Creative Writing: Characterisation

Developing character

Activity: (This should take about 10 minutes to complete)
1. One way of developing character is to freewrite about your character based on either chosen or given headings. These headings can inspire a history of your character. This activity is a good way to get to know the character that rests in your mind. Your short writing pieces can be used in a larger piece of writing or they can inform your character’s reactions to and attitudes about certain things that happen in the story.

2. You could also rewrite this activity into a journal. To do this, change the narrative to first person and see what happens.

Modelled response
My character is a man from the forest in a sort of fairytale like setting. When I was writing about this character, I was thinking about the woodchopper in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and the old woman from the confectionary house in ‘Hansel and Gretel’. These heading just popped into my head and I began to freewrite about them, without judging my writing or my thoughts.

The cauldron
He brought the cauldron from a local shepherd. It took several attempts to move the cauldron to his cottage. Carrying it with his bare hands was impossible, even cushioning the bottom with linen towels did not work. Pushing it like a boulder up a hill killed his back, and so he made a sort of pulley on wheels, much like the Egyptians used to move stone blocks from the quarry to the pyramid.

Teeth
The old man’s teeth where in good condition despite the amount of sweets he’d consumed over the years and the terrible state of the medical system. As a baby, his mother fed him honey when he refused to suckle from her boob as a way of soothing his relentless screeching. His sweet tooth grew from there into a thriving confectionary business. Today he preferred the organic ingredients from the forest surrounding his cottage, although he imported sugar cane from the far north. He worked alone these days, squeezing the sugar cane meticulously, preserving the taste and texture.

Failed recipes
For the old man, a deviation from his mother’s recipes for delicate sweets was a bruise to the ego so large that he would remain in his bed chamber for days. Once his attention was drawn temporarily away from the melting of the sugar cane by a swallow tapping on the door. The slight disruption allowed the syrup to burn slightly. Although you or I would not be able to tell, the smell of burnt toffee lingered in his subconscious for days to come.

Changed from a story to a journal
The cauldron The other day I brought the cauldron from a local shepherd. It took me several attempts to move the cauldron to my cottage. Carrying it with my bare hands was impossible, even cushioning the bottom with linen towels did not work. Pushing it like a boulder up a hill killed my back, and so I made a sort of pulley on wheels, much like the Egyptians used to move stone blocks from the quarry to the pyramid.