Character Sketch

In this writing exercise, students will investigate the author s craft of

characterization. After an initial brainstorm demonstrating character
Overview
development the ll take on the role of an author and create their own
character based on character sketch elements.
- Creative Writing
Skills
- Characterization
- Class set of Character Sketch worksheet
Materials
- Class set of Character Sketch Writing Paper
1. Discuss Characterization:
• Every good story / book has a strong main character
• To create a good character, writers must know and understand
their character how he/she acts, thinks, loves, hates
• When developing a character, an author must know the
character as well as him/herself
3. To demonstrate how authors develop characters, brainstorm the
characterization of a recent character that all students know (from a
recent literature piece all have studied), by asking students to answer
the following questions about that character:
• Who is the character s best friend
• What does the character like to do for fun?
Lesson Plan • What is the character afraid of?
• Does the character have a pet? If so, what is the pet? What does
the pet mean to the character?
• What is a common e pression of the character s
4. Distribute the Character Sketch worksheets. Explain to students that
they will be creating their own character. (Optional: Lead students
through each character sketch element so that you can provide
examples for each.)
5. After students have worked independently, have them share their
character development with a partner, small group, or whole class.
6. Then, have students write a summary of their character or a journal
entry from their character or a short adventure story with their
character on the character sketch writing paper.
Have students work with a partner and together have them create a story
Extension weaving both their characters into their writing piece.

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