Creative WritingFiction

Creating Characters

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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

First, let’s look at things from a reader’s perspective.

Quick Write (Writer’s Notebook)Who are some of your favorite

characters from the literature you have read? Why?

Now, let’s talk about what writers do.

Please use your Writer’s Notebook to record new information.

Finding InspirationPeople 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 notebooksCharacter boards on PinterestGoogle character profiles

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.

CredibilityAim 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.

Characters & Plot

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Give Characters PurposeASK 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)

Major elements of any characterAppearanceSpeechThoughts (in 1st person narratives)ActionsOther characters’ interpretations

Intricacies that define characterAgeGenderRaceNationalityMarital statusRegionEducationReligionProfession

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Playing with Intricacies

Defining Gender (Discussion)What characteristics stereotypically belong to

each gender?

What happens when those stereotypes are

broken?

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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.

DiscussionHow did that exercise feel?What was difficult about it?How do writers successfully write from

another perspective?

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…

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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.

Showing (not telling) Emotions & Feelings

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Naming CharactersThe 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.

Individual Activity - WorksheetName 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.

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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.

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.

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”:GenderAge Desire

**Be sure to include a name that fits the character’s actions and personality.