Building Characters Part 2

Jamie

Ahmed

Julia

Hi! I'm Ana

Creating Characters

Part 2

Main Character

Every story should have a main character. This is the central person in your story. Their desires, fears and conflicts are key to the story's development and the plot.

How do we make Julia a strong main character?

You need more than good descriptions to build your main character.

Give them challenges.

Use other characters to create drama or conflict.

Know what drives or motivates your character!

Point of View

You will need to decide who is telling your story. The point of view is the perspective from which the story is told. There are four common types of point of view.

First Person

I want to eat one right now

This is when the main character is telling the story. The reader has direct access to the thoughts and feelings of the character.

KEY PRONOUNS I, me, we, my, our, ours

Second Person

You looked through the window and were terrified to see a three-eyed alien looking at you.

Second person is all about you! The story is told from the reader's point of view. It forces the reader into the story. The reader is a character and the events are happening to them. Second person point of view is not common in novels or short stories. It is more often used in poetry.

KEY PRONOUNS you, your yours, yourself yourselves

Jamie was happy to see Ana. He was feeling lonely and had missed her. Ana also felt excited to see her friend.

Third Person

This is when the author or narrator is telling the story. There are two different types of third person point of view, omniscient and limited. Omniscient means "all knowing". The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all the characters in the story. Third person limited knows the thoughts and feelings of ONLY the main character.

Omniscient - Third person

KEY PRONOUNS he, him, his she, her, hers they, them, theirs, it

Voice

Your character's voice is the unique way they can express themselves. Their voice can be communicated through their personality, thoughts, and words. When your character speaks, you will need to use quotation marks (" "). Quotation marks are used to express a character's exact spoken words. They also show dialogue or conversation between characters.

Put quotation marks at the beginning and end of your character's words.

"Sometimes quotation marks are confusing," said Julia.

Add a comma before the closing quotation mark.

"I think she already ate," said Julia.

"I'm hungry," said Julia. "Let's find Ana and eat," replied Ahmed.

Buuurrp!!

Quotation Mark Tips

"Who is there?" asked Jamie. Anna yelled, "It's me!"

Periods, commas, question marks, and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks. Start a new paragraph every time a new person speaks.

Don't forget to have fun!

Make them shine!

You've got this!

You'll do great!

Now it's your turn!