Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Announcements and Reminders:                            You should have already shared your child's book with me on Google Docs -- for editing help, and as soon as you get the suggestions back, fix it.  If you are hand-drawing your illustrations, have them completely finished by May 4.  (May the 4th be with you!)

Targets for Today: I can create an interesting and multi-dimensional character. Flat characters are two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work.  By contrast, round characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.

Today’s  Agenda: 1. Introduce us to the person -- in your composition book.  2. In your composition book, list ten or more of your favorite characters from books and stories.  For each (for at least five of them), explain why you picked him or her as a favorite.  Is he or she the type of person you'd like to hang out with?  Do you have things in common with the character?  Are there things about the character you admire? Why a favorite? Some examples from the class: Kaladin from Stormlight Archives Hazel from The Fault in our Stars Boots from Gregor the Overlander Alcatraz from the Alcatraz Series Shallan from Stormlight Archives Boots from Dora  (talking monkey) Patrick Star from Spongebob Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings

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Augie from Wonder

Weish Schnee from RWBY

3. Learn about Creating a Character: 

Types of characters -- https://www.slideshare.net/mrjphutchinson/types-of-characters-42246001

Examples -- 

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5823291/great-character-descriptions-from-science-fiction-and-fantasy-books

Archetypal Characters: 

4. Create a new character for your own character collection, using the Character Questionnaire. 

If extra time:   (We didn't do these.)

Challenge #1 (from Spilling Ink by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter) 
Think of two people you admire. Now think of the thing you admire most about each of them.  Combine those two qualities into one person and write about that person in the following situation: She or he is walking down the street and a strange man hands your character a small sealed carton and says, "Don't let anything happen to this!"  Then the man sprints away.  What does your character do next? 


Challenge #2 Baking Characters from Scratch -- by Ellen Potter
Ellen's Example:

• 5 cups of cocky attitude, sifted
• 2 cups of loyalty to friends
• 1 cup loathing of ketchup, wet socks, and a boy from summer camp named Richard
• 2 tablespoons of insecurity about big feet
• 1 teaspoon of a bad habit of biting nails until they bleed
• One pinch of a shoe-shopping fetish (but just a pinch and no more, due to the difficulty of finding shoes for big feet.)

Combine and bake at 350 degrees or until character is done. 

Challenge #2: Bake your own character from scratch.  Think of six qualities for a character and write a recipe for him or her.  

If You Were Absent: Complete the scribbles #1 and #2.  Pick up or download from Skyward the character questionnaire, and fill it out for a completely new character created by you.

Vocabulary: