1. Characterization: Collection 2
How does a writer describe and develop a character?

2. Objectives In this lesson we will answer:
How are characters developed by a writer?
What is the difference between direct and indirect characterization?
How does a character’s speech reveal their traits? (dialogue, monologue, soliloquy)
What is a first-person narrator?
How can we incorporate this knowledge into our writing?

3. Creating Characters
Creating characters—telling what human beings are like—is the whole point of writing stories.
[End of Section]

4. Character Development
Writers build characters by revealing
speech
appearance
private thoughts
others’ reactions
actions

5. Character Development
Quick Check
Which methods of character development are being used?
“Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints ; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.
from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
What do you think of the man based on this excerpt?
[End of Section]

6. Speech First-person narrators reveal their personal traits as they
tell their own stories (using pronouns like I, me, and we)
tell us what they think and feel
Be aware that some first-person narrators mislead or lie to the audience.
Dramatic Monologue
Soliloquy

7. Speech
Dialogue can reveal a lot about characters and their relationships with each other. Pay attention to
what characters say and don’t say
how characters respond to each other
[End of Section]

8. Appearance
Pay attention to language the writer uses to describe the characters’ looks, clothes, and demeanor.
The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue
from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Does the description give you a positive or negative impression of the character?
Which words contribute to this impression?
[End of Section]

9. Private Thoughts
Writers can take us into the characters’ minds to reveal their thoughts and feelings.
As you read, note whether the characters’ thoughts and feelings match their speech and actions.
[End of Section]

10. How Other Characters Feel
Watch how other characters in the story react to the character. Note
how the others feel about the character
what the others say about the character
[End of Section]

11. Actions
What characters do and how they treat each other often reveal the most about them.
Observe characters’ actions to determine
what their personality is like
what motivates them
how they deal with conflict
[End of Section]

12. Direct and Indirect Characterization
Direct Characterization—Writers tell us directly what characters are like or what their motives are.
Oh, but he was a tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!
from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Indirect Characterization—Writers show us characters (through speech, appearance, private thoughts, other characters’ reactions, and actions) but allow us to decide what characters are like.

13. Direct and Indirect Characterization
Quick Check
Is this an example of direct or indirect characterization?
My sister, Mrs. Joe, with black hair and eyes, had such a prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes used to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap. She was tall and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in front, that was stuck full of pins and needles.
from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
What kind of person do you think this character is?
[End of Section]

14. Read “Thank You M’am” for tomorrow
Assignments
Read “Thank You M’am” for tomorrow
Short Story prewriting due Wed. Be prepared to start drafting on Wed.
If you have not completed a PSSA diagnostic pretest, please do so ASAP

15. Practice – 20 points
Make sure you understand the meanings of the following words. Make a chart like the one below and fill in your understanding of each of the words.
Monologue
Narrator
Soliloquy
First-person POV (point of view)
Direct characterization
Indirect characterization
Connotation
Dialogue
[End of Section]

16. The End