Creating Characters by Howard Lauther Read Free Book Online Page B

and has multiplied it.
    Success is based on a victory he has achieved.
UNSUCCESSFUL
    Related Traits:
    Anonymous, bankrupt, beaten, broke, defeated, deprived, destitute, disadvantaged, downtrodden, failed, hapless, ill-fated, ill-starred, impoverished, indigent, insignificant, insolvent, luckless, needy, nondescript, penniless, poverty-stricken, second-rate, unaccomplished, underprivileged, unfortunate, unimportant, unknown, unlucky, unrecognized.
    As Seen by Others:
    Has yet to achieve what he set out to do.
    Hasn't lived up to his promise.
    Lacks those things by which one measures success.
    He was born poor and he'll die poor.
    Always winds up being second-or third-best.
    Has never risen above his original life's station.
    Opportunity has passed him by again and again.
    He simply can't get a break.
    He's never been able to take advantage of a situation, because he's either too early or too late.
    Seems to have a love affair with disappointment.
    There is nothing about him that distinguishes him from the crowd.
    Has never had the ability to make something of himself.
LEARNED
    Related Traits:
    Bookish, cerebral, educated, enlightened, erudite, highbrow, intellectual, knowledgeable, lettered, literary, literate, pedantic, professorial, scholarly, schooled, schoolmarmish, schoolmasterish, self-taught, studious, trained, tutored, versed, well-educated, well-read.
    As Seen by Others:
    Knows a lot about a great number of things.
    Always got his nose in a book.
    A bona fide expert.
    Has spent most of his life trying to find out the who, what, where, why, and how of things.
    Knows more about that subject than anyone else.
    Has spent his life studying, and it shows.
UNLEARNED
    Related Traits:
    Ignorant, illiterate, incognizant, semi-literate, uneducated, unenlightened, uninformed, uninstructed, unintellectual, unlettered, unschooled, untrained, unversed.
    As Seen by Others:
    What he knows doesn't amount to very much.
    Unable to read or write.
    His knowledge is elementary—enough that he can get by.
    Has probably never read a book from cover to cover.
    His education has been the school of hard knocks.
    Dropped out of school.
    Doesn't know enough to realize that there are two sides to every question and answer.
    Reads trash and thinks trash.
COMPLIMENTARY
    Related Traits:
    Adulatory, bootlicking, congratulatory, extolling, fawning, flattering, glorifying, honeyed, laudatory, mealy-mouthed, obsequious, praising, smooth-spoken, sugary, sycophantic, uncritical, unctuous.
    As Seen by Others:
    For every praise he utters, he's got ten more in reserve.
    Plays upon other people's vanity like they were violins.
    Never finds fault with anyone.
    Acts sweet enough to give you a toothache.
    What he says to your face is probably a hundred miles away from what he's thinking.
    Puffs up people's virtues that they didn't even know they had.
    Never lets an opportunity pass when he can pet someone's feathers.
FAULT-FINDING
    Related Traits:
    Acrimonious, aspersive, backbiting, bitchy, belittling, bitter, calumnious, captious, carping, caustic, caviling, censorious, condemning, critical, cutting, defamatory, denigratory, denunciatory, deprecating, detractive, derisive, derogatory, discrediting, disparaging, hurtful, hypercritical, impugning, injurious, libelous, maligning, nagging, nasty, nit-picking, querulous, rancorous, ridiculing, scoffing, scornful, slanderous, uncomplimentary, unflattering, vilifying.
    As Seen by Others:
    He's never seen anyone's virtue that he has liked.
    Would find fault with the tilt of an angel's wing.
    What he says behind your back would melt your shirtfront.
    If he can't say anything bad about you, he would rather not say anything at all.
    Has standards that not even a saint could meet.
    Always dropping little hints about someone's indiscretion.
    Maintains a running complaint about some mistreatment he thinks he has suffered at the hands of another.
    Openly attempts to reduce someone's worth in the eyes of others.
    His complaints