Happy December!

• Journal (in writing packet!)

• Direct and Indirect characterization

• Creating characters

• First encounters

Learning Objectives:Understand the difference between direct and indirect characterization, identify elements of characters that we need to know to create real

people in our writing, and apply this understanding to creating new characters

Journal 12/3/12

Characterization

If you really knew me, you would know that…

• I fall asleep during almost every movie, and that I have this in common with my dad.

• I smell everything before I eat it. This includes drinks, fruit, everything.

Characterization

Characterization: the process of developing a character’s personality. A character’s personality traits are shown through:

· What the character thinks, says, or does· What the narrator tells us about the

character· How others react to the character

What we present about our characters, and how we present it, defines the characters that we create.

Characterization

Direct: the audience is literally told what the character is like

o She smelled horrible, like a combination of human waste and rotten bananas.

Indirect: the audience must deduce what the character is like through information he/she receives

o When she walked into the room, everyone covered their noses with their sleeves and scarves, and when that proved to be ineffective, they fled.

Characterization

Complete the direct vs. indirect characterization sheet with your groups.

Characterization

Working with your groups, make a list on the back of your characterization sheet.

What do you need to know about a person before you really know them?

What questions would you be able to answer about a person that you really know?

Creating our own Characters!

Looking back at your journal, consider what would your new character would write.

Begin creating a new character by listing endings to this sentence:

He/She is the kind of person who...

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First encounters: Sohrab

The resemblance was breathtaking. Disorienting.

Rahim Khan’s Polaroid hadn’t done justice to it.The boy had his father’s round moon face, his

pointy stub of a chin, his twisted, seashell ears, and the same slight frame. It was the Chinese doll face of my childhood, the face peering above fanned-out playing cards all those winter days, the face behind the misquito net when we slept on the roof of my father’s house in the summer. His head was shaved, his eyes darkened with mascara, and his cheeks glowed an unnatural red. When he stopped in the middle of the room, the bells around his anklets stopped jingling.

His eyes fell on me. Lingered. Then he looked away. Looked down at his naked feet.

First encounter: Sohrab

• Using Hosseini as an example, write a first encounter with your character. o You will need to decide who that character is meeting

and who the narrator is.

• What aspects of your character will stand out to the person he/she meets? What do you want the reader to know about your character?