueled by java and the warm buzz of human connection, you often find there’s nothing like a little overheard conversation to invigorate your writing. You’ve long-since figured out which table is yours: exactly the right amount of workspace, a handy electrical outlet, good natural light, a clear path to the bathroom, and ready access to refills. Your quick mind zings with fresh ideas, some of which come at you faster than you can type—but that’s okay because there are always more where they came from. You love a fast-paced plot (or strong central thesis) and prefer not to get bogged down in flowery descriptions or tangents. Smart, sassy, and to the point—that’s you!

Coffee-shop connoisseurs like you tend to be extroverts (or socially skilled introverts) who thrive on connection and community. Have you thought about getting a writing buddy ? Or taking your social media up a notch? (Elite can help you connect to others with our social strategy sessions!) You might be happily surprised by the caffeine-free energy you gain by writing with others!

That’s not to say you shouldn’t spend time alone. Consider making weekly coffee dates with yourself—put them in the calendar and account for the ten bucks in your budget planning. Guilt-free creative time is key for you.

Keep your eye on the prize by dreaming of your amazing launch party . We can see it now—canapes and coffee and champagne on ice! (Please invite us?)

The park-bench poet

You are a park-bench poet! For you, nature is your muse. Whether it’s the play of sunlight on the gold-green of spring grass or the summer sizzle of a cicada song or the crumpled-paper crunch of fall leaves or the almost-taste of early snow, your writing is infused with and informed by the world around you. Just like the seasons whisper their secrets to you, people’s faces tell you their stories without them saying a word. You don’t mind being part of a crowd, and yet you are always apart—seeing everything, understanding so much, carefully judging what to say and what to save up for your next book.

As an observant park-bench poet, you might find it well worth your time to write yourself a few notes when you’re people-watching . Note their facial expressions, body language, or unusual turns of phrase. If you’re artistically inclined, maybe add a few rough sketches. This is one really rewarding way to infuse your characters with vibrant realism.

Your finely tuned senses and sensibilities mean that it’s crucial to you that you get things right. Don’t fall into the trap of endlessly revising, however! Trust yourself and your instincts, and when you have a finished manuscript, finding the right editing services will ensure your book is top notch.

Getting things down on paper is crucial, but be certain to feed your senses as well. Make sure you spend time outside every week to take in the natural world and your surroundings. And leave your phone in the car or switch it off. There will be time enough to reengage with the bustling world.

The sporadic napkin scribbler

You are a sporadic napkin scribbler! Alert, lively, and ready for anything, you write like you live—full speed ahead. You never know when inspiration is going to strike, but in your experience, it’s like lightning—out of the blue, something goes click, and you’ve got to get it all down on paper (any paper) now, now, now! A great present for you would be a tiny reporter’s notebook, but you don’t mind that some of your best ideas are barely legible scrawls on diner napkins. You’re always excited to start the next project, and you love to follow where the unpredictability of your incredible imagination takes you.

If you’re a sporadic napkin scribbler, you likely have little scraps of paper everywhere—your pockets, your desk, your bag. Or maybe you’ve already got a note on your phone labeled “Ideas” or “Inspiration”? If not, that might be something to think about! Or buy yourself a notebook small enough to carry around with you everywhere. No matter what, however, don’t judge yourself for the fertility of your imagination. Embrace the way your creativity blooms—such beautiful things come out of it!

Did you know that there’s a type of editing designed to help writers turn napkin thoughts into full-blown manuscript? Developmental editing is especially useful at the start of a project, when all your ideas are there but perhaps not yet fully connected. 

Another thing to consider is setting yourself a time every day to get a little work done. While you’re not naturally inclined to that kind of systemic approach, a writing habit could give you a chance to develop some of your more exciting ideas.

The profound planner

You are a profound planner! You’re a plotter through and through, and you write best when you know exactly what you’re supposed to be covering. You know it’s important for your process to create fully fleshed-out outlines—having that road map makes all your writing time so much more productive. This means your books have an innate sense of cohesion that makes them easy to read and follow. Your readers value you for your intelligent observations, your clear way of expressing yourself, and the respect you show them by not overexplaining yourself.

Oh, to be a profound planner! If this is you, you are likely clever, organized, and very intentional. Your knack for seeing the big picture is complemented by your ability to break it down into logical pieces, and that is a rare combination of talents. 

Remember to cut yourself some slack when you need it! Rest is necessary for your creativity, and giving yourself grace at those moments is one of the best ways you can plan for your long and fruitful career.

Also, if you love plotting, don’t let anyone tell you that pantsing is better—it’s just a different approach. That said, it might be an interesting challenge to make yourself just sit down and start writing…with no plan at all! It’s how lots of people approach NaNoWriMo , and it can be exciting to see what your subconscious mind throws at you when you’re not sure where you’re going.

The genius scientist

You are a genius scientist! If you loved words just a little bit less, you might have ended up in a research lab or university science park. Your brain is sharp, analytical, and driven by a love of insight, whether that’s into people, processes, plants, or possibilities. Thank goodness you were born in the age of computers, because older writing tools like pens and typewriters are too slow to keep up with your quicksilver mind. You believe in your projects and your talent, and that passion comes through in everything you write, whether that’s fiction or nonfiction.

You genius scientists are some of the most powerful and productive writers we know! Your natural inclination to balance knowledge and skill results in writing that is both technically adept and fascinatingly insightful. If you’re writing self-help, it’s likely backed by hours of research. If you’re writing science fiction, we bet you’ve devoted many happy hours to world-building. In both cases, your attention to detail makes your work all the more satisfying to your readers.

Considering how fast you need to type to keep up with your brain, explore dictation! There are so many apps and programs available now that will turn your speech into written text (no more transcribing)! You may find that it not only cuts down on your writing time (and carpal tunnel) but that it allows your thoughts to flow more freely and organically!

When you have a finished draft, make sure you get exactly the editorial services you need . The right editor will make your work truly sing!

The secret moonlighter

You are a secret moonlighter! You don’t tell just anybody the truest, most precious secret of your heart—that whatever your day job happens to be, at your core, you’re a writer through and through. In fact, it’s possible not even your closest friends and family know that whenever you can, whether at night or in the gray light of dawn, you steal a quiet hour or two to finally get down on paper some of the many words that swirl hypnotically through your head. You shudder at the thought of writing groups and word-count challenges, but that doesn’t mean you’re not devoted to your craft. You’ve known your whole life that you had magical stories to tell, which is why you are certain that even if you haven’t yet published a book, it’s not a question of if but when.

Secret moonlighters like you can play their cards very close to the chest. It’s hard when you’re so busy with all your other responsibilities to let others know that you’re also working on a book. They might ask questions, after all, and who has time for that? But letting a few people in on the secret can help keep you honest, so try finding a writing friend to confide in and lean on. They’ll appreciate you too.

In the meantime, don’t think that you need to spend every free moment writing in order to be legitimate. Take a break sometimes! Watch cute animal videos on Instagram or YouTube and just feel that dopamine surge. Also, naps are awesome for recharging the creative batteries.

When you’re ready to set pen to paper again, you might find that mind mapping is a great way to make the magic happen. 

The dedicated encyclopedist

You are a dedicated encyclopedist! Imagine a library, perhaps one with leather armchairs, green-shaded lamps, and a spiral staircase. It’s filled with all kinds of books—books about history, philosophy, archeology, languages, cooking, comics—everything under the sun. That’s your mind. You’re never not writing, whether you’re putting pen to paper or letting your current project unfurl like a forest fern in a corner of your active mind. You love connecting the dots, and your writing is richly infused with little-known facts, precise observations, and the tiny details that make any scene spring to life. 

If you’re a dedicated encyclopedist, your reading and writing lives are closely entwined—and your reading is likely expansive and inclusive. One idea? Explore some books about writing ! These will help you deepen your craft while also offering inspiration.

No matter what, make sure you’re taking time to head down interesting rabbit holes…but if you find yourself vanishing entirely, think about setting a timer to keep your writing on track. It’s also important to give yourself space to dabble in your special interests. The insight and energy those efforts will give you are likely to be reflected in your writing.

If, when you’re finished writing a draft, you find it hard to let another person look at your book (so few people have the breadth of knowledge you do!) make sure you find the best editor for you. After all, an editor doesn’t need to be an expert in everything you know—they just need to be an expert editor.

About Elite Authors

We’re a one-stop shop for all your publishing needs, offering everything from editing (developmental through proofreading) to custom cover design to interior formatting to marketing copy to social media. We work with indie authors as well as authors looking to publish traditionally. 

We’ve helped more than 10,000 authors (of all personas) bring their books to readers. We’d love to help you too! You can book a free consultation with a publishing expert right here .

No matter what else, keep writing!

Related posts

The Power of Book Series: Engaging Readers for the Long Haul

Overcoming Writer’s Block: Strategies for Self-Published Authors

Crafting Authentic Characters: A Guide for Self-Published Authors

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

A book review is a thorough description, critical analysis, and/or evaluation of the quality, meaning, and significance of a book, often written in relation to prior research on the topic. Reviews generally range from 500-2000 words, but may be longer or shorter depends on several factors: the length and complexity of the book being reviewed, the overall purpose of the review, and whether the review examines two or more books that focus on the same topic. Professors assign book reviews as practice in carefully analyzing complex scholarly texts and to assess your ability to effectively synthesize research so that you reach an informed perspective about the topic being covered.

There are two general approaches to reviewing a book:

• Descriptive review: Presents the content and structure of a book as objectively as possible, describing essential information about a book's purpose and authority. This is done by stating the perceived aims and purposes of the study, often incorporating passages quoted from the text that highlight key elements of the work. Additionally, there may be some indication of the reading level and anticipated audience.
• Critical review: Describes and evaluates the book in relation to accepted literary and historical standards and supports this evaluation with evidence from the text and, in most cases, in contrast to and in comparison with the research of others. It should include a statement about what the author has tried to do, evaluates how well you believe the author has succeeded in meeting the objectives of the study, and presents evidence to support this assessment. For most course assignments, your professor will want you to write this type of review.

Book Reviews. Writing Center. University of New Hampshire; Book Reviews: How to Write a Book Review. Writing and Style Guides. Libraries. Dalhousie University; Kindle, Peter A. "Teaching Students to Write Book Reviews." Contemporary Rural Social Work 7 (2015): 135-141; Erwin, R. W. “Reviewing Books for Scholarly Journals.” In Writing and Publishing for Academic Authors . Joseph M. Moxley and Todd Taylor. 2 nd edition. (Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 1997), pp. 83-90.

How to Approach Writing Your Review

NOTE:   Since most course assignments require that you write a critical rather than descriptive book review, the following information about preparing to write and developing the structure and style of reviews focuses on this approach.

I.  Common Features

While book reviews vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features. These include:

• A review gives the reader a concise summary of the content . This includes a description of the research topic and scope of analysis as well as an overview of the book's overall perspective, argument, and purpose.
• A review offers a critical assessment of the content in relation to other studies on the same topic . This involves documenting your reactions to the work under review--what strikes you as noteworthy or important, whether or not the arguments made by the author(s) were effective or persuasive, and how the work enhanced your understanding of the research problem under investigation.
• In addition to analyzing a book's strengths and weaknesses, a scholarly review often recommends whether or not readers would value the work for its authenticity and overall quality . This measure of quality includes both the author's ideas and arguments and covers practical issues, such as, readability and language, organization and layout, indexing, and, if needed, the use of non-textual elements .

To maintain your focus, always keep in mind that most assignments ask you to discuss a book's treatment of its topic, not the topic itself . Your key sentences should say, "This book shows...,” "The study demonstrates...," or “The author argues...," rather than "This happened...” or “This is the case....”

II.  Developing a Critical Assessment Strategy

There is no definitive methodological approach to writing a book review in the social sciences, although it is necessary that you think critically about the research problem under investigation before you begin to write. Therefore, writing a book review is a three-step process: 1) carefully taking notes as you read the text; 2) developing an argument about the value of the work under consideration; and, 3) clearly articulating that argument as you write an organized and well-supported assessment of the work.

A useful strategy in preparing to write a review is to list a set of questions that should be answered as you read the book [remember to note the page numbers so you can refer back to the text!]. The specific questions to ask yourself will depend upon the type of book you are reviewing. For example, a book that is presenting original research about a topic may require a different set of questions to ask yourself than a work where the author is offering a personal critique of an existing policy or issue.

Here are some sample questions that can help you think critically about the book:

• Thesis or Argument . What is the central thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one main idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world that you know or have experienced? What has the book accomplished? Is the argument clearly stated and does the research support this?
• Topic . What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Is it clearly articulated? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? Can you detect any biases? What type of approach has the author adopted to explore the research problem [e.g., topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive]?
• Evidence . How does the author support their argument? What evidence does the author use to prove their point? Is the evidence based on an appropriate application of the method chosen to gather information? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author's information [or conclusions] conflict with other books you've read, courses you've taken, or just previous assumptions you had about the research problem?
• Structure . How does the author structure their argument? Does it follow a logical order of analysis? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense to you? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
• Take-aways . How has this book helped you understand the research problem? Would you recommend the book to others? Why or why not?

Beyond the content of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the general presentation of information. Question to ask may include:

• The Author: Who is the author? The nationality, political persuasion, education, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the author is affiliated with a particular organization? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events they wrote about? What other topics has the author written about? Does this work build on prior research or does it represent a new or unique area of research?
• The Presentation: What is the book's genre? Out of what discipline does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or other contextual standard upon which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know this. Keep in mind, though, that declarative statements about being the “first,” the "best," or the "only" book of its kind can be a risky unless you're absolutely certain because your professor [presumably] has a much better understanding of the overall research literature.

NOTE: Most critical book reviews examine a topic in relation to prior research. A good strategy for identifying this prior research is to examine sources the author(s) cited in the chapters introducing the research problem and, of course, any review of the literature. However, you should not assume that the author's references to prior research is authoritative or complete. If any works related to the topic have been excluded, your assessment of the book should note this . Be sure to consult with a librarian to ensure that any additional studies are located beyond what has been cited by the author(s).

Book Reviews. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Book Reviews. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Hartley, James. "Reading and Writing Book Reviews Across the Disciplines." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 57 (July 2006): 1194–1207;   Motta-Roth, D. “Discourse Analysis and Academic Book Reviews: A Study of Text and Disciplinary Cultures.”  In Genre Studies in English for Academic Purposes . Fortanet Gómez, Inmaculada  et  al., editors. (Castellò de la Plana: Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I, 1998), pp. 29-45. Writing a Book Review. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Book Reviews. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Suárez, Lorena and Ana I. Moreno. “The Rhetorical Structure of Academic Journal Book Reviews: A Cross-linguistic and Cross-disciplinary Approach .” In Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos, María del Carmen Pérez Llantada Auría, Ramón Plo Alastrué, and Claus Peter Neumann. Actas del V Congreso Internacional AELFE/Proceedings of the 5th International AELFE Conference . Zaragoza: Universidad de Zaragoza, 2006.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Bibliographic Information

Bibliographic information refers to the essential elements of a work if you were to cite it in a paper [i.e., author, title, date of publication, etc.]. Provide the essential information about the book using the writing style [e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago] preferred by your professor or used by the discipline of your major . Depending on how your professor wants you to organize your review, the bibliographic information represents the heading of your review. In general, it would look like this:

[Complete title of book. Author or authors. Place of publication. Publisher. Date of publication. Number of pages before first chapter, often in Roman numerals. Total number of pages]. The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History . By Jill Lepore. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010. xii, 207 pp.)

Reviewed by [your full name].

II.  Scope/Purpose/Content

Begin your review by telling the reader not only the overarching concern of the book in its entirety [the subject area] but also what the author's particular point of view is on that subject [the thesis statement]. If you cannot find an adequate statement in the author's own words or if you find that the thesis statement is not well-developed, then you will have to compose your own introductory thesis statement that does cover all the material. This statement should be no more than one paragraph and must be succinctly stated, accurate, and unbiased.

If you find it difficult to discern the overall aims and objectives of the book [and, be sure to point this out in your review if you determine that this is a deficiency], you may arrive at an understanding of the book's overall purpose by assessing the following:

• Scan the table of contents because it can help you understand how the book was organized and will aid in determining the author's main ideas and how they were developed [e.g., chronologically, topically, historically, etc.].
• Why did the author write on this subject rather than on some other subject?
• From what point of view is the work written?
• Was the author trying to give information, to explain something technical, or to convince the reader of a belief’s validity by dramatizing it in action?
• What is the general field or genre, and how does the book fit into it? If necessary, review related literature from other books and journal articles to familiarize yourself with the field.
• Who is the intended audience?
• What is the author's style? Is it formal or informal? You can evaluate the quality of the writing style by noting some of the following standards: coherence, clarity, originality, forcefulness, accurate use of technical words, conciseness, fullness of development, and fluidity [i.e., quality of the narrative flow].
• How did the book affect you? Were there any prior assumptions you had about the subject that were changed, abandoned, or reinforced after reading the book? How is the book related to your own personal beliefs or assumptions? What personal experiences have you had related to the subject that affirm or challenge underlying assumptions?
• How well has the book achieved the goal(s) set forth in the preface, introduction, and/or foreword?
• Would you recommend this book to others? Why or why not?

III.  Note the Method

Support your remarks with specific references to text and quotations that help to illustrate the literary method used to state the research problem, describe the research design, and analyze the findings. In general, authors tend to use the following literary methods, exclusively or in combination.

• Description : The author depicts scenes and events by giving specific details that appeal to the five senses, or to the reader’s imagination. The description presents background and setting. Its primary purpose is to help the reader realize, through as many details as possible, the way persons, places, and things are situated within the phenomenon being described.
• Narration : The author tells the story of a series of events, usually thematically or in chronological order. In general, the emphasis in scholarly books is on narration of the events. Narration tells what has happened and, in some cases, using this method to forecast what could happen in the future. Its primary purpose is to draw the reader into a story and create a contextual framework for understanding the research problem.
• Exposition : The author uses explanation and analysis to present a subject or to clarify an idea. Exposition presents the facts about a subject or an issue clearly and as impartially as possible. Its primary purpose is to describe and explain, to document for the historical record an event or phenomenon.
• Argument : The author uses techniques of persuasion to establish understanding of a particular truth, often in the form of addressing a research question, or to convince the reader of its falsity. The overall aim is to persuade the reader to believe something and perhaps to act on that belief. Argument takes sides on an issue and aims to convince the reader that the author's position is valid, logical, and/or reasonable.

IV.  Critically Evaluate the Contents

Critical comments should form the bulk of your book review . State whether or not you feel the author's treatment of the subject matter is appropriate for the intended audience. Ask yourself:

• Has the purpose of the book been achieved?
• What contributions does the book make to the field?
• Is the treatment of the subject matter objective or at least balanced in describing all sides of a debate?
• Are there facts and evidence that have been omitted?
• What kinds of data, if any, are used to support the author's thesis statement?
• Can the same data be interpreted to explain alternate outcomes?
• Is the writing style clear and effective?
• Does the book raise important or provocative issues or topics for discussion?
• Does the book bring attention to the need for further research?
• What has been left out?

Support your evaluation with evidence from the text and, when possible, state the book's quality in relation to other scholarly sources. If relevant, note of the book's format, such as, layout, binding, typography, etc. Are there tables, charts, maps, illustrations, text boxes, photographs, or other non-textual elements? Do they aid in understanding the text? Describing this is particularly important in books that contain a lot of non-textual elements.

NOTE:   It is important to carefully distinguish your views from those of the author so as not to confuse your reader. Be clear when you are describing an author's point of view versus expressing your own.

V.  Examine the Front Matter and Back Matter

Front matter refers to any content before the first chapter of the book. Back matter refers to any information included after the final chapter of the book . Front matter is most often numbered separately from the rest of the text in lower case Roman numerals [i.e. i - xi ]. Critical commentary about front or back matter is generally only necessary if you believe there is something that diminishes the overall quality of the work [e.g., the indexing is poor] or there is something that is particularly helpful in understanding the book's contents [e.g., foreword places the book in an important context].

Front matter that may be considered for evaluation when reviewing its overall quality:

• Table of contents -- is it clear? Is it detailed or general? Does it reflect the true contents of the book? Does it help in understanding a logical sequence of content?
• Author biography -- also found as back matter, the biography of author(s) can be useful in determining the authority of the writer and whether the book builds on prior research or represents new research. In scholarly reviews, noting the author's affiliation and prior publications can be a factor in helping the reader determine the overall validity of the work [i.e., are they associated with a research center devoted to studying the problem under investigation].
• Foreword -- the purpose of a foreword is to introduce the reader to the author and the content of the book, and to help establish credibility for both. A foreword may not contribute any additional information about the book's subject matter, but rather, serves as a means of validating the book's existence. In these cases, the foreword is often written by a leading scholar or expert who endorses the book's contributions to advancing research about the topic. Later editions of a book sometimes have a new foreword prepended [appearing before an older foreword, if there was one], which may be included to explain how the latest edition differs from previous editions. These are most often written by the author.
• Acknowledgements -- scholarly studies in the social sciences often take many years to write, so authors frequently acknowledge the help and support of others in getting their research published. This can be as innocuous as acknowledging the author's family or the publisher. However, an author may acknowledge prominent scholars or subject experts, staff at key research centers, people who curate important archival collections, or organizations that funded the research. In these particular cases, it may be worth noting these sources of support in your review, particularly if the funding organization is biased or its mission is to promote a particular agenda.
• Preface -- generally describes the genesis, purpose, limitations, and scope of the book and may include acknowledgments of indebtedness to people who have helped the author complete the study. Is the preface helpful in understanding the study? Does it provide an effective framework for understanding what's to follow?
• Chronology -- also may be found as back matter, a chronology is generally included to highlight key events related to the subject of the book. Do the entries contribute to the overall work? Is it detailed or very general?
• List of non-textual elements -- a book that contains numerous charts, photographs, maps, tables, etc. will often list these items after the table of contents in the order that they appear in the text. Is this useful?

Back matter that may be considered for evaluation when reviewing its overall quality:

• Afterword -- this is a short, reflective piece written by the author that takes the form of a concluding section, final commentary, or closing statement. It is worth mentioning in a review if it contributes information about the purpose of the book, gives a call to action, summarizes key recommendations or next steps, or asks the reader to consider key points made in the book.
• Appendix -- is the supplementary material in the appendix or appendices well organized? Do they relate to the contents or appear superfluous? Does it contain any essential information that would have been more appropriately integrated into the text?
• Index -- are there separate indexes for names and subjects or one integrated index. Is the indexing thorough and accurate? Are elements used, such as, bold or italic fonts to help identify specific places in the book? Does the index include "see also" references to direct you to related topics?
• Glossary of Terms -- are the definitions clearly written? Is the glossary comprehensive or are there key terms missing? Are any terms or concepts mentioned in the text not included that should have been?
• Endnotes -- examine any endnotes as you read from chapter to chapter. Do they provide important additional information? Do they clarify or extend points made in the body of the text? Should any notes have been better integrated into the text rather than separated? Do the same if the author uses footnotes.
• Bibliography/References/Further Readings -- review any bibliography, list of references to sources, and/or further readings the author may have included. What kinds of sources appear [e.g., primary or secondary, recent or old, scholarly or popular, etc.]? How does the author make use of them? Be sure to note important omissions of sources that you believe should have been utilized, including important digital resources or archival collections.

VI.  Summarize and Comment

State your general conclusions briefly and succinctly. Pay particular attention to the author's concluding chapter and/or afterword. Is the summary convincing? List the principal topics, and briefly summarize the author’s ideas about these topics, main points, and conclusions. If appropriate and to help clarify your overall evaluation, use specific references to text and quotations to support your statements. If your thesis has been well argued, the conclusion should follow naturally. It can include a final assessment or simply restate your thesis. Do not introduce new information in the conclusion. If you've compared the book to any other works or used other sources in writing the review, be sure to cite them at the end of your book review in the same writing style as your bibliographic heading of the book.

Book Reviews. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Book Reviews. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Gastel, Barbara. "Special Books Section: A Strategy for Reviewing Books for Journals." BioScience 41 (October 1991): 635-637; Hartley, James. "Reading and Writing Book Reviews Across the Disciplines." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 57 (July 2006): 1194–1207; Lee, Alexander D., Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, and Julie Nyquist. "How to Write a Scholarly Book Review for Publication in a Peer-reviewed Journal: A Review of the Literature." Journal of Chiropractic Education 24 (2010): 57-69; Nicolaisen, Jeppe. "The Scholarliness of Published Peer Reviews: A Bibliometric Study of Book Reviews in Selected Social Science Fields." Research Evaluation 11 (2002): 129-140;.Procter, Margaret. The Book Review or Article Critique. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Reading a Book to Review It. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Scarnecchia, David L. "Writing Book Reviews for the Journal Of Range Management and Rangelands." Rangeland Ecology and Management 57 (2004): 418-421; Simon, Linda. "The Pleasures of Book Reviewing." Journal of Scholarly Publishing 27 (1996): 240-241; Writing a Book Review. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Book Reviews. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University.

Writing Tip

Always Read the Foreword and/or the Preface

If they are included in the front matter, a good place for understanding a book's overall purpose, organization, contributions to further understanding of the research problem, and relationship to other studies is to read the preface and the foreword. The foreword may be written by someone other than the author or editor and can be a person who is famous or who has name recognition within the discipline. A foreword is often included to add credibility to the work.

The preface is usually an introductory essay written by the author or editor. It is intended to describe the book's overall purpose, arrangement, scope, and overall contributions to the literature. When reviewing the book, it can be useful to critically evaluate whether the goals set forth in the foreword and/or preface were actually achieved. At the very least, they can establish a foundation for understanding a study's scope and purpose as well as its significance in contributing new knowledge.

Distinguishing between a Foreword, a Preface, and an Introduction . Book Creation Learning Center. Greenleaf Book Group, 2019.

Locating Book Reviews

There are several databases the USC Libraries subscribes to that include the full-text or citations to book reviews. Short, descriptive reviews can also be found at book-related online sites such as Amazon , although it's not always obvious who has written them and may actually be created by the publisher. The following databases provide comprehensive access to scholarly, full-text book reviews:

• ProQuest [1983-present]
• Book Review Digest Retrospective [1905-1982]

Some Language for Evaluating Texts

It can be challenging to find the proper vocabulary from which to discuss and evaluate a book. Here is a list of some active verbs for referring to texts and ideas that you might find useful:

• account for
• demonstrate
• distinguish
• investigate

Examples of usage

• "The evidence indicates that..."
• "This work assesses the effect of..."
• "The author identifies three key reasons for..."
• "This book questions the view that..."
• "This work challenges assumptions about...."

Paquot, Magali. Academic Keyword List. Centre for English Corpus Linguistics. Université Catholique de Louvain.

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Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing.

4 Ways to Create Your Author Persona

Donna Galanti

Everyone’s persona (or brand) is unique (just like you) and it’s your own personal story that you choose to convey that will draw your readers to you. As Dr. Seuss said, “There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”  After all, it’s so much easier to be you than someone else!

4 Ways to Figure Out Your Author Persona Ask yourself these questions to create your unique story and message that will create a strong emotional connection with your target readers and, in turn, increase their loyalty and trust.

• Do soul searching. Ask yourself … Who Am I? What do I have to say? What matters to me? Why do I write what I do? Where am I going? Look to … your passions and purpose for this. You are a storyteller and want to create an appealing author story (the story behind the story). We need stories to make sense of the world around us and to feel a sense of belonging. This is why people read! ?
• What are your unique strengths and qualities – and what are your flaws? Base this on … where your confidence shines (for me: sharing what I learn to inspire others), what is important to you (for me: self-improvement), most passionate about (for me: my son), and fumble with (for me: patience).
• Who is your target readership? Base this on … Your book’s genre and the age range of your readers. For example, I write fantasy for middle grade (8- to 12-year-olds).
• What keywords and phrases do you want people to associate with you? Base this on … your standout traits.

Go-Deeper Exercises:

• Conduct a survey of family and friends: Ask them to describe you in 3-5 words. What are the positive things about you that draw them to you? What are your quirks? Circle what resonates with you.
• Look to your long-term goals: Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years as an author? Having written more books in the same genre, conducting school visits, doing book clubs, etc.
• Set boundaries: List all the things that make you uncomfortable about the life of an author. What are you willing to do – and not willing to do?
• What authors do you admire?: Why are you drawn to them? Why are others? What traits do they possess? Can you draw similar connections toward yourself?

From all this research and soul-searching, create your public persona that is an extension of your writing and who you are. Your persona will then be the words and images that people associate with you.

After gathering your research, write a one-page story from the heart about yourself. Read it aloud. Share it with your family, friends, and writing peers. Does it feel natural to you – to them? Are you passionate about what you’re saying?

Polish your genuine story. Once you’re comfortable with it, share it. This is “who you are”! Now you can start building a community of writers and readers by sharing your persona online and in person.

Rookie Mistakes:

• Using multiple headshots across social media platforms. Make sure people can recognize you.
• Thinking you should create different personas for different audiences if you write across genres or age-ranges. Find themes that cross over to all the stories you write and create one persona.
• Posting on social media or blogging outside the scope of “who you are”. For example, if your persona is to share travel stories and books you love, then you won’t suddenly be talking about parenting tips as your growing audience won’t expect this from you. Be genuine and consistent.

Go the Extra Mile! Find similar authors. Connect, follow, and engage with them. Do some friendly stalking and see where they hang out. Discover how they brand themselves, connect with readers, and promote their books. Some of their personas may resonate with you that you can model yours on.

Your author persona is a promise to your audience . Promise them your unique self, consistently deliver on it, and they will come to expect it.  Now use your creativity and imagination (just like your writing!) to create that author persona that best fits you.

Are you struggling with your author persona? What techniques have you tried to create one? Have you found what works for you in branding yourself as an author? If so, share your success with this!  *     *     *     *     *

Connect with Donna: Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DonnaGalanti Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DonnaGalantiAuthor/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5767306.Donna_Galanti

31 comments on “4 Ways to Create Your Author Persona”

Thanks for having me on Writers in the Storm today! It's so much fun creating a genuine persona to put out there in the world as an author. Building a network of writers and readers around you can also help reinforce your persona and fuel on your confidence with the public you 🙂 . I love seeing new authors come into the world and share their personality forged from their writing and genuine selves, all topped with the sparkle of their unique shine.

Ooh, I love the term "author persona" instead of "brand. While I understand the latter, it feels less personal, and your phrase taps into our unique personality and writing voice.

I especially like the idea of asking close friends and family for feedback. When I did that, it was very interesting what they said about my writing, and it helped me consider what image I wanted to project.

Great post, Donna. Thank you!

You're so welcome Julie! I bet it was fun and also eye-opening to see what close family and friends had to say - while also boosting your confidence in how you put yourself out there!

I agree with Julie - ‘brand’makes me feel like detergent, or something.

Laura - i just laughed out loud! While detergent is necessary, it definitely does not have a personality! 🙂

Good tips! Thanks.

I'm with Julie, I like "author persona" though I understand writing and book selling is a business and the word "brand" seems appropriate. Timely article for me as I just finished created my author website. Thanks!

Thanks for chiming in! Yes, selling our books is definitely a business we need to take seriously but personalizing it can really make our brand stronger - our books and our author selves. People really can buy into us often long before they buy into our books! I've had book bloggers support my thrillers for adults and then follow me on over to my children's books as they enjoyed what I put out there - in writing and in person.

You're using both terms though, Donna, aren't you? "Brand" for your books, "persona" for you? One thing I've done right is the photos—no glam shots for me. Every time I go to a book club, people say "I'd know you anywhere!" I also think "real" would be one of my keywords, so it makes sense for me. Hadn't thought about keywords before though, and I like the going deep exercises. I look forward to doing them!

Hey Kathryn, I often think of brand and persona as the same thing. As a former marketer and sales person, people always bought into me first over my product or service. And people do this now before buying my books - or can find my book and then connect. I think we can tie what we write with who we are to deliver a full package, if that makes sense. Offer a promise to readers of what they can expect from you and your books - and they will want more! If you look at many authors you can see this cross over of what they write with the genuine self they put out there - and how they put themselves out there. And very smart of you to ensure your photos make you recognizable from online to in-person. So many times I cannot recognize someone from there online photos - yours I definitely can! 🙂

Thanks for clarifying! I understand what you’re saying, I just learned different terminology. I think the main thing is that you’ve thought these concepts through and are making use of them, right? It’s why I have an author name website—it’s all my brand. I just think of my bio page as the subset of that that’s my persona. But I am not schooled in marketing, that’s for sure! It’s just how I create a boundary in my mind, perhaps for self-preservation: I am not my books.

Oh yes - and creating boundaries is good! What we are willing to share or how to put ourselves out there indeed. I totally understand the self-preservation part. For me, I feel I am so a part of my books as so much of me is infused in them with themes that connect to my life. However, this can be true for many authors but some may not want to blend themselves and their books together. This is a great example of using what works for you as an author to connect with your readers while keeping lines drawn ! 🙂

These are fantastic questions to ask ourselves as authors. I have a fair idea who I am and what message I want to send out about me, but after reading this, I can see I need to dig a little deeper. One thing I've always struggled with: Where do I find authors like me? I write historical fiction about strong women.

Gillian, you bring up a great point! Where to find authors similar to you to connect with for cross promoting, industry advice, etc. I would say definitely try to connect with an organization within your genre. Women's Fiction Writers Association might be a good place for you to start. I am sure they have subgenres of writers you can connect with related to what you write. http://womensfictionwriters.org/

When I first came across discussion of this concept, I pondered what mine should be, especially since my writing interests cover a huge variety of subjects, as well as tee shirt and novelty item designs. I finally realized I had already come up with it under the name of my blog - Words Are My Life ( https://dragons4me3.com/ ). I now use it on my online shop as well. Words are my life. I have loved using them, discussing them, telling stories, jokes, singing and writing songs, and having debates about their meaning since I learned to talk. My author 'persona' is revealed in my blogging and my discussions.

I love your theme here! And how wonderful to use across your writing and personality. You've made such a mark and have entrenched yourself. 🙂

Donna, I love this post. It's so hard on many of my introverted author pals to know what they need to DO when it comes to their persona/brand. This has such clear-cut steps and questions to ask, that I know this will be a resource many will use for years. THANK YOU!

Jenny, glad to offer a simple guide that does not seem so overwhelming! So much about marketing ourselves and our books can be overwhelming (and it's very easy to avoid doing it then.). The great thing about this is that it doesn't happen overnight or in a few weeks - we can do this in baby steps. Steps to add up to "mile"stones. 🙂

What Jenny said. And: me! I'm an author having trouble formulating my persona! Introvert. Just starting out. I know what topics interest me; it seems what's missing is what I'd get from asking friends to give keyword feedback. Ouch. Pull off the bandaid.

You can do it, Gabriella!!

Gabriella, I know it's so hard to put ourselves out there. Am sure your friends and family will have great things to say - and maybe some insightful ones too. Being an introvert makes it more challenging - but then you can work around that. Do more things online vs. in-person should make it a bit easier to start putting yourself out there. Maybe pick one area - like a blog, or a social media platform and build that up. Test things out. Try something new if one thing doesn't work. It's all a work in progress. And keep in mind that DONE is better than PERFECT! Some people fear that their website must be perfect and put it off. Start with the basics. Many of the things that are part of your author persona and platform will evolve. But they can't evolve if you don't start somewhere. 🙂 Good luck!

[…] Read the rest of this post HERE. […]

Donna, thank you so much. I read your essay and -- at every point -- thought "Yeah!" That's the good news. The, uh, other news is, "Ask my friends to describe me?" "Write about myself and show it to friends?" Excellent suggestions, but the sound you heard was my comfort level bottoming out. I'll work on it. Ask them to read and comment on my work -- no problem, none whatsoever. I guess I'm about the story, not the writer, and I realize that's something that will require some work. Thanks again!

Hi James, figuring it out in small steps can make it seem manageable. As authors we have to sometimes get out of our comfort zone to write, and when we put ourselves in the public eye we must often get out of another comfort zone - and get into a "community" comfort zone, I like to say. And once we start putting ourselves out there is does get easier! Plus, as an author you'll have so many wonderful opportunities to do public events online and in person to connect with readers and writers. And it's good to figure out how you want to present your genuine self in these moments. Good luck!

[…] Four Ways to Create Your Author Persona by Donna Galanti […]

[…] For many authors, book marketing is a chore. Sandra Beckwith explores what to do if you are uncomfortable with book promotion, Greer Macallister delves into the art of the author interview, and Donna Galanti shares 4 ways to create your author persona. […]

[…] https://writersinthestormblog.com/2018/03/4-ways-to-create-your-author-persona/ […]

soul searching can lead to guilt

good tips here. thanks for this!

So glad they were helpful to you Lisa!

[…] 4 Ways to Create Your Author Persona […]

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Book review: Persona, place, and poetics in Sarah Carson’s “How to Baptize a Child in Flint, Michigan”

Posted on Oct 29, 2022

By William Barillas

Born and bred, as the expression goes, in Flint, Michigan, poet Sarah Carson has previously published three chapbooks and two full-length books. The provocatively titled book Poems in Which You Die (2014) consists of surrealistic prose poems, narratives for the most part, that provoke speculation on what mundane yet consequential situations they might symbolize. Perhaps they represent the psychic backdrop to the realism and naturalism of Buick City (2015), with its vignettes and character portraits of postindustrial working-class life in contemporary Flint. The first sentence of “Perfectly Useful Front Lawns” suggests as much: “We live now in a dream between who we are and what scares us.”

That poem, like so many in Carson’s second book, opens into an actual territory where roads not only take us through the present or toward the future but also into the past, as we “follow Chevrolet Avenue across where the river used to be” and “tell passersby how there used to be hockey and how there used to be baseball, that our uncles had lived by radio.” A persona emerges, a version of the poet, and a distinctive milieu: trailer homes, jobs at Walgreens, Walmart, and Meijer, the demolition derby, laundromat, cigarettes, and Mountain Dew. That persona and milieu, as well as Carson’s emerging poetic voice, are both moving and interesting.

Carson’s third book, however, is something else, something more. She had me from the title, and not just because I’m a Flint expatriate and a scholar of Midwestern literature, especially writing from Michigan and, even more specifically, from the Saginaw Valley. It’s the sense of purpose, or rather, method, expressed in the title that I find so apt and so evocative. How does one baptize a child in Flint, Michigan? The phrase suggests a process analysis essay written for a high school or college composition class. Remember those? They trace a sequence of steps, a series of actions toward a particular end, in this case, baptizing a child in Flint, Michigan. How is that done? How does one nurture life and honor the sacred, when one’s place on earth has been disrespected, defiled even?

Cover of How to Baptize a Child in Flint, Michigan Poems by Sarah Carson.

Baptism involves water as a symbol of purity and renewal, a bitter irony for a city whose water was poisoned, whether through sins or crimes of omission or commission by representatives of the state. As Michigan’s greatest poet, Theodore Roethke of Saginaw, wrote in his notebooks, “[w]e have failed to live up to our geography.” Sarah Carson addresses that failure with ritualistic tenderness and attention: “First, hold the curve / of their head like // packed snow / a struck match, // a field mouse / you catch // with the cup / of your hand.” Roethke would have loved that. I love the next step in the process: “Say they can be anything; / refill their root beer; // tell them, / Yes, // people like us / can be great, too. ”

The underlying impulse of these poems is praise—measured praise, clear-eyed and knowing. Not surprisingly, most or perhaps all of the poems in this book are odes, a sort of poem that speaks directly about a person, place, or thing, whether a physical object, living being, or concept, offering praise, however equivocal. A number of poems identify themselves as such in their titles, as with “Ode to Brother’s Best Friend in the Trailer Park,” “Ode to the City That Is Not My City” (about Chicago, perhaps, where Carson lived for a time), and “Ode to Flint, Michigan on December 30, 2014, the 78 th Anniversary of the Great Sit-down Strike.” Like Keats, H.D., Neruda, and other past authors of odes, Carson knows through both instinct and instruction that, as Rilke says in Sonnets to Orpheus , “[o]nly in the realm of Praising should Lament / walk, the naiad of the wept-for fountain.” We’re talking Flint, after all, and the poet acknowledges violence (in “Don’t Touch,” we’re told how “one boy jumped another, / opened his temple onto concrete”), injustice, neglect, and danger (in “If the Pontiac Broke Down,” the speaker notes “no justice, / but a broken bottle, // a length of razor wire / beneath the slip & slide”). 

Such honest witness contradicts the cant of pitchmen and politicians who would turn our ears and thereby our eyes from the reality of our lives, both the beautiful and the ugly. Good poetry does that for us, and the best urban poets of the last hundred years, among them William Carlos Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sharon Olds, have known what Carson demonstrates in these poems: that one must look into the human heart and, say, a parking lot, with the same soulfulness and sense of framing.

In terms of framing or technique, one notes that most of the poems in this book employ short lines arranged into couplets (stanzas consisting of two lines). This artistic choice provides consistent pacing, rhythm, and a sense of Carson as speaker. Each couplet advances an image, action, or insight, usually as part of a sentence but always with its own unity within a larger flow of syntax and meaning. In poetry, every stanza and every line must work almost as a poem unto itself, and that is the case here. Two passages will illustrate what I mean, both from “Picking up a Prescription for My Daughter at the Rite Aid That Replaced the Rite Aid where My Mother Picked up Prescriptions for Me,” one of my favorite poems in the book, not least because it mentions a road that I know very well:

Then later in the poem:

Taken out of context, these passages naturally lose some of their poignancy and physical immediacy. But their artfulness is still apparent, including the way that line and stanza breaks intensify and even embody meaning. The stanza break after “emerging” is particularly lovely, and the line break after “touchless” perhaps even more so.

This book represents a significant advance for the author both in terms of formal sophistication and engagement with the consensual world of places, people, and experience. How to Baptize a Child in Flint, Michigan represents Carson’s breakthrough, establishing with vivid specificity her personal mythos, her touchstone, her querencia , in the city of her birth. Like Whitman’s Brooklyn, Dickinson’s room and garden, or Roethke’s greenhouses, Flint is the site of her soul’s creation, breaking, and remaking. This is the book Carson will elaborate upon, diverge from, echo, and reinforce in her future writing. It should be recognized as a significant text in contemporary American poetry.

William Barillas is the author of The Midwestern Pastoral: Place and Landscape in Literature of the American Heartland and the editor of A Field Guide to the Poetry of Theodore Roethke. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Book Reviews

'persona' is a dangerous dance of diplomacy and celebrity.

Amal El-Mohtar

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I have been reading Genevieve Valentine's writing for a long time, and as much as her fiction delights me, I confess that the work of hers that brings me the most pleasure is her series of Red Carpet Rundowns . Without fail, whether it's the Oscars, Golden Globes, SAG Awards or Emmys, I can count on Valentine to provide entertaining sympathy for stylists and celebrities alike, a list of the most noteworthy looks of the night, and a wry running commentary on when celebrities elevate — or are elevated by — their sartorial material.

But even more than this, I love her commentary on the Miss Universe National Costume Parade , which I couldn't help but read into Persona , her new novel about a disturbingly near-future world where international diplomacy has the breathless importance of Hollywood gossip.

...the celebrity aspect that gets folded into Persona 's slightly sidelong world is partially influenced by behind-the-scenes glimpses of pageants like this one ...The Guardian talks today about a selfie taken by Miss Lebanon in which Miss Israel appears, the PR problems that have followed, and the ways in which becoming anthropomorphized countries tangles the perception of the private vs. public spheres, where the idea of getting along with everyone as a pageant contestant runs right into the unofficial-ambassador aspect.

In Persona , the world is governed by the International Assembly, made up of Faces whose diplomacy is celebrity, whose celebrity is statecraft. These Faces have handlers, behind-the-scenes policy-makers and negotiators who organize their days, write their speeches, and generally curate their appearance and appearances.

'Kingfisher' Girls Will Dance Their Way Into Your Heart

Suyana Sapaki is the Face for the recently-formed United Amazonian Rainforest Confederation — a C-lister for all intents and purposes, new to the scene, unloved by the camera, and unfortunately given to plain-speaking and refusal to play the smiling, conciliatory part handed to her. Suyana is angry, and a little too often, the anger shows. At best, she's a liability; at worst, where her handler is concerned, she's a non-story.

Until someone tries to kill her.

Enter Daniel Park, a "snap" — in this world, where the IA and the press exist in a symbiotic relationship, paparazzi wage a sort of shutter-based guerilla warfare. They undermine glossy narratives with candid shots, document secret meetings that aren't supposed to take place, and sell their photos to the highest bidders. Daniel photographs the assassination attempt, but ultimately finds himself rushing to Suyana's aid — and becoming embroiled in the secrets she's been fighting hard to keep.

Restraint is a mode of composition with Valentine, both in the beautifully understated sparsity of her prose and in her protagonists' taut, tense stillness. In Persona especially, where the degree to which one has or has not smiled reveals or conceals a wealth of information, restraint is crucial to a Face's survival. In stark contrast to her lack of popularity in the book, Suyana is utterly mesmerizing in her interactions with other characters: every look is a game of chess, checked and mated in the seconds it takes for eyes to lock or muscles to twitch. The Faces wear scrutiny like couture, and the sharp, dangerous dance of it is utterly engrossing.

The narrative is split between Suyana's perspective and Daniel's, which is riveting when they're together — but becomes a bit less so when they're apart. It may well be a function of their respective roles — Suyana in the public eye, Daniel in the shadows — but whenever the focus was on Daniel's trajectory in Suyana's wake, I found myself impatient to get back to her, her plans and actions and feelings. It's not that Daniel isn't interesting — it's that he's not Suyana, and I loved her, her anger and self-knowledge and striving, completely.

About fifty pages from the end, I began to wonder if this was the first book of a sequence. By the end, I was still uncertain about that; it's a book that sticks its landing and tilts its head knowingly at the camera in recognition of the splendor of its performance, but it also leaves several potential hooks for further exploring this world.

I want very much to see more of it — I want to learn more about each Face, want to see Suyana continue to navigate the IA's jelly-tangled waters — and hope there may be a sequel on the horizon. In the meantime, Persona is a tense, wonderfully satisfying tightrope walk of a novel, that will make sure you never look at red carpets the same way again.

Amal El-Mohtar is the author of The Honey Month and the editor of Goblin Fruit , an online poetry magazine.

Book Review: Personas – User Focused Design by Lene Nielsen

This review has been co-authored by Willemien Froneman, Joni Salminen, and Jim Jansen.

In the second edition of Personas – User Focused Design , Dr. Lene Nielsen describes a detailed method for implementing personas in development and innovation projects. Dr. Nielsen has pioneered the use of personas in user experience and has more than 20 years’ experience in the field. In addition to writing numerous research articles on personas, she has led masterclasses and workshops and has worked in industry and with government agencies for deployment of personas. Her practical and theoretical experience has culminated in the formulation of “10 steps to personas” – the method outlined and explained in this book.

The book is aimed at managers and team members who are looking to start implementing the persona method in product and service development, and at students who wish to use the method in their projects and who need to be familiar with the practical implications of the persona method as well as its theoretical foundations.

The book starts off with a premise that will be familiar to UX designers: the centrality of user experience in product and service development and the need for placing the everyday experience of users at the centre of the design process. As opposed to other approaches to UX design, the persona method uses fictitious representations of users rather than real users in the design process. A persona is a user who does not exist but is described as someone who could be real. Although personas are fictitious they are derived from knowledge of multiple real users. According to Nielsen’s definition, one can think of personas as condensing knowledge of user segments into a format that is memorable and evokes empathy.

The benefits of the persona method are described throughout the book. Nielsen argues that the persona method not only offers unique insights into user needs but, perhaps more importantly, provides a common language that designers and project participants can draw on when developing products and services. In this sense, personas may be thought of as a communication method: persona descriptions aim at getting all team members involved in the design process on the same page in terms of who the users are. Additionally, it allows for team members’ implicit assumptions about users to be made explicit and opens up the possibility of revealing findings that go against an organization’s pre-existing truths.

The chapters of the book explicate Nielsen’s 10-step design method , which includes the following steps:

• Finding the users
• Building a hypothesis
• Verification
• Finding patterns
• Constructing personas
• Defining situations
• Validation and buy-in
• Dissemination of knowledge
• Creating scenarios
• Ongoing development

Chapters 2 and 3 cover data collection and analysis. After a brief overview of common qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection, Nielsen describes a mode of qualitative data analysis for developing hypotheses which culminates in choosing the number of personas. The first stages of data analysis (coding and thematic analysis) are derived from grounded theory.  The next stages attempt to understand the data by comparing and contrasting the thematic units. The methods used are contrasting pairs (where user experience is plotted against two opposing variables), affinity diagrams (where the relationships between clusters of thematic groups are considered) and systems of coordinates (where categories emerge through combining relationships and contrasts into a single model). These categories form the basis for determining the number of  personas to be included, and common denominators in each category (age, education income, attitude) are included in the resulting persona descriptions.

Nielsen also covers how generalizability, reliability, and validity of the persona profiles can be assured. Generalizability is achieved through argumentation and comparison to existing material, and validity by controlling the data and asking for feedback on the interpretation. Reliability is ensured by describing the data collection and processing in an accurate and transparent way. This is particularly important when the findings are resisted within the organization. When management is given access to the analytic process, they often understand and accept the results.

Chapter 3 ends with three case studies of how the final number of personas are chosen. As Nielsen points out, secondary personas not directly derived from the data are sometimes included for strategic or political reasons. For example, in the process of developing a digital self-service solution for Borger.dk , the list of personas were expanded to include a non-Danish-speaking persona, while the persona description of another was adapted to cover users who are physically handicapped.

Chapters 4 and 5 focus on the actual writing of the persona and scenario descriptions. Whereas the earlier chapters might have come across as slightly cursory and generic, Nielsen’s experience in the field starts to shine through as the depth and applicability of the personas method become apparent. Nielsen’s approach to writing persona descriptions and scenarios is firmly rooted in narrative theory , which posits that stories and narratives are basic human strategies for coming to terms with human experience. As opposed to stereotypes, which depict users as “flat” or one-dimensional characters, and archetypes, which tend to define personality types in negative terms, the persona approach aims to create “rounded” characters who have multiple characters traits and are able to view the world from different perspectives. In order to create these rounded characters the persona method turns to fiction. Script-writing techniques are used to bring out the tension between clashing character-traits. Nielsen uses the character descriptions of “Thelma” and “Louise” to illustrate effective persona descriptions. These chapters also provide templates for persona and scenario development that clearly set out the most important narrative elements to be included in each.

“Personas in Agile” and “International Personas” are new additions to the second edition. In Chapter 6, Nielsen presents some preliminary research on how personas can be incorporated into agile software development. It is suggested that personas are helpful in creating user stories, but the short chapter does not fully consider the possible implications of bringing these two fields together. Chapter 7 considers the challenges of conducting international user research and the difficulties of avoiding cultural bias when creating the personas. International user research is difficult to coordinate and expensive to conduct and communication and cultural barriers often prevent accurate insights. In Japan, for example, the clothing brand UNIQLO is considered to be lower-end, while in the rest of East Asia the brand is a status symbol. International user research is further complicated by the opposing meanings of the term “culture” in the theoretical literature. Nielsen advocates for understanding culture as a set of practices instead of a fixed entity and notes that problems around stereotyping can be avoided by adopting this meaning.

However, because personas inevitably rely on generalizations about race, ethnicity and cultural background, stereotypical characters traits (often perceived as offensive) can inadvertently emerge. Another problem is that users of personas bring their own cultural prejudices to the interpretation of personas. This emerged clearly in a study by Salminen et al. (2018), which considered the use of contextual images in personas to counter cultural bias . Whereas more contextual images generally provided better insights, they also allowed more opportunities for misunderstandings based on cultural bias.

Chapter 8 , written by Salminen et al., outlines a method for generating personas through big data analysis. Presenting the cutting edge of research in persona development, the aim of the automatic persona generation (APG) method is to make large volumes of user analytics accessible to users in the form of personas. APG analyses user analytics to create different segments, associates these segments to demographic data, and uses photos and other supplementary material to generate rich descriptions of personas without compromising the privacy of individuals users. By combining the personas method with big data, APG addresses one of the perennial problems with user analytics: how to turn data into insights about the customers.

By suggesting an automated alternative to qualitative persona development, this chapter addresses an aspect that is somewhat lacking in the rest of the book – the practical limitations of manual persona generation methods. Automated persona generation methods have distinct advantages over manual methods: they are quicker to complete, draw on large bodies of information, and can automatically update without having to complete the entire analytic procedure. At the same time, the human factor that makes the traditional persona method so effective – avoiding bias, using appropriate and non-offensive language, and creating fluent and readable narratives – remain unmatched in APG. The authors argue that the strength of each approach can be used to address the shortcomings of the other. The chapter summarizes the issues that remain unaddressed into a research agenda for future studies on APG that is suggested to have a significant impact.

Personas – User Focused Design provides a useful introduction to the persona method and its potential benefits to design organizations. The book is highly readable, gives several examples of successful and less successful persona descriptions, avoids jargon, and gives clear explanations of the key concepts and processes involved in persona development. Professionals already familiar with the technique might, however, find the content slightly limited.

Nielsen has made a major contribution to the understanding of user experience through personas. Her deployment of fictional character development and narrative techniques and devices in communicating personas and scenarios are particularly enlightening. However, the method is encumbered by its time-consuming nature and lack of flexibility when it comes to rapidly changing user profiles. In the fast-paced world of user sentiment analysis, the human-computer interface presents the next frontier. It remains to be seen how Nielsen’s research on narrative and fiction might be incorporated into machine learning methods for generating readable persona descriptions that arouse empathy and avoid bias and offensive language.

Salminen, J., Jansen, B. J., An, J., Kwak, H. and Jung, S. G. (2018)  Automatic Persona Generation for Online Content Creators: Conceptual Rationale and a Research Agenda​ .  Personas: User Focused Design . 1, 1, Article 1, 135-160.

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For Caleb Carr, Salvation Arrived on Little Cat’s Feet

As he struggled with writing and illness, the “Alienist” author found comfort in the feline companions he recalls in a new memoir, “My Beloved Monster.”

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By Alexandra Jacobs

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MY BELOVED MONSTER: Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me, by Caleb Carr

J. Alfred Prufrock measured his life out in coffee spoons . Caleb Carr has done so in cats.

Carr is best known for his 1994 best-selling novel “ The Alienist ,” about the search for a serial killer of boy prostitutes, and his work as a military historian. You have to prod the old brain folds a little more to remember that he is the middle son of Lucien Carr , the Beat Generation figure convicted of manslaughter as a 19-year-old Columbia student after stabbing his infatuated former Boy Scout leader and rolling the body into the Hudson.

This crime is only fleetingly alluded to in “My Beloved Monster,” which tracks Carr’s intimate relationship with a blond Siberian feline he names Masha — but his father haunts the book, as fathers will, more sinisterly than most.

After a short prison term, Lucien went on to become a respectable longtime editor for United Press International. He was a drunk — no surprise there, with famous dissolute-author pals like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg hanging around the house. But that he regularly beat Caleb and threw him down flights of stairs, causing not just psychological but physical injuries that persist into adult life, adds further dark shadings to this particular chapter of literary history.

In a boyhood marred by abuse, neglect and the upheaval of his parents’ divorce, cats were there to comfort and commune with Caleb. Indeed, he long believed he was one in a previous life, “ imperfectly or incompletely reincarnated ” as human, he writes.

Before you summon Shirley MacLaine to convene 2024’s weirdest author panel, consider the new ground “My Beloved Monster” breaks just by existing. Even leaving aside the countless novels about them, dogs have long been thought valid subjects for book-length treatment, from Virginia Woolf’s “ Flush ,” about Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s cocker spaniel, to John Grogan’s “ Marley and Me .” Meow-moirs are thinner on the ground.

It’s taken a younger generation of feminists, and probably the boredom and anxiety of quarantine, to destigmatize (and in some cases monetize ) being owned by a cat. Male cat fanciers, however, have long been stereotyped as epicene or eccentric, though their number has included such national pillars of machismo as Ernest Hemingway and Marlon Brando . When one male lawyer accidentally showed up to a civil forfeiture hearing behind a kitten filter on Zoom in 2021, America went wild with the incongruity.

Carr, though he’s a big one for research, doesn’t waste much time, as I just have, throat-clearing about cats’ perch in the culture. He’s suffered from one painful illness after another — neuropathy, pancreatitis, peritonitis, Covid or something Covid-like, cancer; and endured multiple treatments and surgeries, some “botched” — and his writing has the forthrightness and gravity of someone who wants to maximize his remaining time on Earth.

He capitalizes not only Earth, but the Sun, the Moon and the roles played by various important anonymous humans in his life, which gives his story a sometimes ponderous mythic tone: there’s the Mentor, the Lady Vet (a homage to Preston Sturges’ “The Lady Eve”; Carr is a classic movie buff), the Spinal Guru and so forth.

Names are reserved for a succession of cats, who have seemingly been as important to Carr as lovers or human friends, if not more so. (At least one ex felt shortchanged by comparison.) Masha is his spirit animal, a feminine counterpart better than any you could find in the old New York Review of Books personals . She eats, he notes admiringly, “like a barbarian queen”; she enjoys the music of Mahler, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff and Wagner (“nothing — and I’ll include catnip in this statement,” he writes, “made her as visibly overjoyed as the Prelude from ‘Das Rheingold’”); she has a really great set of whiskers.

Before Masha there was Suki, blond as well, but a bewitching emerald-eyed shorthair who chomped delicately around rodents’ organs and disappeared one night. Suki was preceded by Echo, a part-Abyssinian with an adorable-sounding penchant for sticking his head in Carr’s shirtfront pocket. Echo was preceded by Chimene, a tabby-splotched white tomcat the adolescent Caleb nurses miraculously through distemper. Chimene was preceded by Ching-ling, whose third litter of kittens suffer a deeply upsetting fate. And before Ching-ling there was Zorro, a white-socked “superlative mouser” who once stole an entire roast chicken from the top of the Carr family’s refrigerator.

To put it mildly, “My Beloved Monster” is no Fancy Feast commercial. All of the cats in it, city and country — Carr has lived in both, though the action is centered at his house on a foothill of Misery Mountain in Rensselaer County, N.Y— are semi-feral creatures themselves at constant risk of gruesome predation. Masha, rescued from a shelter, had also been likely abused, at the very least abandoned in a locked apartment, and Carr is immediately, keenly attuned to her need for wandering free.

This, of course, will put her at risk. The tension between keeping her safe and allowing her to roam, out there with bears, coyotes and fearsome-sounding creatures called fisher weasels, is the central vein of “My Beloved Monster,” and the foreboding is as thick as her triple-layered fur coat. More so when you learn Carr keeps a hunting rifle by one of his easy chairs.

But the book is also about Carr’s devotion to a line of work he likens to “professional gambling.” Despite his best sellers, Hollywood commissions and conscious decision not to have children to stop the “cycle of abuse,” Carr has faced money troubles. The I.R.S. comes to tape a placard to his door and he’s forced to sell vintage guitars to afford Masha’s medications, for she has begun in eerie parallel to develop ailments of her own.

“My Beloved Monster’ is a loving and lovely, lay-it-all-on-the-line explication of one man’s fierce attachment. If you love cats and feel slightly sheepish about it, it’s a sturdy defense weapon. If you hate them, well, there’s no hope for you.

MY BELOVED MONSTER : Masha, the Half-Wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me | By Caleb Carr | Little, Brown | 352 pp. | $32

Alexandra Jacobs is a Times book critic and occasional features writer. She joined The Times in 2010. More about Alexandra Jacobs

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A world with no boundaries

Russian writer ludmila ulitskaya’s stories of love and defiance escape the plane of realism..

The Body of the Soul

Now 80, Ulitskaya is writing fearlessly and with mature depth. On the surface, her new stories have a plainness that is reminiscent of Chekhov. They almost always begin in a realist frame. Alisa, an engineering draftsman, installs a bathtub. A busybody woman tries to arrange a marriage for her accountant daughter. Zhenya buys a pair of unique walking shoes for which she does not have the name, moccasin . Most of the stories take place in a time period between an insulated Soviet Union and an emerging capitalistic and global reality.

In the first story, we meet Zarifa, an Azerbaijani woman, who is married to Musya, an Armenian woman. Already we are on ground that is rarely broken by short stories in the Russian tradition. Ulitskaya’s eye draws us to the margins, to the untold and unsung. She is not interested in narratives about Russian greatness or the Russian soul. Instead, she finds subjects and means that disrupt these dominating discourses—through the singular bodies and souls of ordinary people. She especially loves the stories of middle-aged and older women, another realm rarely traced in literature. Her characters are often people who have already given up on life, been severely disappointed by it, and cannot imagine new futures for themselves, until . . . . (Ulitskaya loves the ellipsis.)

In the final story, a bibliographer named Nadezhda Georgievna begins to lose her connection with words. The first word she forgets is serpentine , and eventually her memory for everything disappears. Even as her world recedes, another opens: a “radiant world [that] had no boundaries. It moved, developed, expanded, and unfolded like a serpentine road.” This is the world Ulitskaya invites us into, where our limitations become opportunities and our failures are loved beyond measure, where there is always more than meets the eye .  

Amy Frykholm

The Century contributing editor is the author of five books, including  Wild Woman: A Footnote, the Desert, and my Quest for an Elusive Saint.

We would love to hear from you. Let us know what you think about this article by emailing our editors .

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Bald by Stuart Heritage review – hair today, gone tomorrow

An unexpected twist on the grief memoir sees the Guardian writer chart the five stages of male-pattern baldness

I t takes Stuart Heritage almost 30 pages to summon the courage to write about his comb-over days. There are hints of it on the way as he describes the slow-motion crisis of confidence that tracks his receding hairline. He applies the Kübler-Ross model of grief to his loss: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The comb-over, he says, is part of the bargaining phase, when perceptions of reality can become tragically skewed.

When the remnants of his once generous mop do flop into view, Heritage, the author and longtime Guardian contributor, does what he does best: he lays on the laughs. Men who resort to comb-overs resist the cold clippers of acceptance because any hair can feel better than none, “even if what they’ve got looks like five long strands draped across their head like spaghetti on a beach ball”.

As we slapheads know, bare bonces become inescapable identifiers and gag magnets. In Bald: How I Slowly Learned to Not Hate Having No Hair, Heritage reclaims the wisecracks. I snorted throughout what amounts to the funniest imaginable version of a grief memoir.

Happily, all the wry self-deprecation packed into an appropriately thin volume serves a grander goal: to convince the two-thirds of men who will suffer some degree of hair loss by the age of 60 to be at peace with the fact “your wonderful glossy hair is probably wrapped around a fatberg in a sewer somewhere” – and learn to love what’s left.

Just as Heritage’s earlier book about his relationship with his brother, Don’t Be a Dick, Pete , was as much about modern masculinity as fraternal love, so Bald manages brilliantly to unpack male vanity and insecurity. It’s a book I couldn’t have written: I feel blessed never to have really cared about losing my hair in my 20s, although on reflection (and having just scrolled through my phone’s “selfie” reel) it took me way too long to reach for the clippers. But I know how emotionally crippling the process can be.

Heritage relays his denial and anger phases with often moving candour. Before his comb-over came the “Regaine years”, during which the writer tried to preserve his surviving hair in a “zombified state”. I could almost picture him wincing as he recalls the pile of empty Regaine tubs hidden in the back of his wardrobe lest anyone spot them in the bin.

He breaks up the text with a genuinely informative glossary, including hair loss science that was new to me. Later he gives sensitivity scores to the things people say to balding men. (I’ll never hear “you have a nice-shaped head” in the same way again.) And there’s a rundown of his “bald heroes”; Stanley Tucci tops a list that also includes the writer’s father, whose obliviousness to baldness is ultimately inspiring.

There are some deftly handled interviews. A barber and a menswear stylist provide succour and practical advice. And there’s a poignant conversation with Fiona, a friend whose experience of hair loss following treatment for a brain tumour helps snap Heritage out of the depression stage.

The writer presents himself as a balding mentor and – in time – champion. He stands ready to hold the hand of any vulnerable man who might otherwise fall into a pit of despair on the internet. Online, he points out, searches for help tend to lead to content created by a hair-loss treatment industry that survives by making people feel bad about themselves.

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It all leads to a concluding conversation with a huge name in balding that comes as such a joyous surprise that it would be churlish to spoil it here. Let’s just say the guy on the other end of the Zoom call says something that lights up Heritage’s eyes like those of a Sunday league player told by Lionel Messi that he has a great first touch. At last our hairless guide finds himself in the acceptance phase. So, too, will any reader even a little bit worried about balding – ideally before the comb-over days.

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