Peter's English Cafe: January 2012

If we have trouble creating characters, there are many different ways to do it: (The Character’s name is… let’s say, Bob Blank)

1. Use lists. Fill in the blanks for these:

age
position/ job
wants
fears
in wallet/purse….
brief physical description

Get a name and jump in. Start to write about the character and discover her or him as you write.

Bob Blank opened the front door and ____________

Use poetry and music to come up with a character. Find all the words that you can associate with a character. Listen to your favorite song and think of the character that comes to mind.

What kind of Tree is Bob Blank?

Cloth
House
Car
Weather
Smoke
City

Use real life. Sketch a person and give her a different name than her real name. Or use a combination of people.

Bob Blank is just like a relative of mine, my________________

Use description. Create a picture in your mind.

Here’s what Bob Blank looks like _________________

Use a combination of methods and decide that one key thing that says the character.

This is the defining characteristic of Bob Blank. If I could only say one thing about Bob Blank, this is what I would say and you would know Bob Blank fully. ___________________________

If you’re an artistic person, draw a picture of your character. If you’re not an artistic person, do it anyway.

Pull out a character from your own past, perhaps a family member.

Bob Blank reminds me of a family member, or Bob Blank reminds me of a characteristic of myself.

Create characters from dramatic needs in your story, such as an evil antagonist.

In my story of Bob Blank, there needs to be a

Hero
Mentor
Trickster
Shadow
Herald
Threshold Guardian

This character is needed for dramatic reasons, to deepen the story, to make it interesting. Like the old saying “When the story gets boring, bring in a man with a gun.”

Create characters from psychological needs in your story, e.g., a jokester to lighten the mood.

Considering my audience’s reaction to the story of Bob Blank, their psychological needs, I should develop a

Hero
Mentor
Trickster
Shadow
Herald
Threshold Guardian

In case that’s not enough ways to reveal Bob Blank, here are a few more:

1. conflict with environment
2. by action
3. by self discovery
4. by tags
5. by motivated action (he did that to annoy her)
6. emphasize dominant characteristic
7. use opposites, contrast
8. Names – what name says the character
9. conflict in story
10. moment of truth
11. confession
12. give person chance to make a choice 13. reveal by exposition
14. description
15. narration
16. by action
17. by character’s feeling about himself
18. attitude of others toward character
19. thru environment of story–"He enthroned himself in a chair."

Courtesy of Mr. Ed Griffin, Writers Write Daily blog

Peter's English Cafe

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Creating Characters

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Creating Characters

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