2- Creating Characters ✒️

Last time, I began a series of newsletters on how to write a story. A story is like a puzzle, and the five essential pieces (elements) had better be there. If one element is missing, the story will fall flat. If you didn’t catch that email, you can Click Here and take a look.

When kids learn skills a little at a time, they don’t feel overwhelmed. They think, “I can do this!” In this newsletter, we will begin building our story “puzzle” piece by piece. 

CHARACTERS: THE FIRST OF THE FIVE STORY ELEMENTS

The first essential story element is the character(s). Without characters, you have no story. An interesting, believable hero makes the reader want to join in and (in his imagination) become that character and immerse himself in a page-turning adventure.

News Flash:For an author, it’s all about “turning the page.” If your reader stops turning the page, the book slams shut. No author wants that.

Here are a few things to remember when helping your children learn to create one-of-a-kind, believable characters for their stories.

1) Most stories include many characters but only one “lead” (main) character. (Some books, like the Chronicles of Narnia, use more than one main character. But to make it easier, you should encourage your child to stick with one main character.)

2) The main character must have something to gain or lose in the story. All of the action and adventures happen to your character as he seeks to solve his “problem” (We'll learn about the problem in Story Element #3).

3) The character does not have to be a human being. It can be:

• an animal (The Black Stallion)
• a toy (Toy Story; The Little Engine That Could)
• an alien from outer space (E.T.)

Character Traits

There are two important things to remember when creating characters:

1. Physical Traits: What do the characters look like on the outside?
2. Personality Traits: What do the characters look like on the inside?

It’s fun to name your characters and decide if your hero has brown hair or no hair, blue eyes or gray, or if your “bad guy” has squinty eyes . . . or three eyes . . . or maybe no teeth. However, it’s what’s on the inside of your character (personality) that makes the story interesting to read. Is your hero daring and creative, or sensitive and shy? You decide. 

Have your children think about their favorite characters from books and/or movies. Talk about what makes them like certain characters. Is it how they look? Is it what they say? Or is it how they act and what they do? If Luke Skywalker is your favorite character, why is he your favorite?

Talk about why some characters scare you or make you mad. The White Witch from Narnia gives me the creeps. Is it how she looks? Of course. But it’s mostly because of how she acts—her personality traits—that make me hope she is defeated. Ask your child to think of a book or movie character they don’t like or are afraid of. What is it about the character that makes them shiver or feel disgusted?

Character Sketches

When you make up a character for your story, you need to really get to know him or her—inside and out. Then you will know how he will react when things happen to him. Since these Writer's Corner posts are building little by little, one brick at a time, we’ll go slowly. Before your child dives into creating his own character, it is a good idea to practice looking for character traits in favorite (or least favorite) characters with whom your kids are already familiar. As they discover how an author or movie-maker created an appealing character, they can use this skill to make up their own characters.

Let’s Write!

Character sketches are fun to write. The more you encourage your child to write them (or narrate them to you to write down), the easier it becomes for them to think up their own characters. For example, here is a short character sketch for my favorite character, Peter, from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (Notice I focus on Peter’s internal traits and not on his outward appearance. I also include an example from the book to show these traits.)

• My favorite character is Peter. He is a determined young man with lots of spirit and courage. He looks after his younger sisters, especially Lucy, and he is kind. When Edmund lies about Lucy, Peter defends her. He also realizes that he can’t win battles on his own. He must rely on Aslan to help him. Peter is a real hero!

And what about the White Witch?

• The character I like least is the White Witch. She is evil and cunning. Power is what she is after, and she’ll do anything to have control over everyone in Narnia. When she raises her icy wand to turn someone into stone, I shiver. I’m glad Aslan defeated her!

Focus this month on writing (or narrating) short character sketches of familiar characters from books or movies. Share with each other and see if the traits seem right for that character. With practice, your sketches can get longer and you can also include physical traits.

If you send me your Character Sketches, I'll look them over and give you tips! Simply reply to this Email.

If you would like to dig deeper into this lesson, you can learn more about CHARACTERS in this VIDEO > I created.

Next Time at the Writer's Corner . . .

I will feature a free character chart to download (which includes sample physical traits and personality traits to help you get startted) and the chance to create character sketches for your own story charaacters.

SUSAN K. MARLOW

CIRCLECBOOKS.COM

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