This year my students are coming up with their most complex characters yet, and I know it’s because of the creative prewriting activities we did. Bonus – my students really enjoyed the activities!
What Inspires Authors?
I start my unit by looking at what has inspired some prominent YA authors. We look at Laurie Halse Anderson, Kwame Alexander, Angie Thomas, and Rainbow Rowell.
Laurie’s inspiration for Melinda in Speak came through a dream of a girl crying. She eventually figured out what was hurting the girl and what her name was. Similarly, I give the students a prompt where they have just had a dream about an unknown teenage boy running through the woods. The students then brainstorm what this person’s name is, what they are running from, and how it’s making the character feel.
For Kwame Alexander’s, he explained how he saw the song title “Filthy McNasty” and he just knew that was a nickname for a character he would create. For this example I give students different nicknames and ask them to brainstorm a character based only on the nickname given. They come up with the craziest backstories off just one word!
Create a Character
Up next I have the students build their character. During my most recent teaching of this unit I created stations for the different features and students wandered around the room looking for the perfect head, eyes, nose, and mouth for their character. Some students sketched a face when they couldn’t find the perfect features from my piles.
I included station signs to encourage the students to choose wisely. These characters need to speak to them; there needs to be some sort of connection.
I originally wanted to have students move through stations in groups, but in the end it just wasn’t working. Students were most successful when given the freedom to decide how they would work their way through the stations. Some started with the head, while others went right for the eyes. It worked out best when I wasn’t trying to control the process.
Once their heads and faces are assembled (complete with drawn in hair and shirts) I have students fill out an About Me page based on their character. They need to know who their character is before they start writing out their adventures.
Character Journals
One of my favorite actors, Mr. Michael B. Jordan, recently interviewed with Stephen Colbert about his role on Black Panther. Click here for the clip and start watching at 2:20. Jordan explained how he creates character journals for each role he takes on. He writes from their point of view about all of the events in their lives from birth until the start of the film. I love this idea and wanted to incorporate it with my own students. I created mini character journals for the students to fill out about their newly created character.
These mini journals include various prompts to help get the students thinking about the defining moments in their character’s lives. Entries such as “What is your character’s happiest memory?” and “Describe a fight your character has had with family” all help to understand the events that help to form complex characters.
As an introduction to this activity I include quick mentor text examples of flashbacks in novels. An example is in Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson; the main character, Tyler, has a volatile relationship with his father, but there’s also a quick vivid memory of him as a young boy pretending to shave with his father. It’s a touching moment that helps to understand the complexity of their relationship and of each character.
Plot Diagram
At this point the students truly understand their characters and are ready to begin outlining their story. Most plot diagrams you find online will probably do just fine. Depending on the grade you’re teaching, you may or may not have to reiterate with your students what the different aspects of the story are. My students could use a refresher, and it’s getting close to Halloween, so we watched a quick Simpsons clip to model the plot diagram. I showed “Hungry are the Damned” (about 8-10 minutes total) and stopped to talk about the different parts as we went.
After that the students begin crafting their stories. There’s plenty more that goes into the actual writing of the stories, but I’ll save that for another post. This one is already a bit lengthy.
Want my stuff? Check out my store for my author’s inspiration presentation, character building station work, and character journals.
