1. Character Creating Personalities

2. Princess Leia Sherlock Holmes Medusa Cinderella Brer Rabbit Paul Bunyan How well do you know these characters?

3. What Is a Character? A character is a person or an animal in a story, a play, or another literary work. © 2003 clipart.com

4. Who Are the Main Characters? In many stories, one character is the hero and another character is the villain. The hero of a story is called a protagonist. The villain—the one who tries to keep the hero from getting what he or she wants—is called an antagonist.

5. What Makes the Characters Tick? Motivation is the reason a character behaves in a certain way. A character may be motivated by emotions (fear, envy, love) past experiences commands given by others

6. How Do Writers Reveal Characters? Writers reveal a character’s personality through characterization. Writers may use direct characterization and tell readers what a character is like use indirect characterization and show a character in action so that readers can decide for themselves what a character is like

7. Methods to Reveal Character A writer can reveal a character in the following ways: 1.stating directly what the character is like (mean, greedy, kind, generous, and so on) Mr. Martinez was friendly and good-natured. 2.describing the appearance of the character Naomi adjusted the straps of her bright yellow swimsuit so that they would be hidden beneath her black tank top. She checked that her shirt was still tucked neatly into her khaki capri pants and slipped her bare feet into a pair of flip-flops.

8. Methods to Reveal Character When Lana saw Angie, the new girl, sitting alone at a lunch table, she carried her tray over to Angie’s table, sat down, and started a conversation. 4. allowing the reader to hear the character speak “Okay, folks... let’s start from the top one more time. No one is leaving here until we get through an entire scene with no mistakes,” Mr. Kilmore stated. “The play opens next week, and I want it to be flawless.” 3.showing the character in action

9. Methods to Reveal Character Jake was excited about his new karate class. He wondered how long he’d have to wait to learn some of the advanced moves his instructor had demonstrated. 6.showing how others react to the character Tommy grimaced when he saw Cameron enter the store. Tommy was in a hurry and didn’t want to waste time listening to Cameron brag about his new car. 5.revealing the character’s thoughts and feelings

10. Are the following statements true or false? ______— When writers use direct characterization, they tell readers what a character is like. ______— Characters are always people. ______— The hero of a story is called a protagonist. What Have You Learned? True False

11. The End