Today’s Agenda

•Indirect Characterization Mini-lesson

•Character Development

•I can develop my character by using indirect characterization.

Characterization

How Do I Make My Characters Come To Life?

How do Authors develop character?

1. By creating a clear mental concept of the character

2. By selecting one major and two or three minor character traits

3. By presenting these character traits effectively

Senses

• Your reader must use all the senses to “see” your character.– Hear– See– Taste– Feel– Smell

Aunt Tiny had a laugh as rich and flaky

as biscuits and gravy. She wore

gorgeous clothes – reds so bright and

whites so pure and spanking clean. She

would fix ribs, baking them slow in the

oven, and serve them with red beans

and steaming rice. She cooked the

beans slow, too, with giant slabs of

clove-studded onion.

from Yolanda’s Genius by Carol Fenner

Tiny’s hands were pretty as Momma’s, only her nails were very long, squared-off at the tips, and polished shiny red.

She ate with delicate bites, nibbling daintily, mincing her way through rib after rib, wiping her mouth with her

napkin, not getting any of the barbecue sauce on her blindingly white slacks. She

smelled wonderfully of perfume and food. When she surrounded Yolanda in a big, soft hug, Yolanda could have stayed

there forever, inhaling Aunt Tiny’s sweetness.

from Yolanda’s Genius by Carol Fenner

• The author appeals to all of our senses in providing this portrait of Aunt Tiny. She invites us to…

•hear her laugh•see her bright clothes•smell her perfume•feel the warmth of her hug•taste her cooking, nibble ribs

These selected details allow us to fill in the rest of the picture.

We know from this description that Aunt Tiny is warm, friendly and feminine.

Yolanda loves her.

The author does not tell us any of this directly, but we know it because we have a living, moving picture of Aunt Tiny in our minds. The author SHOWS us!

GesturesGestures are something that we use every day.• when a kindergarten girl feels shy, she takes a

piece of hair, puts it in her mouth and begins to chew.

• a boy makes a fantastic goal and shows his excitement by reaching up and pulling down, hard on an imaginary rope as he cries, “Yessss!”

Gestures are physical motions made by people.Describing a particular gesture is one of the best

ways to bring a character to life.

• Christopher Paul Curtis uses gesture to develop the mother’s character in his novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham.

• The book is narrated by a boy named Kenny, who describes the mother making this gesture:

– “Momma put her hand over her mouth. She did this whenever she was going to smile because she had a great big gap between her front teeth.”

At the end of the novel, a bomb explodes in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. At first, the mother fears that her daughter was in the church when it got bombed. Now Kenny returns to that gesture:

– “Momma was so upset that she even forgot to cover the space in her front teeth.”

Internal Monologue• Sometimes an author may have

the character silently speak without saying any actual words.

• These are not found in quotation marks.

• They are the character’s thoughts.

The Palominos were down to their last three strikes. Ted walked up to the plate and stood outside the batter’s box, using the bat to bang dirt out of his cleats.

“No batter, no batter,” the catcher snorted. Ted ignored him and looked up at the scoreboard. 3-3, bases loaded, bottom of the seventh. He looked out at the mound where Cliff Proctor glared back at him. They were both in the ninth grade, but already there was a dark mustache above Cliff’s sneering upper lip. The kid looked closer to twenty than fifteen years old. He let fly a big glob of spittle and pounded his glove.

from The Palominos by Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi

Don’t forget to breathe, Ted said to himself as he stepped into the batter’s box. Relax. Get Comfortable. This kid throws hard but wild. Don’t do him any favors by swinging at a bad pitch. Make him throw strikes. The bases are jammed – a walk is as good as a home run. You’re not going to get any offspeed junk from this kid. No way. He’s too cocky for that. This kid’s gonna bring his fastball and nothing but. C’mon, Cliff Proctor, I’m ready. Show me your heat.

from The Palominos by Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portalupi

Considerations in Creating Character

• Create a meaningful, interesting problem for the character, one that holds possibilities for you as a writer and one you can imagine.

• Choose a name that fits the family background and setting and doesn’t take over or distract from the story.

• Choose an age you can imagine.• Choose a family background you can

imagine, plus one that will support the development of the problem.

• Choose a setting you know well enough to describe in accurate, believable detail.

Considerations in Creating Character• Choose favorite things for the character to do

to reveal what he or she is like and that fit with each other and the character.

• Let the plot grow from the tensions created by the character’s problem.

• Make the change in the character believable and consistent with his or her personality and life.

• Make the resolution believable and consistent with who the character is and with the personalities of the supporting characters, especially those with whom the main character is in conflict.

• Keep the main character true to himself: consider, at every step, would this person act this way?

So…what elements bring a character to life?

• Character Words• Character Thoughts• Character Actions• Character Feelings

• How the Character Responds or Reacts to other Characters

• What the Author Tells the Reader About the Character.

Main Character Questionnaire1. What is your name?2. How old are you?3. What is the problem you are facing?4. What is your family background?5. Where do you live?6. What do you like to do?7. What is different about you?8. What do you care about?9. What do you fear?10. What are your dreams?11. Who are the important people in your life?12. What are the important things in your life?13. How will you change through confronting your

problem?14. What will you know or understand about yourself or

your world at the end of the story?

Know Your Character Before You Start to Write

• Once you have a good idea of who your main character is, you will find it easier to write about how your character reacts to different situations in your story.

Happy Writing!