Creative WritingFiction

Creating Characters

Notes

Food for thought“Your fiction can only be as successful as

the characters who move it and move within it.” – Janet Burroway

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.

Attention to detail is significant.

Major elements of any characterAuthorial interpretationAppearanceSpeechThoughtsActionsOther characters’ interpretations

Unique & MemorableFamiliar character types appear in story

after story.Absent-minded professorA lazy workerAn domineering wifeHer timid husbandA tyrannical bossA staggering drunk

They will inevitably show up in your stories.How can you make them unique and

memorable?

CredibilityAim for individuality instead of

typicality, but remember “appropriateness.”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.

PurposeDesire: what does he/she/it want?

Can the reader identify with this desire? We want to be able to sympathize and/or identify with his/her situation(s)!

What parts of your character support

this desire? Contrast it?

Intricacies that define character typeAgeGenderRaceNationalityMarital statusRegionEducationReligionProfession

Playing with Intricacies

Individual Activity - GenderPlease complete on a separate piece of paper.

Write a page in the first person, assuming the voice of someone of the opposite gender.

This can be a description, narrative, or a segment of autobiography.

The main point is to completely lose yourself and become another.

Class Activity - AgeMake 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.

Cour list into your journal.

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.

Characters & Desire: Driving Plot Story Machine CardsYou have ten index cards in front of you.

On the first five, list labels associated with what they do (jobs, activities, etc.)

On the second five cards, list a mildly strange or unusual behavior. These do not have to be associated with the labels on the other cards. In fact, it would be better if they were not.

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 main character.

This story should clearly specify, without “telling”:GenderAge Desire

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