Creative Writing Activities for Character Development
Have a character with no drive? Here are
some ideas for developing characters:
Know Your Characters. This exercise may be used in pairs or small groups and is designed to test how well each writer knows his or her characters. Have a writer ask the person next to him a question about his or her protagonist. This individual will answer the question and then ask a question of another person, who will answer and ask a question of someone else.
During this creative writing activity,
encourage group members to ask questions that reveal character, rather than
only questions about appearance. For example, someone might ask "How does
your character express anger?" or "Has your character ever shoplifted?"
The answers may be kept short or, if you
have time, answers may explain the "why" of the response, such as
"My character suppresses his anger because when he was a teenager, in a
fit of rage, he slammed the car door as hard as he could and caught his dog in
the door as the dog tried to jump out after him. This broke his dog's spine,
and the animal had to be put to sleep. Ever since, the character avoids
confrontation, and when faced with the anger of another turns pale and
stutters."
Memorable
Characters. An individual in the
group names a character from a book or short story and explains in detail what
made this character memorable. Then, using word association, the person next to
him or her picks up on something the first individual said, tells the group
what triggered the association, and then names another character, providing a
similar explanation.
Name
That Character Give each small
group or pair a photograph of a person. The photographs can be close up
headshots, distance shots, or activity shots. Ask each group to suggest a name
for the character, based on whatever they can learn or intuit from the image.
The groups should discuss this for several minutes and then choose a
spokesperson to present the group decision to the class with an explanation of
why they chose the name they did.
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