Assignment: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Develop a character that you are interested in using in your fiction by choosing at least four of the following methods to compose four separate scenes in which the character appears.

Some Methods to Develop Character

1. Actions
2. Gestures
3. Dialogue
4. Reactions to others
5. Reactions to place
6. Reactions to others
7. Reactions to situations
8. Reaction to small children or babies
9. Reaction to a sudden change in plans
10. Communication with animals
11. Reaction to animal abuse
12. Behavior when unobserved
13. Behavior when observed
14. Facial expressions
15. Body Language
16. Habits that annoy others
17. Habits that bind to others
18. Opening a door.
19. Opening a fortune cookie
20. Opening a bottle
21. Cooking
22. Eating
23. Driving a car
24. Dancing
25. Response to Music
26. Dress
27. Making a purchase
28. Capacity for compassion
29. Response to an ethical dilemma
30. Response in an emergency’
31. Misinterpretation of facts
32. Freudian slips or malapropisms
33. Capacity for hatred
34. Capacity for anger
35. Capacity for patience with children
36. Behavior towards animals
37. Habitat
38. Dreams during sleep
39. Ambitions for the future
40. Memories, flashbacks
41. Level of participation in gossip about others
42. Omniscient description, summary (a last resort, the least desirable, forbidden in this assignment)



Secret Markers of Character, according to students:

Clothes
Type of cellphone
Taste in humor; types of senses of humor
Body language; quirks
Tonal quality of speaking voice
Whether shoes match clothes or not
Understanding of people outside one’s culture
Interest in art
Lack of ego
Jewelry
Car
Type of t-shirt (guys)
Level of comfort with strangers
Attitude towards “waitstaff” in restaurants
Reaction to off color jokes
“personality types”
Use of profanity too soon; use of the “f-bomb”
Comfort level in interactions with others
Table manners, menu choices, fingernails,
Eye contact
Idiosyncrasies: “what’s your thing?”
Level of fakeness; physical symptoms of nervousness
Response to sarcasm
Knowledge of music, books, films
“humor boundaries”
Intelligence level
Seriousness level
Ability to crack jokes
Clothing, shave & haircut, speech habits
Test responses to 3 things: God, dogs, politics
How a person carries himself or herself
Conscious “presentation” of self or not
Look for contradictions
Basic manners (opening doors, etc.)
Reciprocity in conversation
Smiles
Clothing choices
Handshake
Hairstyle
Hygiene
Response to certain controversial topics