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Character: The Foundation of Narrative

Study guide for teachers

 

 

Writers know this rule: Plot grows out of character, not the other way around. During this residency, each student will create one or two characters and then write a story about those characters.

 

Activities for students before the writing residency:

Studying good characters in familiar books.

 

·  Identify your favorite book, and then your favorite character from that book. Now imagine that character living in your home, as part of your family. Write about what would happen if that character spent a whole day with you in your normal life.

 

·  Do the same thing, this time using a character you disliked or even hated.

 

·  Think about two books you’ve read that are very different, with main characters (protagonists) who are very different from each other. Now imagine that those two characters switch books with each other. Write about how one of the stories would unfold with the other story’s main character in the lead role.

 

Activities for students after the writing residency:

Creating original characters as the foundation of stories.

 

·  Using the techniques you learned during the residency, create three characters who are very different from each other. Then have them face an awful situation together. Write a story that shows how they respond to the situation and how they work out any conflicts they have with each other over how they should handle the situation.

 

·  Practice critiquing each other’s writing in small groups, as you did during the residency.

 

·  Figure out a novelist’s thinking process, based on what you’ve learned about character creation. Read a book with interesting characters, and then choose up to three characters and write a character sketch for each one. Make sure you show what the character was like before the book opened.

 

·  Practice writing with voice. Create two characters with different backgrounds, and then write the story of Little Red Riding Hood as each character would tell it.

 

·  Use improvisation to develop character. Create two characters with different backgrounds and put them into a situation where they have conflicting goals. Act out how they would handle their conflict.

 

·  Find ideas in the real world. Go to a public place (a shopping mall, for example) and quietly observe someone you’ve never seen before. Afterward, write a description of how the person looked and acted. Then invent a life history that would explain what you saw. Why is the person in this place at this time? Keep adding details until you have a fully developed character with a realistic, complex life.