Character

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Character

• Populating Fictional Worlds

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What do you think this characters personality is
like?
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What Is a Character?

• A character is an individual in a story, poem, or
  play.
• A character always has human traits, even if the
  character is an animal or object.

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Types of Characters

• Characters may be categorized by whether or not
  they change during the course of the story.
• Static characters do not change much in the
  course of the story. They are usually background
  characters.
• Dynamic characters change in some important way
  as a result of the storys action. They are
  usually the main characters.
• They come to a new understanding, make some
  important decision, or take a crucial action.

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Types of Characters
Characters may be categorized by how well
developed and complex they are.

• Flat characters have only one or two personality
  traits. They are usually background characters.
• A flat character may also be a stock charactera
  person who fits our preconceived notions about a
  type (a typical teenager, a typical librarian, a
  typical police officer).
• Round characters are complex and have many
  personality traits. They are usually the main
  characters.

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What Motivates Characters?

• Motivation is the reason a character acts as he
  or she does. A character may be motivated by
  emotions, past experiences, or commands given by
  others.
• Writers dont usually state a characters
  motivation directly. You have to infer why
  characters act the way they do based on clues in
  the story.

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How Do Writers Reveal Character?

• Writers reveal a characters personality through
  characterization. Writers may
• use direct characterization and tell readers what
  a character is like
• use indirect characterization and show a
  character in action so that readers can decide
  for themselves what a character is like

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Methods to Reveal Character

• A writer can reveal a character in the following
  ways
• 1. telling us directly what the character is like
  (mean, greedy, kind, generous, and so on)
• Jeffrey was a spoiled brat.
• 2. describing how the character looks and dresses
• Lisa buttoned up her vintage turquoise jacket and
  wrapped a bright orange scarf around her neck.
  Short brown hair peeked out from under her
  hatanother vintage findthat was covered in
  orange silk flowers.

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Methods to Reveal Character

• Brian cleaned out his car and went to pick up his
  grandmother. He always kept the last Saturday of
  the month open so he could spend time with his
  grandmother. Sometimes theyd spend the afternoon
  at the shopping center or the library. This
  Saturday, they were going to the art museum to
  see the new Impressionist exhibit.
• 4. letting us hear the character speak
• Daddy, daddy, theres a bird nest in our tree!
  Come see. Hurry! Clarissa yelled toward her
  father.

3. showing the characters actions
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Methods to Reveal Character
5. letting us listen to the characters inner
thoughts and feelings

• Melinda wondered if she should take the
  babysitting job. She could use the money, but the
  Haured children were a handful. She could handle
  one with no problem, but when the two of them
  were together, they exhausted her.
• 6. revealing what others think or say about the
  character or how they react to the character
• By the time Coach Wagner reached the middle of
  the locker room, everyone was staring at the
  floor in silence.

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What Have You Learned?
1. _______ characters do not change much in the
course of a story. a. Flat b. Round c.
Static d. Dynamic 2. _______ characters are
complex and have many personality traits. a.
Flat b. Round c. Static d. Dynamic 3. When
writers tell readers what a character is like,
they are using _______ characterization. a.
direct b. partial c. complete d. indirect
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The End