Character

1
Character

• According to Noah Lukeman

2
Characterization

• Must be consistent
• Must emerge from the action of the story

3
Naming

• Go beyond the ordinary, but dont have overly
  exotic names
• According to personality or roles
• Dont switch between first and last names (John
  Smith and then Mr. Smith)
• Sources mythology, Bible, books of names,
  anagrams of words critical to your story
• Consider ethnicity, locale, religion and social
  class

4
Development

• Action reveals human beings
• Other peoples impression or dialogue
• Make him or her unusual in some way
• Create a character sketch
• Get to know that person
• No stock charactersmake each one interesting

5
Names as Development

• Reveal your characters through action, not a
  name.
• A gun-toting Western robber in a revealing red
  evening dress should not be Annmake her Annie
  Get Your Gun

6
Make Your Characters Unusual

• Cynical private detective

• Man with a broken leg who solves a mystery
  looking out his rear window

7
Describe Your Characters

• Dont stop the action to describe
• Keep the pace and allow the description to
  emerge in action he had to braid the hair on his
  chest before he could compete in the swim meet.
• Try comparison his eyes were the color of the
  tiles beneath his feet.

8
Description

• Avoid man in his forties, medium height and
  weight with brown hair and brown eyesmake your
  description that of your unique character
• Create a character we will care about (dont want
  us to be put off by your protagonist!)
• Dr. Lecter is likable

9
Alternative ways to describe

• Describe details about the eyes His eyes were
  sunken in his head, close together and so large
  they made him look like a ghoul.
• His pale hair sat too far back on his head,
  prematurely receded for a man his age.

10
Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness

• He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a
  straight back, an ascetic aspect, and with his
  arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards,
  resembled an idol. He describes cheeks,
  complexion, posture, aspect with words like
  sunken,

11
Joseph Conrads Lord Jim

• He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet,
  powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you
  with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head
  forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made
  you think of a charging bull. His voice was
  deep, loud, and his manner displayed a kind of
  dogged self-assertion which had nothing
  aggressive in it.

12
Discussion

• This inaccurate height gives the narration style
  and flourish. Why
  doesnt the narrator know
  how tall he is?
• That he advanced at you and had a stoop of
  his shoulders besides a fixed-from-under stare
  deals with traits in a fresh way. Then he gives
  the impression of a charging bull (a simile)

13
Number of Characters

• Protagonist (main actor)
• Antagonist (stands in the way of the main
  character)
• No non-essential characters (even a waitress
  should move the action forward)

14
Warning

• Dont create characters in the service of the
  plot
• Create characters out of an emotion and then let
  the story develop out of that characters
  actions. Both build together as you discover
  something new about the character (and yourself)
  and the story emerges.

15

• Offer surprisesno stock characters
• Have both your protagonist and your antagonist do
  unexpected things.
• Give your protagonist a friend or guide right
  away
• Never mention the name of someone who is not
  significant.

16
Protagonist

• Appropriate name
• Distinctive and unusual appearance
• Unusual speech
• Unusual walk or compulsive habit
• Unusual habit
• Something that he/she wants and cant have.

17
In-class assignment

• Go through one story and write down how the
  character is developed. Work in groups of two and
  explain to the class about your story.
• 
  
  Choose a story that we have not read for
  class. As you read through the story, look to see
  how the protagonist is developed.