Character development is one of the most important aspects of writing creatively. Whether you are writing a short story or the next great American novel, character development is one of the most important aspects of writing creatively.
When teaching character development, you will get your best results from giving your students activities that they can enjoy. Character development for a story is one of those activities. Adobe Education Exchange provides knowledge and expertise for developing lesson plans that will work whether in a traditional classroom or teaching remotely. The following character development worksheet for writers can be used as part of a lesson plan.
Character Development Exercise
We define character development as creating and bring to life an individual character in a story. The only way to effectively do so is to get to know your character’s story. As you get to know your character, you are also introducing your character to the audience. For your readers to stay interested in your story, they need to be able to picture the character in their minds. Character development is all about painting a picture of your characters.
Types of Characters
There is always more than one character in every story. Just like in life, you will always have people surrounding your main character who influence that character’s actions. Your story will at least have these character types in it:
- Protagonist: The main character in every story.
- Antagonist: The character who is the adversary of the protagonist. The antagonist tries to prevent your main character from achieving his or her goal.
- Secondary Characters: These characters are not as important as the two main characters, but they are still essential to the telling of your story.
Now that you know the types of characters who will be in your story, we will start telling the story of your main character.
Name your character
Giving your character a name will start to bring that person to life, both in your mind and your reader’s mind.
Write a physical description of your character
What does your character look like? Are they tall or short? Is there anything different about them? Include details that will help paint the picture of what your character looks like.
Define your character’s background
What is your character’s background? Where do they come from? Describe their surroundings. How was that character raised? Do they live in the city or the country?
Define your characters strengths and weaknesses
Every character has strengths and weaknesses. What makes your character stronger? What is your character afraid of? How do they respond to these things? Since no character is ever perfect, showing their strengths and weaknesses makes them more real.
What motivates your character?
Defining what motivates your characters keeps your reader engaged. Always keep these motivating factors as realistic and believable as you can. The more realistic the motive, the more well-rounded your character becomes.
You should do a character development for each character in your story. You want your reader to picture each character in their mind as they read about them. These details will help paint that picture.
