Characterization

1. Characterization Creative Writing Benjamin Way 3-11-14

2. 9th-12th CC Standard3. Write Narratives • b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters

3. Overview • What is character? • Why is characterization important? • How do we include it in our dialogue?

4. What is character? • Character is another word for “personality” or “disposition,” or “nature.” • E.g. Some character traits you might use could include: “Cheerful,” “guarded,” “cynical,” “hateful,” “whiny.”

5. Think Pair Share • 1 minute. • With a partner, come up with three character types. • Prepare to share what you came up with.

6. Why is characterization important? • If you don’t give each character a personality, they’re all going to end up sounding the same. • That’s boring! • Character helps you write believable dialogue, which makes the play more entertaining. • Differentiating the personalities of your characters gives the audience a way to choose favorites and root for or against them. • Character personalities are important to help the actors playing the roles to get into the role and act better.

7. How do you include character in dialogue? • English provides thousands of possible ways to say basically the same thing. • Different people choose different ways to phrase the same things depending on their personalities. • To give your characters personality, try to choose phrasing that makes sense for them.

8. Different ways a person might show gratitude: • Neutral: • “Thanks.” • Confident, cool person • “Hey, I owe you one.” • Annoyingly friendly person: • “Oh, my God, I can’t believe you did this for me; thank you so much!” • Low self-esteem: • “For me? Are you sure it’s okay? You’re so generous!” • Sarcastic person: • “I guess you think I should be grateful.” • Cynical person: • “Why are you doing this? What are you expecting from me?”

9. Think Pair Share • Take a minute to come up with how the following three personality types would describe a difficult situation they’re about to face: • 1. Optimist • 2. Super emo kid • 3. Grumpy person

10. Depth of Character • Isn’t it bad to make flat characters who just have one personality trait? • Yes. But this is a short play, so you won’t have much time to develop them much. • It is good, though, to try to make characters do or say something that will surprise the audience after they think they know the stereotype the character is. • When we get into writing short stories, you’ll have more of an opportunity to develop multi-faceted characters.

11. Review • “Character” is another way of saying “personality.” • Every character in your play should have their own personality. It makes their interactions more interesting. • You’ll have to rely on your experience talking with people and seeing character types in the media to create dialogue that fits each character’s personality. • If possible, in the short time you have available, make your main characters break out of their personality at least one time in the play.