Characters with COLOR

Mini-lessons and techniques to help young writers create vivid, memorable characters

"I was thinner than I had been when I was first arrested. The large iron ring around my waist had grown loose, but not loose enough to fit over the bones of my hips. Few prisoners wore chains in their cells, only those that the king particularly disliked: counts or dukes or the minister of the exchequer when he told the king there wasn't any more money to spend. I was certainly none of those things, but I suppose it's safe to say that the king disliked me. Even if he didn't remember my name or whether I was as common as dirt, he didn't want me slipping away..."

From The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow, 1996)

Character drives a story, and in The Thief that character is so vividly drawn that we feel we know him. How does an author turn a trickster into a character readers identify with--even root for--in his clever maneuvers against stronger, more powerful characters? Below and on the next page, Megan Whalen Turner shares what went into the creation of Gen, the main character in The Thief You'll also find mini--lessons, literature--based activities, a reproducible character sketch planner, and more--all designed to help your young writers bring characters off the page and into the lives of their readers.

Meet the Author: Megan Whalen Turner

When Megan Whalen Turner chooses a character, she sticks with it, accepting the less flattering aspects of his or her personality. About the main character of The Thief, she says, "Gen really is arrogant, and quick-tempered, and a hit selfish, as well as ambitious. These traits are as much part of his character as the loyalty and the bravery that he usually hides. If there weren't two sides to his character, I think he would be less interesting." Share with your students what she has to say here about how she approaches the characters in her stories:

Quite often my stories begin with a character and a setting. I imagine the character first and then place him or her like an action figure into a scene and imagine what this person, with these character traits, would do. It sometimes gives the whole rest of the story that I come up with a feeling of inevitability.

If I have defined my characters well, then I know they will act a certain way in certain settings. Sometimes this is wonderful and sometimes it is very frustrating, particularly when I want them to do some specific thing to advance the plot: He must pickup a pen, or she must reveal a secret, and he or she won't do it. What I do then is change, not the character (not unless I want to rewrite the whole story), but the setting. If I know that my character will not in the normal run of events do a certain thing, then I change the normal run of events--I make it rain, or snow, or I make my character think she's talking to a tree, or I get him to pick up the pen by accident. Whatever it takes. I can change the setting, but I don't feel I can change the character without ruining the story.

Sometimes when I have characters I like, it's hard to let go. I wonder what else they will do in their lives. I wondered what would happen to Gen after the end of The Thief. Once I started thinking about it, it was obvious to me that Gen was going to keep going back to both Sounis and Attolia until he was caught by one or the other. I only had to choose which one in order to find the starting place for my next story, The Queen of Attolia.

Megan Whalen Turner

Writing Tip

Because we all have imperfections, we are drawn to characters who are also flawed in some way--it's what makes them seem real. Megan Whalen Turner encourages young writers to keep this in mind: "Be careful not to give in to the temptation to create 'perfect' characters--ones who always figure out everything, always have the perfect snappy comeback, and think clearly in every crisis. A reader can get bored with a character who is invincible and always right."

Mini-Lesson #1: What's in a Title?

The titles of some books let you know right away who you're going to be reading about. They may even hint at what drives the character and the story. There's E. B. White's Stuart Little (Harper-Collins, 1945), Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy (HarperCollins, 1964), and Mary Stolz's The Bully of Barkham Street (HarperCollins, 1963). Display several books that have characters' names as part of the title. Invite students to talk about what the titles reveal about the characters. Let students team up to find more books that use characters' names in the title. (See "Telling Titles," right, for examples.) Discuss why the authors may have chosen these titles and what they suggest about the characters. Ask students to think about titles they could give their own stories that would reveal something about their characters.

Teaching Tip

When your students create characters to star in their stories, it helps to think about what kind of people the characters are. In Teaching Narrative Writing: The Tools That Work for Every Student (Scholastic Professional Books, 2001), Lola Schafer recommends moving away from charts that list the usual choices (pirates, princesses, and aliens) and brainstorming with students the kinds of kids everyone knows--far example, bully, loner, know-it-all, artist, comedian, and so on. So, even if someone ends up writing about an alien, it will be an alien with qualities readers can relate to.

Telling Titles

Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (HarperCollins, 1997).

The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson (HarperCollins, 1978).

Metropolitan Cow, by Tim Egan (Houghton Mifflin, 1996).

Julius, the Baby of the World, by Kevin Henkes (Green-willow, 1990).

Skinnybones, by Barbara Park (Knopf, 1982).

Spinky Sulks, by William Steig (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1988).

A Writer's Tools: The Five Senses

Zigzag had to be the "weirdest dude" Stanley had ever seen. He had a long skinny neck, and a big round head with wild frizzy blond hair that stuck out in all directions. His head seemed to bob up and down on his neck, like it was on a spring.

This passage from Holes by Louis Sachar (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998) shows how appealing to the senses--in this case, sight--helps an author breathe life into a character.

Invite students to look for and share passages from their own reading that use the senses to reveal information about a character. Together, discuss how these sensory images help readers get to know the characters. Here are some additional samples to model the activity:

Touch: From The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow, 1996): Where the manacles had chafed there were raw spots partially covered in scabs that were black against my prison-fair skin. Once I had cleaned most of the dirt off myself and rinsed my hair, I squatted down in front of the spraying water and tried to find the place where the water would fall most gently on my wrists.

Sound: From Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner (Crowell, 1980): He was sitting at the foot of Grandfather's bed playing the harmonica. He wasn't as good as Grandfather by a long shot, and whenever he missed a note Searchlight would put her head back and howl.

Smell: From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (Scholastic, 1998): Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean. And then they heard it--a low grunting, and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic fret.

Teaching With the Reproducible: Character Sketch Planner

In Teaching Narrative Writing, Lola Schafer suggests asking a lengthy series of questions to help children examine their characters in depth. Use the reproducible planner on page 48 to get your students started with this strategy. Brainstorm additional questions children can "ask" their characters to learn more. Explain that while much of the information they gather will never make its way into their stories, it will help them get to know their characters well enough so that when they write, they'll know just what their characters say, do, and feel. The result will be writing that is more vivid, believable, and fun to read!

Mini-Lesson #2: Creating a Character

Share the excerpt from The Thief (on page 45) with students. Invite them to tell what they think it reveals about the main character--for example, he's probably been in prison for a while, he has a sense of humor, feels some self-importance, and has a direct manner.

Ask students to draw pictures of the character based on the passage, then to share them. Discuss the details that helped them imagine Gen. Then try the following activity from Barbara Mariconda's The Most Wonderfid Writing Lessons Ever (Scholastic Professional Books, 1999):

Read aloud this passage from Roald Dahl's The BFG (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1932):

In the moonlight; Sophie caught a glimpse of an enormous long pale wrinkly face with the most enormous ears. The nose was as sharp as a knife, and above the nose there were two bright flashing eyes, and the eyes were staring straight at Sophie. There was a fierce and devilish look about them.

* Have students identify details that help them picture the giant in their minds.

* Ask students what they would think if the author had just written "Sophie saw a scary giant."

* Have students revisit a piece of their own writing to look for and add details that help paint pictures of their characters.

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