Skillshare

Outline of Class

by Roberta Hayes

Part 1: class outline

Class Title: Character Development Simplified

This is a first in a series of classes on writing.

Class Description: Write a short story (or novel) one bite at a time!

Everyone loves a great character. I will show you the best ways to develop that character!

No prior experience needed! As long as you can write and read, you can do this!

This skill can be used in any form of writing or even in conversation. Make your life colorful! Fill it with adverbs and adjectives :)

A computer, pencil, paper, and access to a printer is all you really need. A dictionary/thesaurus would also be a handy tool. Anything extra is up to you.

Project Description: Character Chart

In this class, you will learn how to create awesome characters for your writing projects. You will learn about the use of adverbs and adjectives especially, in order to create a very believable character. You will also fill in a chart for your character. You can then upload this chart to share in the project gallery.

I will take you on a (short) journey through various literature loaded with the kind of characters I am talking about – then you create a character one will never forget!

Brainstorming prompts:

The best thing about filling out the character chart, is that half your work is already done in a simple way. You can then plug your character into a plot and scene.

The other cool thing about this chart is that you can sit and come up with a dozen characters, fill out their charts and set it aside until you come up with a story line they will fit into. The chart system is a great time saving tool. The skills in this class can also help you in your conversations – when you are talking about someone, you can be very descriptive (I'm being nice here :).

Everyone can use this skill – even children; charts, graphs, etc. are a great way to organize thoughts.

Character Charts

Keep these charts simple – use as few words as possible – just get the idea across, yet when you write from these notes, make as full a character as you can by using as many from the first AND second charts as possible, plus more.

The # is for assigning a family number. This character chart will have a number that will correspond to other family members, say for example your main character is #1A and he has 3 family members: 1B, 1C, 1D.

1st level Character Profile:

age (and/or year born, etc.)
place of residence
time period
appearance (external): color of hair, height, etc.
attributes (internal): most noticeable traits, what do you first see when you meet them
character traits: special mannerisms, unusual interests, habits, physical problems, etc.
greatest strength/Greatest weakness
family members: names and # (which assigns them to their own character chart, if needed)
who was he named after (optional) and why
job: worker, student, child - what is their job, what school do they go to, etc.

2nd level Character Profile: not all characters will have this chart

activities: What do they do too much of/too little of, hobbies, etc.
feelings about: hometown, occupation/work/school, family, etc. and where life is headed
friends/family's opinion of character
WHO is most important to this character
childhood experiences that affect this character
how does character deal with problems/how does he react
type of issues this character normally runs into/what are is issues or biggest issue now
what is he proud of? What are his successes?
biggest failures? What is he most embarrassed about?
what would he most like to change about self?
what else is important about understanding this character?
what was he doing the week (month, day, etc.) before the story starts?

[this actually is supposed to be in a 'table' chart - my copy/paste didn't pick that up]

1st level Character Profile:

# Character Chart Name Adverbs/adjectives to describe

1. Age

2. Place of residence

3. Time period

4. Appearance (external)

5. Attributes (internal)

6. Character traits

7. a. Greatest Strength

b. Greatest Weakness

8. Family members (give them a #):

9. Who was he named after (optional)

10. Job

2nd level Character Profile:

# Character Chart Name Adverbs/adjectives to describe

1. Activities

2. Feelings about …

3. a. Friend's opinions

b. Family's opinions

4. WHO most important

5. Childhood experiences

6. React to problems

7. Issues

8. a. Proud of

b. Successes

9. Failures

b. Embarrassed by

10. Change?

11. What else?

12. Week before …

Skillshare

Video Outline of Class

Part 2: video outline

Introduction:

Talking head

2 min.

My name

My experience

What we're doing

Class Project:

Slides

*of various books and characters fly past as I talk

*mention various 'famous' characters

*words: attributes & character traits

Talking head between above * segments

10 min.

The 'who' and the 'why'

Favorite character

mind-mapping activity :

“What is your favorite Character from: TV, books, movies, whatever”

Brainstorming:

Slides

*review of English grammar: adverbs and adjectives

*sites for extra practice

*show fun video

4 min.

Define noun, verb, adjective, adverb

My Favorite Character:

Film Demo

mind map (aka word web) my favorite character from my book:

“Dreaming at a Higher Level” – The Glitter

*link to my story

Talking Head and Talking over filmed video

10 min.

Demo:

fill out character chart

Final Thoughts ...

Talking Head

SCRIPT

Introduction: Hi, my name is Roberta Hayes from the beautiful state of Oregon. I am an Educator, Writer, Artist, Musician and overall, Jack-of-all-trades. I've been teaching one thing or another for over 40 years, mostly in Indiana. Back in the 80's and 90's, I was a part of several different writer's groups – some of whom from those groups went on to literary greatness. For this class, I'll be taking you through a series of activities that will hone your skills for developing great characters for your stories. What's cool about these activities, it may awaken in you remembrances from your days of learning at school – especially in the way of English grammar! We will be doing a quick review of Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs, and Adjectives. But don't worry, it really isn't that hard. Then for our final project, we will fill out a Character Chart that you can then use for all future characters. Fill'em out, stack'em up, and be ready to plug your character into a story! Let's go ….

Class Project:

The reason I've chosen this project to start with (because this is a first in a series of classes I'll be developing on the craft of writing) is because I like to get right to the chase when I am writing. When I sit down to write a story, I like to have all my 'ducks in a row,' if you like. I have my plot notes, my story line notes, my character charts, etc., all ready to roll when I get the urge to be creative. To me, that background work is not as fun – it's the actual writing of the story that I find fun.

Therefore, I like to start with my characters, develop a whole slew of them, then set them aside available for whatever story I've got a mind to write. As I fill out my charts for characters, I am taking notes in a separate notebook for possible story lines and actions. Those I work out at another time. So, before we actually get to our character charts, let's do a little activity to warm us up.

We all have a list, whether long or short, of who our favorite characters are from TV, books, movies, to real-life characters we see. What is it about them that makes us pay attention? The way they look? The way they act? What is it about them, their personality, their style, or whatever it is that draws your attention, what is it that makes them who they are? These are the kind of questions you will be asking yourself as you think about your favorite character. In fact, just take a minute or two right now and write down the name of your favorite character. Ok, now, make a list of the various attributes, or character traits – write down what comes to mind. [flash various definitions and words across screen] In case you've forgotten, what do I mean by ATTRIBUTES? CHARACTER TRAIT? [define] [Quick DEMO mind-mapping on say: Jack Sparrow]

Ok, with that done, you should have more of an understanding of where we are going with OUR character charts.

Brainstorming

I've been teaching English for over 15 years and I am amazed at how small of a vocabulary most people have. I have always been one who has loved WORDS – I'm serious – I used to ready 25 books a week! I'm not kidding! Sure, I had no life, but I 'lived' in books extensively! I had an extremely wide vocabulary, mainly due to that fact AND due to the fact I used to do the Reader's Digest Vocabulary page every month from the time I was 16 until I don't even remember – but for many years I would test myself with those.

So, I am here to help you expand your vocabulary in order to help your writing.

Now that we've got idea of WHAT to put on our charts, let's go a bit further and come up with even more words – words that DESCRIBE. What are adjectives and adverbs? [define]

Do you remember that game show that was on US TV a few years ago called “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader”? Well, actually taking such quizzes or doing such activities really helps you. Go to my “extras” folder and check these activities out. Take some quizzes, just for fun. It will help you expand your vocabulary.

Not only that, but there is an AWESMOME video on YouTube called The Three Little Pigs like you've never heard it before by John Branyan: I LOVE IT! But it has an extremely valid point – we DO NOT even have a smidgen of the vocabulary we had in our culture say 100, 200, 300+ years ago.

So, as a family, have fun with some of the extras I've put there for you.

My Favorite Character

Now that you've had some experience using adjectives and adverbs, let's start our main project.

In 2003, I published a couple books, one of which is called “Dreaming on a Higher Level”, a collection of short stories by Roberta Reagan. Anyway, one of those stories I wrote back in the 80's called The Glitter. I've put it up in as a PDF for you to read. I am going to take that main character from that story and demonstrate how I fill out my Character Charts. [demo]

Final Thoughts …

Wow, so what did you think of all that? Did you learn something? I hope so. I hope this was all helpful in your quest for developing a believable story character. We quickly analized a variety of popular characters, thought about what is was about them that captured our attention, then we did a mind-map on their various character traits. What's more, we hopefully filled our mind with more vocabulary possibilities by our review of English grammar.

And then, or project – I do hope you all load your character charts into the Project Gallery, for we all want to see what awesome characters we will see in print or on film some day! Good luck on all of your writing projects, and I hope to see you in my next class: Character Voice!

Extras folder: Just for fun segment for you and/or the whole family:

Mad Libs: https://www.madlibs.com/printables/

Just for fun, test yourself:

https://www.scarymommy.com/are-you-smarter-than-a-fifth-grader-questions/

The Three Little Pigs like you've never heard it before by John Branyan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_UegL1R3X8

Visuals for slides:

Book covers:

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Outlander
The Scarlet Letter by Nethaniel Hawthorne
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'Dell
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Centennial, Hawaii, The Source, Chesapeake by James Michener
2nd Touch, AD Chronichals, Prague Counterpart by Bodie Thoene
The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War by Herman Wouk
Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger [mention never watch movie before reading book]

Visuals for TV/Movie

John Wayne
Andy Griffith
Charlie Chaplin
Clark Gable
Jesse James
Patrick Swazie
Luke from Starwars

Roberta Hayes

Educator, Artist, Musician, Writer

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