We have discussed the many ways an author uses characterization, or the building of characters, the actors in a story. We've looked at several features that aid in this process (direct and indirect characterization, static vs. dynamic, flat vs. round). And we've read several stories (The Possibility of Evil, The Sniper, Regret) that characterize in very different ways.
I would like two posts.
Post 1: Please summarize your understanding of characters and how an author makes them interesting. What techniques and traits make for compelling characters? Explain why the characters in these three stories are or are not interesting using the language of the discipline.
Post 2: You will be writing your own short story during Winter Break. What will you bring to your characterization that you learned from these authors? How will you create characters we want to read about? What about your protagonist? Who or what will be your antagonist?
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To me, all of the characters from these 3 stories were interesting and made me want to learn more about them. The authors used a certain type of vocabulary that caught my attention, like it was not obvious, but it was inferred; inferred from their actions, thoughts, body language, etc. I personally, thought that the characters from all of these stories were interesting. There was the stealthy and sudden character, the boring old hag next door, and then the original 'THIS IS MY TOWN' crazy lady down the street. In real life, these characters would seem like crazy people, but the stories made me walk in their shoes, and see why they act in these certain ways.
ReplyDeleteFirst off.. homework over the break.. how FUN... For the story assignment, I plan on using a character that people normally often see in their daily lives, and have a quick spin to why they do these things, that will hopefully surprise many. The reader will hopefully see what this supposed often sighting, is actually doing, in regard to their actions. My protagonist will be a living thing that acts in a certain way that most people (the antagonist) will find weird.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, characters are people in a story who make the story seem worthwhile; they tie together the plot and add adventure, suspense, theme, and FUN to the story. In the stories we have read in class, characters have been a major part in the story. What makes a compelling character may vary for different people. I believe a compelling character can be related to, is adventurous, sometimes mischevious, and an average person getting through an extraordinary life. The characters in the stories we have read during class were interesting while using the language of discipline because they are still adventurous and are normal people using wit, cleverness, etc. to climb over roadblocks and conflicts.
ReplyDeleteIn my short story, I hope to incorporate childish slang through dialogue and a language of discipline while describing the plot and exposition. I will also make my characters make "mistakes," because these are critical for making the story seem real. Life would not be life without mistakes. My antagonist will be parents/common sense because my character will be a young child growing up, learning the rules of life the hard way.
ReplyDeleteCharacters are who are in the story, and the author makes them interesting by making them relate to the audience reading the story or watching the movie. For example, the characters in a kids show may be puppets or a big purple dinosaur, for the elderly it could be a WW2 veteran or a character that has alzheimer's disease;whatever the audience can relate to. The characters from all three stories are diverse, but all interesting. In "Regret" it is about a woman who has her mind made up at the beginning, but by the end she has ambivalent thoughts about having a family. In the Sniper,it is about a violent man who learns about the horrors of war firsthand. And in The Possibility of Evil it is about an elderly woman who is like the leader of her town. Even though all characters are different they are all important in their stories and are engaging
ReplyDeleteFrom learning about characters, I will make some of mine flat while others are round, and some static, while others will be dynamic characters. I will make characters that are engaging and relatable. And since my story takes place at a sporting event I will probably have pretentious athletes and team-oriented athletes. I am not sure about my protaginist/antaginist, but my antaginist will probably be the one who commits the murder, and the protaginist will be whoever is solving the mystery.
ReplyDeleteThe characters in a story are the people, or sometimes personified animals or objects, that authors make interesting by building up their personalities so that you can empathize with them. The characters in the stories were intriguing because they had so much to them. In "The Sniper" the main character was a man that is shown the hard way how war affects people. In "The Possibility of Evil", the main character is an elderly woman who may take too much pride in her town. "Regret" has a woman whose mind changes drastically about children. These characters are all interesting because they have personalities that you do not see everyday and deep emotions that are really appealing.
ReplyDeleteI am planning to make all of my characters really diverse, but all dynamic. Because my main characters are all part of a dysfunctional family, I plan on the making them really different, such as making the parents overprotective and the children really rebellious. Or, I could have the parents not care enough, and have that really affect the childrens' lives.
ReplyDeleteCharacters are the subjects of stories short and tall, dramatic or funny, mellow or edge-of-your seat thriller, etc., etc.,etc. They can be humans, animals, or even personified inanimate objects. Some character types include protagonist, antagonist, character foil, and minor characters. What authors do, from a very areodite (and modest) student's point of view, to make their characters come to life include various techniques. One of my personal favorites is indirect characterization because of its tendency to make the reader think about the character rather than be told about it. A dynamic character also has the ability to blow the readers poodle skirts, afros, and other stuff not worn in this century, clear of the reader's closest state border. This type of character causes the reader to, once again, think and comprehend the physical and mental changes of the character. As far as characters go, I think the 3 we are reading about fit the description of an undescribable character. First of all, the republican sniper appealed to my slanted eye because of his displayed traits, such as cunning, some caution, and the fact that he has some respectable morals, such as "war is nothing but trouble." As for the protagonist of "Regret," her dynamic categorization hits me where I live. Her sudden change from happily alone to lust for her taken companions were sticks her in my memory as the woman who cares. Even though I have not finished the story, Ms. Strangeworth already strikes me as an interesting character. The indirect and direct characterization blends perfectly showing her as a dainty old woman with a desire to keep her street perfect
ReplyDeleteAll 3 characters are set up by the author for us to infer things about them. The author does not do this by accident, he does it on purpose. The reason is to get us thinking, not just read directly in text what the character is like. The idea of inferring about a character adds suspense and gets you wondering about what will happen next. Interesting characters are the ones that are set up to make you think about his or her personality, not just automatically know straight forward about a character.
ReplyDeleteI learned that in order to make a great main character, I must pretend I am the reader. Make the reader infer and wonder what the character is truly is, the way he thinks and acts. To not state the obvious is one way to make the reader infer. Also always have a background story and and history that sets the stage for the character. Make sure that while describing the character, do not get into much detail and context with the character, for this will not make the reader and audience wondering and guessing what can happen next. The protagonist and antagonist must have all of these reasons. But the antagonist, must have a history of why he or she is known to be a bad person. This is how I plan on setting up my protagonist and antagonist.
ReplyDeleteReading all of these wonderful short stories (and direct instructions from my teacher) have inspired me to come up with my own short story. In said story, I hope to make my protagonist appeal to the audiance using indirect and a little direct characterization. I would also like to make my character round, dynamic, in some sense their own antagonist. My vision is to use the opinions of others as well as specific actions to display my protagonist as cunning, modest, and plagued by his darker side. Along with the protagonist/antagonist should be a set of wonderful minor characters including maybe a love interest, a caring friend or family member, and maybe a vengence-seeking authority figure while I am at it. I am aiming to have all of these characters become realistic in mainly there own actions along with a few direct characterization comments from yours truly. With any luck, my cast of characters will jump off the page, dance in the audience, and return leaving behind only the fact that they blew the minds of roughly 20 people
ReplyDeleteThe authors of these stories made their charactors road. They were road charactors,because they were described deeply. The caracters were also direct. The charactors in these storys are compeling, because they are well described and are not forshadowed.
ReplyDeleteRiley, I think you mean round, not road.
ReplyDeleteThe author made the characters interesting because of the twist they had to them. I would have never expected that the sniper killed his own brother in the war, and it made it an even better story since it was revealed at the end. I also would have never expected Madame Loisel to lose the necklace since it wasn't hers. And for her to suffer ten years trying to pay off the necklace when it was only worth 500 francs. The twists that the authors put at the end of the stories made the story well written and intriguing. In order to make a compelling character, you want the reader to expect the unexpected. No one likes a predictable story because then it becomes boring. The characters in the Necklace and the Sniper are interesting because they take risks and they are unpredictable. However, the characters in Regret were insipid to me because of the way the story was worded and nothing about the story caught my attention.
ReplyDeleteI learned from these authors that you can eather be up front with a charactor or barley describe the charactor. I will create charactors by makeing them road and flat. Eaither describing them right off the bat or put them on the backburner. My protaganist will be the middle class public, and my antaginist will be wall street.
ReplyDeleteI learned to bring an unpredicted side to the characters in my short story. In order for me to have an interesting story, I have to have a great topic with something unexpected to happen. I am going to try and have a twist at the end to leave the reader mind bobbled. I will create characters you want to read about by trying to have a trait in a character that a reader might find in themselves so that they can relate to them. My protagonist will be the character who is unpredictable and my antagonist will have a twist to them like in the short stories we have read.
ReplyDeleteWhat I know about characterization. Hmm. Well, I have learned that some characters are flat, meaning they are 1 dimensional, or not completely developed yet. Other characters can be round, meaning they have many dimensions, or are developed. They author can make a story more intriguing by making the characters static, no character change, or dynamic, basic to major character change. Characters can be anything from a human being to an animal to even a personified toaster oven. The main character is usually the protagonist, while the opposing force is the antagonist. The author can also use minor characters to shape the plot. The characters in the stories we have read were quite interesting. Each of them were rounded, dynamic characters because they were explained thoroughly and had some type of life changing experience.
ReplyDeleteWhile writing my short story, I plan to use many tactics to keep my writing interesting. I think of a story as a lump of clay on a potter's wheel and the characters are the hands that shape the story. I will create compelling characters by making them rounded, or describing them well and making them have a life changing event happen to them that will keep the readers begging for more. My protagonist will be a wealthy benefactor. My antagonists will be the bad economy and himself.
ReplyDeleteI beleive whata makes a character interesting is conflict. That is actually a quit general statement though. I beleive that a character does not have to be round to keep your interests. I think that if a character is flat it can be just as intrigueing because they can spark your imagination and make you want to know more about them. But like i said earlier you have to have conflict.
ReplyDeleteI cannot predict what will happen while i write my short story i cannot predict what will happen or how I will do it. The last time I wrte an actual story was in fourth grade and i am pretty sure iled it. So this time I am going to do the small assignments Ms. Gerber assigns and everything should write itsel in one way or another. At least that is what I hope so wish me luck.
ReplyDeletecharacters are the story. They shape it, give it life and color. Without a character, the story would just be a house full of stilts- a hopless mess. Characters are molded with different clays by the authors. Some are evasive,others bright and upfront, along with the sweet and shallow or the calloused hardworkers with lives full of back breaking work. They are introdused by flat out descriptions, hidden messages, comments that require inferences, and other character's comments. Author use what is familiar to the audience to grab its attention. Then they twist and turn the character around to suprise the adience to add suspense. From the cold shooter turned emotional, to the arnery old woman with a soft spot for childrun, everyone can make a connection and become interested in the story. Even the crazy old lady full of tradition has a place in this world and its liturature entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI have not exactly worked all of the kinks of my characters out, but I plan on introducing each of my characters through the same techniques most authors use. My main character, Lucy- I think, will have a cinderella effect until she finally cracks and is depressed. She will then be possibly taken in by a criminal and will find salvation in crime. She will finally escape this confusing and wretched life and escape to a new, clean one as a nobody in New York.
ReplyDeleteCharacters are like stars in progress. Some that can not develop and stay basic during the story are one dimensional and flat. But the more likable characters and the more interesting ones are fully developed or rounded characters. A character can become more and more interesting the more that a character relates to one person or becomes in conflict with themself. In these stories, all the characters are all interesting because they all have distinct qualities. One is sly and stealthy while another is affable.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am writing my short story, I will take in consideration all of the characterization techniques. In my short story, I will use indirect characterization because this will cause my readers to be constantly into the story and paying close attention. I will make the main character relatable to all personality types so the reader will be engaged and want to read more.
ReplyDeleteCharacters are the base of many stories, such as Will Ferrell movies and Napoleon Dynamite. But for many others, they add rich details to the story, some directly and some indirectly. In a story, a round character is better than a flat character. Round characters are not perfect and cause many readers to relate to them. But like in most Disney movies, the characters are flat. They are usually perfect and live in fantastic lands/utopias. Although these are great for young readers, older readers do not like them. Most of the books have rounded characters, and they make the stories intersting.
ReplyDeleteI am going to try to make my characters rounded, well at least the protagonist. He is going to be the seemingly perfect kid on the outside, but on the inside he is going to be thinking of things that probably no one else his age considers. When I create the characters, they will be based on some of the people I know to ensure they seem authentic. The making of the protagonist is easy, because I already have his character planned out. I'm not sure if the antagonist will be a person, but instead will be maybe people in general or knowledge itself. I will try to make the characters relate to my peers, because it will draw them into the story a little bit better.
ReplyDeleteTo be interesting characters must be three dimensional. they must have many qualities that make them human like. In the three stories the only character I thought was well built and thought out was Rainsford. I felt he was much more complex the the other characters who all seemed generic and uncreative.
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