Growing Character

Developing interesting characters is at the heart of good fiction writing. Lessons this month teach ideas for growing interesting people.   Have fun!

K-2

Characters with Problems

Most characters have some kind of problem to solve  Talk to your class about characters they know from books or even from TV.  What's the problem?  What's wrong?

Example:  Bugs Bunny's problem is he's being chased by a hunter named Elmer Fudd.

Max in Where the Wild Things are, must go to his room because of wild behavior.

Sam does not like Green Eggs and Ham.

After you have talked about a character's problems create a character with your class on the board. Give the character a name, an age, and some problem.  Ask questions about the character to help define the character.  Encourage the class to do the same.

Talk about how characters get more interesting the more we ask questions or just think about them.

Each person creates a character. Draws pictures of your character and their problem.

Write a story that begins close to the character's problem.
    

3-4
       Building Character:  Mixing Trouble with Dreams

Take a character from a book or movie everybody knows and write their name right in the middle of the board. Make a web with your class about the character asking questions to them to help define the character's family, friends, age, appearance etc,  and finally their problems  dreams, goals etc.    Talk about how much less interesting the character would be without the problems and goals.  Talk about how all stories are about character's changing through time.  Cinderella is not a story if she doesn't dream of going to the ball. Charlottes web is not a story if the book doesn't begin, "Where's Papa going with that Ax!"  What if fern didn't care where Papa was going?  No Wilbur, no story.

1)   Now,divide the class into partners and have them each create a character with a problem or goal on a piece of paper.  Find out about your character by asking each other questions.  Students can do webs or simply list details and draw pictures.

2)   Now each student gets to be their character for a minute or two in front of the whole class.  Call it a press conference because the students will ask questions of the writer. Ask the students to avoid silly questions and focus on questions which tell more about the character and their problem.  Encourage the follow-up question.         As the students ask questions the character answers them and the teacher writes them down.  If the kids ask a question the writer can't answer, they can fake the answer or turn to the teacher and say, "That's a good question."  The teacher puts stars next to those.

3)  Begin your story close to a characters problem.

5-8   Problem and the Potato:
                           Creating and Magnifying Tension and Obstacles

Underneath every problem is the source of that problem which the story digs at like a spade digs at a potato buried underground. Though we  don't always know the potato before we've written a story, it helps a writer to speculate before and while we write.

For example,  If my story is about a girl named Sarah whose main problem is she doesn't have any friends.  I may want to ask myself why she doesn't have friends.  Is it because she just moved or is it because her dog died. Or maybe she has just learned her father is dying. Potatoes grow in the dark we don't always learn about it in the beginning of the story but sometimes we do.

1)   Once your character has a problem ask yourself what's underneath
that problem.   Use the chart below to help.

2) If your character's problem seems to be too small or trivial try creating a bigger obstacle between the character and the goal. For example,  Chad wants to make the basketball team so bad, but the day before the tryout he falls and sprains an ankle.  Now his tryout will be even more dramatic.
  
3) Once you've thought about these elements of character start writing your story close to the character's problem.

9-12  Classic conflict

         Talk about the 3 basic conflicts in a story listed below. Have students list books or movies which typify each. Argue about which conflict is dominant.  Some works will have more than one conflict.  Which is central to the story?  Then create a character with at least one of the conflicts and write a story. If you want, try using the character building lesson for 5-8 lessons.

Man against man

      The Chocolate Wars by Robert Cormier 
       Kaffir Boy -  Mark Mathabane
       Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare
       The Woman Warrior -  Maxine Hong Kingston                       
       Freak the Mighty -  Rodman Philbrick
       Night - Elie Weisel
              Movies   7 years in Tibet
                              Mrs. Doubtfire
                              Air Force One
                              Schindler's List

   Man against Nature

      Call of the Wild - Jack London
      Never Cry Wolf -  Farley Mowat
      Hatchet - Gary Paulson
              Movies   The Raft
                              Twister
                              Backdraft
                              Titanic

   Man against himself
      Hamlet - William Shakespeare
      Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
      Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
             Movies   Shine
                               The Full Monty