Jim Butcher writes his important characters with one or two exaggerated traits throughout all his books so then they are able stand out against any old normal character. His implementation of these character traits help him to call upon the character when a problem of their expertise is needed, which also helps the ability to foreshadow because the reader knows that certain characters are good or bad at certain things. For example the main character in the Dresden Files, Butchers multi book series, Harry Dresden is known as the sarcastic wizard who will never stop pursuing his problems until they are delt with to the best and more of his abilities. In the first book of the series, Storm Front, Dresden is introduced with quick quips and that he has powerful wizardly abilities. He is described as a gruff looking man who has seen his fair share of traumatic events but he still continues his line of work as a paranormal private investigator. The main antagonist is an evil wizard who is murdering people, who better to fight a powerful evil wizard than a powerful good wizard. Another character in the Dresden Files, Karen Murphy, is head of her police department, is persistent in her work, and is doesn’t let her gender play a role in what she does. Multiple times throughout the series Dresden worries about her because she is a woman but her persistence teaches him otherwise. Dresden does make jokes about her being a woman and in the book Blood Rites those jokes foreshadow how she can’t just block out all of her femineity. They come to a point where there is a laser in a doorway and if tripped will activate a bomb killing them. The only person that will fit under the laser is Murphy because of her body compared to Dresden’s. Her persistence to complete the mission makes her crawl under the laser but she isn’t happy about Dresden  pointing out her body and then making a sarcastic comment about her. 

Overall Butcher uses his characters to show that someone should never give up and to use your strengths to your advantage. He also uses them to show that life will throw everything bad in your way, which in all seventeen books of the Dresden Files Harry faces multiple challenges in each book, but no matter how hard everything gets there is always a way for you to come back and win those challenges. The characters also utilize their strengths and recognize what their weaknesses are which also shows how people should know what they can and can’t do and ask for help if they need it.

Butcher generally uses the settings throughout his books to portray the events that are happening. If the characters are getting ready to fight a big evil being the setting will consist of usually darker themes that go along with the antagonist. In his book The Aeronaut's Windlass, part of the Cinder Spires series, the setting starts with the busy yet calm trading docks of air ships in Spire Albion where it is like its own country full of people. At this point the main characters don’t have many troubles. Fast forwarding through the book, the enemy Spire Aurora, have invaded Spire Albion and have planted explosives to make an entire level start crumbling in which the main protagonists are rushing and preparing themselves to rid the Spire of the infiltrators and go after an evil sorceress who stole an important book, which at this point the characters now have many problems to deal with. In the book Blood Rites in the Dresden Files there is an evil curse that was cast to kill people. Dresden is tasked to find the source of the curse and get rid of it so in order to track it he has to wait for it to come and attempt to kill someone. Before the curse is unleashed there are no problems but as soon as Harry feels the dark magic approaching the lights flicker, the power goes out, and someone was electrocuted in the shower, again showing how the setting reflects the events that are happening. The setting is also used to show the mental states of characters. When Dresden is exhausted from all his problems his wizard station is disorganized and becomes another problem for him to deal with. The desk that Murphy, the police lieutenant, works at is typically clean when she doesn’t have anything mentally straining put on her. In Blood Rites she has to go to her sisters wedding where she is marrying Murphy’s ex-boyfriend. This causes Murphy to become a disaster as she already was looked down upon by her family already and her des reflects that as she is seen as having stacks of papers scattered everywhere across her desk, the printer it shooting papers out, and she is described as having very dark eye bags and crazy looking hair. Overall the setting is used to represent the events and the mental state that the characters are going through, whether it be by themselves or with other characters. 

The structure of Butcher’s books are typically linear and multiple events lead up to the main climax event that resolves the main issue of the book and then leaves a few unresolved side issues that are either continued in the next book or resolved. There are multiple side issues in each book that have the ability to effect the main events and sometimes do but are typically weaved in around the main events. The side events are used for character development and gives deeper insight into each of the main characters. In the book Blood Rites in the Dresden Files series there is a curse on a film maker who then tasks Harry Dresden to find the source and rid him of the curse. The curse comes and attacks multiple times but only in a certain pattern. Between the times the curse strikes Harry is either planning on how to take the curse down or dealing with an evil vampire lady. Before Harry goes out to defeat the evil wizard performing the curse he gathers a small team consisting of him, Lieutenant Karen Murphy, a hitman, and his old mentor. The hitman and his old mentor have previous conflicts with each other and it is then revealed to Harry that his mentor has a special role within the wizard council that allows him to avoid the laws and do what needs to be done. During the mission Harry also learns about himself and that he does have an attraction to Murphy despite not realizing it in the past. This resolves the issue of why his old mentor didn’t like the hitman but then creates the issue of Harry’s emotions towards Murphy which are used in the next books of the series. After the side event Harry takes all the build up of him creating relationships with white court vampires and him trying to keep the curse off of the people it is trying to kill to go and take down the person who is casting the curse. Harry uses his relationship with two of the white court vampires to help him to take down the leader of the white court who has a vendetta against the film maker. Overall the structure and plot are used to progress the story in a linear fashion but then introduce new side events to help further character development and the way they act to certain situations.

All of the speakers in Butcher’s book take in many of the specific details and tend to not skip out on any small details. Since all his books are written in first person the reader is able to see the thought process of many of the details presented to the characters and then how they process and decide how to proceed with the details they found. Characters will analyze all the details they can, almost to the point where they over analyze. Although the characters think a lot it helps them to reach the correct conclusions about what is happening, which helps the reader follow along, and then how they think they should correctly react. In the book the Aeronaut's Windlass the protagonists home is invaded and Captain Grim sees how there was not enough enemy marines sent to present a big enough threat that their home would be taken over. He realizes that because of that they must be here for something else and that since they are in hiding they must be hiding in the lower tunnels of the Spire. The characters thought processes are influence by their past. Captain Grim used to be a part of the navy which is how he has the tactical knowledge to know their plans based off of how many people were sent in to infiltrate the Spire. In Blood Rites the main character and only speaker of the novel is a powerful wizard who was taught by two very powerful wizards and he has a lot of past wizarding experience. He uses his knowledge about magic and curses to defend and then track down a powerful curse that has been killing various people. He when the curse is about to strike and then uses those details to predict when it will strike in the future and what the person performing the curse must be doing in order to cast it. This way of how the speaker is written helps the reader to understand what is actually happening in the novel since the magic and fantasy can get confusing and so that it doesn’t seem like the characters are just extremely lucky and just happen to stumble upon the problem they want to find and get rid of. Overall the speaker is used to help show all the problems within the story and how those problems effect other events which leads them to conclusions that also help the reader to further understand what is happening in the story.