1. Writing About Character
Summer Reading
Writing About Character

2. Character
Every literary work contains a character, and so a study of character is an effective place to begin our study of literature.
A character is a human (or human-like!) participant in a story.
A characterization is a composition that describes a character’s traits, explains their goals, and demonstrates their key conflicts.

3. Flat and Round Characters
Some characters are flat or 2-dimensional:
flat characters often have limited descriptions or are stereotypes.
Some characters are round or 3-dimensional:
round characters tend to have complex feelings, motives, and personalities, often showing both weakness and strength.

4. Some Change, Some Stay the Same
Some characters are dynamic:
dynamic characters change, learn, or grow throughout the course of a story.
Some characters are static:
static characters do not change, learn, or grow; they're the same at the end as they were at the beginning.

5. Not All Characters Are Equal
Some characters are more important in a story than others.
Main characters are the characters about whom the story revolves, and they are usually in every scene.
Minor characters, while they take part in the story, are not the focus and are often not in every scene.

6. Describing Characters
So, there are many terms that can be used to describe a character:
flat (2-dimensional)
round (3-dimensional)
dynamic
static
main
minor

7. The Protagonist
Most stories, however, revolve around one main character.
In a literary work, this main character is called the protagonist.
The protagonist is almost always 3-dimensional and dynamic.
In fact, the protagonist's growth or change is usually the focus of the entire story.

8. Growing Pains
Therefore, in order to understand a protagonist, we need to understand how and why he or she changes.
Understanding how and why the protagonist changes is the key to beginning your understanding of literature.
So, where do we start?

9. The Antagonist
First, the protagonist doesn't usually change or grow on his or her own.
The protagonist often has help: characters who force him to grow or change.
Sometimes these characters are friends, and sometimes they are enemies.

10. The Antagonist
A character who forces or causes the protagonist to change is called an antagonist.
While there is usually only one protagonist, there is often more than one antagonist.
Understanding the antagonists in a novel can often help explain why the protagonist changes.
Notice that an antagonist can be a friend, an enemy, or something in between.

11. Character Keys
Next, in order to understand how the protagonist changes, we need to focus on three things:
Traits
Conflicts
Goal

12. Traits: What Makes a Character Unique
A trait is feature that helps distinguish, identify, or tell apart a character.
Traits can be internal, such as a character's personality or fears.
Traits can also be external, such as a character's appearance or physical abilities.
A character can have some traits in common with another character – but the sum of a character’s traits make them unique!

13. Identifying Traits How do we locate a character's traits?
There are four main places to look:
What the narrator tells the reader about the character
What other characters say about the character
What the character says
What the character does

14. Supporting Your Ideas
Different readers will interpret the protagonist's actions or statements differently.
Therefore, you must support your ideas by referring to specific details or quotes from the novel.
This is one of the most important keys to writing a superior composition!

15. Two Weak Statements In the beginning of the novel, Kira feels lonely.
She is also afraid.

16. Two Stronger Statements
In the beginning of the novel, Kira feels lonely because her mother has died.
Since she doesn’t know what to do or how she will live, she is also frightened.

17. Two Well-Supported Statements
In the beginning of the novel, Kira feels lonely because her mother has died. Before she leaves the Fields, she thinks, “She had loved her mother, and would miss her terribly.”
She is also scared because she doesn’t know what to do now. As she prepares to leave the Fields, “She felt a small shudder of fear.”

18. Writing Well-Supported Statements
Having specific quotations to support your ideas is key to preparing a characterization.
As you read the novel, highlight or underline quotes and passages that you can use to support your ideas.
Be prepared to explain how and why a specific quotes supports your idea!

19. The Goal: What the Character Wants
Every character has a goal - something he or she wants to accomplish.
A character’s goal can be:
to get or find something
to achieve or accomplish something
to learn, grow, or change
Notice that a goal isn’t necessarily something physical or external!

20. Identifying the Goal
Consider the question: what does the character want?
Remember that a character can have more than one goal.
Remember that a character’s goals can change.

21. Goals: Going Deeper Consider the following ideas:
Thinking about a character’s goal help the reader understand the character
Some characters may not know what their goal is
Imagine a story where a character’s goal is to discover what his or her goal is!
What would such a story be like?

22. Conflict
Every protagonist has a conflict: an enemy, obstacle, or problem that he or she has to overcome.
Some conflicts are external:
external conflicts involve other people, forces, or things
Some conflicts are internal:
internal conflicts involve emotions, desires, and fears

23. The Five Major Conflicts
All conflicts can also be described as being one of the Five Major Conflicts:
Character v. Self
Character v. Character
Character v. Society
Character v. Nature
Character v. the Supernatural

24. Conflict and Goal Most stories have more than one conflict.
The main conflict of a story is what prevents the character from achieving their goal.
However, as a character’s goals change, their conflicts change as well.

25. Putting It All Together
By comparing a protagonist's traits, conflicts, and goals at the beginning of the story to those at the end, we can understand what she learns and how she changes throughout her journey.
There is not only one correct answer, but you must use specific details and quotes from the novel to support your ideas!