Step 3: Character

The second thing to think about is Characters. The characters we use and how we use then tell the reader a lot about our writing. Give detailed descriptions of the people you use in your writing. One way to create characters for poems or stories is to use real people you know, describe them, how they look, what they wear, how they talk. Of course, you may want to change their name. Try to create unique characters. Remember having fun and surprising the reader is okay to do. 

An example of this is to take your brother’s height, and your sister’s love of football and mix the two to create your own unique character. For instance, ‘Sam was really tall, she played football every day.’ This is one area to really explore and be creative. Your sister may be short, and your brother might hate football, or you may have no brother or sister but when you write you are in charge of the creations.

Write for fifteen minutes about a character you’ve created, name the and then describe them remembering to use the senses. How they smell, look, and sound might be enough for this exercise. Present the character whatever way you like, they can be as realistic or as fictional as you like, it’s up to you!

Are they tall or short, do they have long or short hair, what country are they from, what kind of clothes do they wear, is there something unusual about how they act?

Now take the setting and character and write for fifteen minutes about your character and your favourite place and let’s see what happens! What do they do there? How does the place make them feel? Do they have to travel to get there and if so how do they get there?