Today

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• Todays Agenda
• Indirect Characterization Mini-lesson
• Character Development
• I can develop my character by using indirect
  characterization.

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Characterization

• How Do I Make My Characters Come To Life?

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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

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Senses

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

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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.
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Tinys hands were pretty as Mommas, 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 Tinys sweetness.
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• 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

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• 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!

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Gestures

• Gestures 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.

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• Christopher Paul Curtis uses gesture to develop
  the mothers 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.

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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 characters thoughts.

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• The Palominos were down to their last three
  strikes. Ted walked up to the plate and stood
  outside the batters 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 Cliffs 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.

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• Dont forget to breathe, Ted said to himself as
  he stepped into the batters box. Relax. Get
  Comfortable. This kid throws hard but wild. Dont
  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. Youre not going
  to get any offspeed junk from this kid. No way.
  Hes too cocky for that. This kids gonna bring
  his fastball and nothing but. Cmon, Cliff
  Proctor, Im ready. Show me your heat.

from The Palominos by Ralph Fletcher and Joann
Portalupi
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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 doesnt 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.

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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 characters 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?

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Sowhat 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.

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Main Character Questionnaire

1. 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?

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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!