J23 Characters and their Internal and External Conflicts.

Use your animal invention from previous journal What does this character want/need more than anything? Consider the setting they are in. Remember that your audience are children. Holly the Hippo (from 1960’s Arkansas) wants to move to NYC to dance in Broadway’s Chicago production. What will happen if he/she doesn't get what he/she wants? She will have to go back to Lazy Lake in Arkansas where she will face discrimination from the reptiles who treat Hippos as 2nd class citizens. What is this character's biggest fear? Remember that your audience are children. Fear of not standing up for herself and fulfilling her dream to be a tap-dancer.

Give your character a voice. Imagine your character is speaking to his/her parent/friend/teacher about his/her greatest fear. Remember that your audience are children. Write at least four lines. Holly the Hippo says: “I’m not a frog or lizard, a gecko or toad. I am not slender and scaley with cold blood running through my veins. I’m round and plump, as big as tank. What if I can’t twirl and turn, plie and jump? Or glide with grace, but instead plop like a humpty hump?”

Use your object invention from previous journal What does this character want/need more than anything? Consider the setting they are in. Remember that your audience are children. EXAMPLE: Winston the Whisk wants to compete in the local writing competition for pencils. What will happen if he/she doesn't get what he/she wants? EXAMPLE: He will miss the opportunity to become a novelist. What is this character's biggest fear? Remember that your audience are children. EXAMPLE: He will need to work in the IHOP kitchen with the rest of his family for the rest of his life where his love for books will not be realized.

Give your character a voice. Imagine your character is speaking to his/her parent/friend/teacher about his/her greatest fear. Remember that your audience are children. Write at least four lines. Winston the Whisk says: “Beat this, mix that, whip this, stir that. That’s the life of a whisk. But I just want to read this, wonder that, create this, write that. The world of stories, adventures, and beauty is where I want to live, not the world of meringues, pancakes, and whip cream.”