Characterisation

What does this term mean?

Characterisation
Characterisation is a word
that describes how the
author develops the
personality of the story
characters in a story.
In most stories the
characters seem to steer
the events in a story, for a
good writer will make
characters behave in
different ways.

Today we are going to learn:

How characters are described in stories.
How to create our own story characters.
How we can show a characters personality in
our own stories.

Characterisation comes though

what characters

say

do

Characters become real life breathing people to our reader if we

describe decisions they make, what they say and how they say it.
Sometimes a writer will reveal also the thoughts which run
through a characters mind.

Top Tips for creating characterisation.

Tip One
Use an unusual name. Use
description, alliteration,
nicknames.

Example
Biscuits was too large for the t-shirt he wore. Bits of him
bulged out in unlikely places. But he didnt seem to
care. His round, red face grinned at me. Hiyah! said
Biscuits, thrusting his pudgy hand our towards mine.

Contrasting characters

Tip Two

A simple contrast is most effective. One character could

be gentle, the other harsh.
How do the characters in the text below contrast?

Example
The Grabber stood blocking their way. Tom
hesitated, then turned on his heal and
rushed back up the corridor screaming.
Victor picked up the whalebone wand. He
faced the Grabber and without saying a
word gazed deep into its eyes.

Using what characters do.

Tip Three
We should be able to describe our characters feelings by what
they do. Take care not to write over simplified sentences
such as He was sad. He was angry.
Example
Grandma gently took the box
from its secret place in the
wardrobe. Immediately her eyes
began to prickle. She opened
the lid carefully and took in the
familiar scent.

Using what a character says.

Tip Four
Dialogue. To show fear h-h-hesitate, um, er.
Show power, confidence. Begin sentences with imperative
verbs (bossy verbs) Or I, I , I.
Use synonyms for said.
Example
The old king stood up and gazed
around the room. Everyone fell
silent. I will not wait, he roared.
I must have porridge! And I
want it now!

Your turn.
Partner work.
Tip One Create a name for your characters.
Tip Two - Think of a contrast between your
characters personalities.
Shy
Angry

confident
sweet

Clever dick

brave
lonely

troublemaker

nervous
happy
bullying

bossy

thoughtful
kind

gentle
stupid
sensitive

Now time to become actors. You need to assume the characters name
and personality.

The plot
You and your partner are cousins. You are in one of
your homes, in the bedroom. The parents are
downstairs.
There is a creak from the room above,the attic. It should
be empty. What will your characters do?
Use Tip three showing
characterisation through
what your characters DO.
Tip four showing
characterisation by what
your characters SAY.
Use drama to act out the actions and dialogue of your characters.

The plot continued

You are in the attic. It is
very dusty, full of
cobwebs, spiders etc. Its
difficult to see as when
you tried the light it
flashed one and
flickered out. You are
surrounded by a mass of
boxes and strange
shaped objects draped
in cloth.
You hear a noise coming
from the back of the
room

Lets write it!

Can you remember the four top tips?

Tip One Interesting names
Tip Two Contrasting personalities
Tip Three What your characters do
Tip Four What your characters say

Lesson 2

What were our top tips for

developing characters?
Tip One Interesting names
Tip Two Contrasting personalities
Tip Three What your characters do
Tip Four What your characters say

Today we are going to learn

Top Tip Number 5
How to develop characterisation through
showing our characters thoughts.

Thinking about thoughts

Example
Mrs Cooper pursed her lips. She had had enough of Brians
behaviour for one day. That boy ought to be taught a lesson.
He had overstepped the mark once too often. And bullying
was not something that Mrs Cooper was going to tolerate.
This shows how you can write down what is in our character's
mind.
We also can have a characters thoughts written down as though
in speech - a thought is our mind speaking to ourselves.
Oh no, shes in a strop again! Brian thought. Shes really got
it in for me these days.

 In the following extract of text think

about how or if, the writer has used any
of the 5 top tips for characterisation.
Tip One Interesting names
Tip Two Contrasting personalities
Tip Three What your characters do
Tip Four What your characters say
Tip Five What our characters think.

Conkered!
You dirty, rotten thief!
Billy Wilson was really winding me up. I dont usually kick-off like that but
he was slouching on the playground bench swinging MY prize conker
back and forth, back and forth with a really irritating smirk on his face.
Prove it Spud! snarled Billy.
Thats me, Spud, A.K.A Edward King. Get it? Edward King King Edward.
What were my parents thinking?
All conkers look the same, dont they? he droned on.
No they dont! Thats mine. Id recognise it anywhere.
My Nan had given me he string for it. Shed found it in Grandpas old shed.
It was old and yellow and waxy and she said it would never, ever snap.
It was wrapped around an old tobacco tin, and as she unwound it, she
looked sad with a far away look in her eyes.
There you go, Edward lad, Thats championship string, that is.
Your dad used it for his conkers too. She held the old tin to her nose
before placing it gently back on the cobwebby shelf.

This all happened the day before the annual conker competition. Billy
Wilson couldnt be bothered to find his own conkers, so hed stolen mine
from my bag. He stole a lot of things, Billy did, and he couldnt be bothered
to do anything much most of the time, including having a wash. Mum says
its not his fault and its not surprising, considering.
Considering what? Ive asked a thousand times.
None of your business, she always says.
I couldnt complain to the teachers about my stolen conker because we
werent supposed to have them in school. Health and safety, or something.
You can have an eye out with a conker, apparently!

Did you spot any Top Tips?

1. NAMES: Who do you think were the main
characters?
2. CONRAST: Were their personalities
different?
3. ACTIONS: Did the author show the
characters were different though their
actions? (What they did)
4. SPEECH: Did the author show how the
characters were different though what they
said?
5. THOUGHTS: Do we know what Spud thinks
about Billy?

Drama time
With a partner you are going to act out the story so
far.
We are going to freeze the action at different parts
of the action.
When I say freeze frame create a pose using your
body, and a facial expression to show your feelings.
I want you to think about your characters thoughts
at that moment in the story.
Make a thought
bubble to describe
your characters
thoughts.

Punctuating thoughts

Flashback
A flashback is where you go back in time to
something that has happened in the past.
Think about the character Billy Wilson.
What in his life could have caused him to steal,
become lazy and unwashed?
What might Spuds mum have meant by, Its not
surprising, considering.
Improvise a scene from the past that hints at why
Billy has become the character he is now.

Lesson 3
We are going to:
use drama to explore characters
thoughts.
use our top tips for characterisation in
our own writing.
Together we are going to write a recount,
describing the day of one of the
characters in the story we have been
reading.

What were our top tips for

developing characters?
Tip One Interesting names
Tip Two Contrasting personalities
Tip Three What your characters do
Tip Four What your characters say
Tip Five What your characters think.

Who is Billy?
We have been looking at a short story with
two boys, Billy and Spud as the main
characters.
With your response partner talk for a few
moments about the character of Billy.
Is it fair to say that Billy is evil? What do
you think?

Why did Billy steal the conker?

Now the class are going to think about what
must have been going through Billys mind
before he stole the Conker.
Team 1.
List all the reasons why Billy might think it was
ok to steal.
Team 2.
List all the reasons why Billy might think he
should not steal the conker.
Lets try out your ideas in a conscience alley!
Which team is most persuasive?
Are there any volunteers to be Billy?

Inside Billys Brain

Lets pretend that we are Billy.

We are going to write an entry into Billys diary.
Writing Targets
We need to describe an event in Billys life. (Action)
(Dialogue)
Let the reader know how Billy feels about that day.
(Thoughts)
Reveal something about Billys character to our
reader. (Personality)

Your task To develop characters in our writing.

Now Id like you to write another diary entry into Billys diary.
What will you need to include to develop characterisation?

Describe Billys personality through:

What Billy does
What Billy says
What Billy thinks.

How do you feel about the character of

Billy now?
Do you feel sympathetic towards his
situation?
What do you want to happen next to the
character?
Can you remember the clue that the writer
gave us, that suggested that there was more
to Billy than Spud understood?

Characters
To use different ways of planning
stories
Now its time to go
back to our story.
What has happened
so far?
What do you think is
going to happen
next?
Talk to your response
partner.

How can we plot our story line in a different way?

high

Low

The story continues

Think about Spuds emotions in the
following events.
Following reading this segment of
the story, we are going to then
focus upon the character of Spud
and describe the events from his
point of view.

Conkered continued!
Anyway, there was nothing I could do. Billy is a big lad and Im
not. So, I decided to go home to look for another conker.
I went through the park and rummaged about underneath the conker trees.
It didnt take me long to find an absolute beauty.I rubbed it on my
trousers and polished it up into a glossy swirl of browns and golds. This
would be a winner and Billy Wilson wouldnt be smirking tomorrow. I
called at my Grans on the way home for some more string.
Eh Edward lad, she said, you took the last of it yesterday. Its all
gone. My heart sank. It was special string string that my dad had won
competitions with. It would never, ever snap.
Never mind Gran, I sighed. My Mumll have some. See you
later!
Sure enough Mum had something that would do the trick an old
shoelace. First of all we followed the old recipe of soaking the conker in
malt vinegar for exactly two minutes and baking in the oven at 250
degrees for one minute and thirty seconds. My dad drilled a hole
though my conker with a sharp nail and threaded the shoelace though,
making a big knot on the end so that it wouldnt come loose. I was
disappointed not to have the traditional family string but I was still
determined to beat Billy Wilson.

The next morning at playtime, we all gathered behind the school kitchens.
The smell of cabbage was belching out of the extractor fan making
school dinners seem even less tempting that usual. Everyone was
comparing conkers and eyeing up the opposition. Marcus Jones was
look-out. His parents wouldnt let him play conkers because they said
competing with other children was bad for you. That must make the
reset of us really bad because we were always challenging each other
to dares and bets and daft races. Anyway, hed have to stand on a box
hes so small.
All clear! whispered Marcus.
We paired up and tossed coins to see who would go first and then we were
off.

Hot seating
What is Spud thinking?
What questions would
you ask Spud if your
met him?

To describe Character thoughts and

feelings.
Spuds
Diary
Write
a diary
entry which reveals more of how Spud
feels about the recent events.
Include: His reactions to what others say to him, do to
him. The events
He felt sad that
He found another
he could not get
conker
the string.
He thought about
Billys reaction to
the new conker
He tried to get
some more
string.

His family helped

him prepare the
conker.

To use drama to explore texts

Today we are going to read the
ending of our story.
After we have completed reading
the story we are going to think
about acting out the story for
someone else to watch.

Conkered continued!
I held out my conker, steadying the string it wouldnt move.
Josh Walton drew back his conker, took aim and swung at mine.
They crashed together and Josh was left with a piece of string
with fragments of smashed conker clinging to the end.
One-er! I announced. A long way to go yet, though.
the competition continued until there were only two whole
conkers left. We all stood there; the ground covered with bits of
smashed conker and discarded pieces of string. Billy Wilson
and I faced each other both clutching six-ers because wed
smashed six other conkers. I went first. Drawing back the
beautiful conker, I took aim and swung. Just at the last minute,
Billy pulled his conker out of the way.
Foul! Foul! shouted Marcus. For someone who didnt
compete , he had a pretty good grasp of the rules.
Spud gets another go for that, he said.

Again.pull backaimswingCRASH! Both conkers were still

in one piece. Billys turn.
Look out, Spud-face, snarled Billy, youve got no chance. he
looked at me straight in the eyes with that horrid smirk across his podgy
face. He pulled grandpas special string slowly between his thumb and
forefinger, challenging me to say it was mine. Placing one foot in front
of the other and rocking to balance himself, Billy squared his shoulders,
pulled back his conker, aimed and swung. The conker flew through the
air across the playground, hitting the kitchen window with a crack. The
string had snapped! Grandpas special, waxy, unsnappable string had
snapped!
Winner! yelled Marcus, trying to hold my arm up like a champ.
Conkered! I shouted at Billy who had turned red and was
clenching his fists.
Detention! thundered Mr. Poskitt, the head teacher, as he
stormed around the corner. Dont you boys realise, you could have
your eye out playing conkers!

The main events

Performance
Now imagine that you are going to turn the
story into a performance for others to view.
We need volunteers to play our main
characters.
The rest of you are going to act as the
directors of the play.
It is your job to direct the actors
movements, speech.

What have you learned this week in literacy?

Talk to your response partner.
Can you remember the 5 top tips
for characterisation?