Characterization Creative Writing Benjamin Way

9th-12th CC Standard 3. 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.