This document outlines elements of character development for a creative writing class. It discusses analyzing memorable characters, understanding basic characterization elements like appearance and actions, and generating unique characters. It provides tips for finding character inspiration through people watching and notebooks. Key elements of characters like gender, age, and desires are explored to help drive plot. Students are given exercises to practice exploring these elements through writing character descriptions from different perspectives.
2. Goals for Class Today (and our
next story)
Analyze memorable characters in order to
inform our discussion about the elements of
well-developed characters
Understand the basic elements of
characterization
Generate characters, applying understanding
of the elements of characterization
Write a story with well-developed characters
in order to show your understanding of
characterization
4. Quick Write (Writer’s Notebook)
Who are some of your favorite characters
from the literature you have read? Why?
5. Now,
let’s talk about what writers
do.
Please use your Writer’s Notebook to
record new information.
6. Finding Inspiration
People watch
Use your journal to note observations about
people in various environments. Try to
capture their personality, their appearance,
their actions, and their mannerisms in
words.
Character notebooks
Character boards on Pinterest
Google character profiles
7. Remember…
“Your fiction can only be as successful as the
characters who move it and move within it.” –
Janet Burroway
You want unique characters, characters your
readers will remember.
8. Credibility
Aim for individuality instead of typicality, but
remember “appropriateness.”
Keep characters consistent with their
environments.
A Baptist Texan behaves differently than an
Italian nun.
A rural schoolboy behaves differently than a
Harvard professor.
Remember what is appropriate for your character;
a reader can only suspend their disbelief so
much.
10. Give Characters Purpose
ASK YOURSELF:
Desire: what does he/she/it want?
Can the reader identify with this
desire? (relatable?)
What parts of your character support
this desire? Contrast it?
What would your character be willing
to do to fulfill this desire? (Plot)
11. Major elements of any character
Appearance
Speech
Thoughts (in 1st person narratives)
Actions
Other characters’ interpretations
12. Intricacies that define character
Age
Gender
Race
Nationality
Marital status
Region
Education
Religion
Profession
http://www.passionatelyonpurpose.com/wp-content/gallery/characters/close-look.jpg
14. Defining Gender (Discussion)
What characteristics stereotypically belong to each
gender?
What happens when those stereotypes are broken?
http://www.swansea.ac.uk/gencas/maingenderculture/women-gender.jpg
15. Individual Activity – Gender
(Collected)
Please complete on a separate piece of paper.
Write for five minutes in the first person,
assuming the persona of someone of the opposite
gender. You may employ or ignore stereotypes-your choice.
This can be a description, narrative, or a segment of
autobiography, anything in prose form.
The main point is to completely lose yourself and become
another. Remember that you want your characters to be
unique, believable, and relatable.
If you finish early, work on another notebook entry, or try
writing a piece from your own gender.
16. Discussion
How did that exercise feel?
What was difficult about it?
How do writers successfully write from
another perspective?
17. Class Activity - Age
Make a list of some of the ways a writer
can suggest a character’s approximate
age. (Wrinkles and gray hair are the
most obvious. Many are more subtle.)
Make the best use of your powers of
observation. The more precise the
detail, the more convincing it is.
For example, appearance, hobbies, they
technology they use…
http://www.daisygreenmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/through-the-ages-600.jpg
18. Individual Activity – Age
(Collected)
Using the list of details writers can use to
show a character’s age, please write a
paragraph describing a character.
Then, others will guess the age of your
character. (Child, Teenager, Middle-aged,
Elderly, etc.)
If you finish early, go back to your WNB.
20. Naming Characters
The names you choose have a strong and
subtle influence on how your readers will
respond to your characters.
Names you give characters should not be
drawn out of a hat, but carefully tested to see
if they “work.”
You may have to change a character’s name
several times before you get it right.
21. Individual Activity - Worksheet
Name the characters on your worksheet,
keeping in mind that you can plant, with a
name, a clue to their role in your fiction.
Don’t think too much. Trust your gut.
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d7/9d/31/d79d316aaa496cacb5eae628ccd82c7a.jpg
22. Characters & Desire: Driving Plot
Story Machine Cards
On the yellow cards, list labels associated with
what people/characters do (jobs, activities, etc.)
On the green cards, list actions characters might
take.
These do not have to be associated with the
labels on the other cards. In fact, it would be
better if they were not.
It’s ok to make these mildly odd or strange.
23. Shuffle the Story Machine
Shuffle each pack of cards SEPERATELY.
Now, ask “Why did Card A do Card B?”
“Why did the fashion model pick up the paper on the
driveway?”
Continue to flip cards until you find a question that’s
worth answering. There are many possible pairings.
Reshuffle if necessary.
The event suggested by the machine may work best
at the beginning of the story, but think of what would
happen if you placed it at the end or in the middle.
24. Next story challenge:
Write a short story with a well-developed main
character, applying the elements we’ve discussed in
class today.
This story should clearly show, without “telling”:
Gender
Age
Desire
**Be sure to include a name that fits the character’s
actions and personality.
