Who is your all- time favorite character from a novel?

Character A person, animal, or imaginary thing that takes part in the action of the story In works of fiction, there are two main kinds of characters: Protagonist: main character of a work of fiction Antagonist: the character against whom the protagonist struggles

Characterization How an author develops a character; how an author makes a character seem real This is done in one of two ways Direct Characterization Direct Characterization – When the author clearly tells you something about the character ex: Mrs. Weis was angry. Indirect Characterization Indirect Characterization – When the author requires you to interpret the character’s actions ex: Mrs. Weis slammed the door, glared at the class, and yelled, “Why aren’t you following directions!?”

Indirect Characterization Authors develop characters through six methods of Indirect Characterization S peech (What does the character say? What do others say about the character?) T houghts (What do the character’s thoughts and feelings reveal about him/her?) E ffect on others and vice versa (How do others react to the character?) A ctions (What does the character do? How does the character behave?) L ooks (What does the character look like? How does he/she dress?)

Great Example of Indirect Characterization: OUR TEACHERS ARE THE BEST… My English teacher has no face. She has uncombed stringy hair that droops on her shoulders. The hair is black from her part to her ears and then neon orange to the frizzy ends. I can’t decide if she had upset her hairdresser or is morphing into a monarch butterfly. I call her hairwoman. Hairwoman wastes twenty minutes taking attendance because she won’t look at us. She keeps her head bent over her desk so the hair flops in front of her face. She spends the rest of the class writing on the board and speaking to the flag about our required reading. She wants us to write in our class journals every day, but promises not to read them. I write about how weird she is. - Excerpt from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Pg. 6

1.Choose a character from your novel. 2.How does the author use STEAL to make that character seem real? S peech (What does the character say? What do others say about the character?) T houghts (What do the character’s thoughts and feelings reveal about him/her?) E ffect on others and vice versa (How do others react to the character?) A ctions (What does the character do? How does the character behave?) L ooks (What does the character look like? How does he/she dress?)