I am thirteen and I am a good writer( I think)!. My teachers have never taught me how to build up a character's personalities and then how to make them appear in the writing!. any help would be appreciated!. thanksWww@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>Books & Authors> Character building- I'm writing my first novelQuestion: Character building- I'm writing my first novel I am thirteen and I am a good writer( I think)!. My teachers have never taught me how to build up a character's personalities and then how to make them appear in the writing!. any help would be appreciated!. thanksWww@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: When you write a character, you have to imagine the character's entire life first, or you have to have some idea of what made that character the person he or she is!. To build this into your novel, you can use literary devices like flashbacks, or omnipotent voice!. A flashback would be a passage that would "explain" why a character did some things (or not) and could be long or short, depending on how much detail you want to include about your character!. Ominpotent voice is like a "narrator" talking about the character, making suppositions, or drawing conclusions about the character's behavior!. These are both simple ways to build up a character!. More complex was are through the character's choices in the novel's action, or through symbolism, or through things the character reacts to!. These are harder to write, but more rewarding because they sound better in a story!. A good writer will use a variety of ways like these!. Can you think of a book you've read where the thing you remember most is the character you liked!? Then THAT is a well-built character!. Study the writer's method for showing you what personality traits that character had, and you'll begin to see how it's done!. You could write small pieces first--just little "character studies!." Try a "writing prompt" website for ideas!. (Just google the words "writing prompts" and you'll come up with a bunch of them!.) Use the prompts to make little vignettes with memorable characters to practice!. You'll start to see the tricks involved as you do it more and more!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Have you ever wondered how a certain actor or actress can carry out his/her character so well!? Usually, these actors/actresses have to IMMERSE themselves into their character!. For example, Anthony Hopkins, who plays the role of the cannibalistc psychologist in the movie "The Silent of the Lamb," had to BECOME his character!. He had to live, breathe, and think like his character!. The result!? He got an Oscar for his performance!. So back to your quest to build a character!. For each of your main characters, you have to think and breathe and feel and like your character!. Let's say you're a girl and you want to portray one of your male characters as a depressed nerd!. You have to think like a boy, and feel as though you are depressed!. It takes a lot of hard work!. You've probably heard from certain readers who feel as though the character literally "comes off the pages!?" Well, this is it!. You may not describe everything about a character in your work, but you will have to put flesh onto your character!. You may not have to describe his hair length or color, or how many moles he had on his back, but you will have to understand your character as though he were you!. That is the only way to make your character alive!. Do the same for your other main characters!. For help, read a book that features a character who you feel as though s/he were real!. Then you'll understand that the writer did an excellent job of bringing the character to life!. Www@QuestionHome@Com If you need to ask questions about character building, you probably aren't ready to be writing a novel!. I'm not saying this to be mean!. If you put the time and energy into writing a novel before your abilities mature, you're basically wasting energy!. It makes more sense to perfect your abilities through writing short stories first!. Google something like "character building in writing" and good luck!.Www@QuestionHome@Com You're talking is characterization!. It means a character's personalities!. That's easy to explain, it's the way of a character's behavior like they're a jerk, kind, stupid, genius, crazy, normal, abnormal, weird, shy, brave, grumpy, gloomy, peppy, happy, sad, upset, overly protective, strong, weak, evil, good, annoying, hero, and villain, and push over!. Those list of personalities can describe a character!. A character can be anyone can be a character like you!. Ask yourself and say, what kind of personalities do I have!? I hope I explain as much as possible for you!. Hey, check out my story!.!.!.!. http://answers!.yahoo!.com/question/index;!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I really recommend using a program called Dramatica (you can download a free trial version that lets you do everything but save and print)!. It asks you a bunch of questions about your characters and how the relate to each other!. These questions really make you understand them a lot more through your answers!. You can take a lot of psychological tests in their stead, many free ones online, just pretend you are them as you're taking it!. Think about all the things that have influenced you in your life, and realize that your characters will have lifetimes of information that won't be in your story at all but still influenced who they are as people!. I wouldn't go so far as flashbacks unless the story really called for it, but you can hint a lot at their background through character quirks!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I AM STEPH MEYERS SON THIS IS THE REAL DEAL SPOILER!.!. http://answers!.yahoo!.com/question/index;!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |