Characterization

Creative Writing

Benjamin Way

3-11-14

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

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

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.”

Think Pair Share 1 minute. With a partner, come up with three character

types. Prepare to share what you came up with.

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.

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.

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?”

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

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.

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.