See you next time

That’s it for this lesson. Did you ever think there were so many ways to describe characters?

We’ve looked at everything from how they look and smell, to what they believe, to their relationships with other characters and the way that writers judge them.

Stop and take a close look at the people around you. What makes each person different? What makes anyone who they are?

Pay attention when characters are introduced. How do you react to them? What did the author write to make you feel that way?

(Source)

We used snippets from David Walliams’ Awful Auntie, which is about a young girl imprisoned in a remote mansion by her awful aunt.

(Source)

We also used snippets from Roald Dahl’s classic, The Twits, about two horrible people who fight with each other as well as a bunch of birds and monkeys.

Where did the inspiration images come from?

All the inspiration images in this lesson (including the picturs of the pirates and cats, above, which inspired our Captain Punce and Snuffles examples) come from an amazing Finnish illustrator called Teemu Juhani, who does these kind of naive but rich character portraits.

sketch of an older woman with large glasses, hat, coat, and dog on leash

"Grandma" by Teemu Juhani (Source)

man sitting at a cluttered desk hunched over a keyboard with filing cabinets and folders behind him

"Workmate" by Teemu Juhani (Source)

very large man with tattoos and a sword with a much smaller man in a big pirate hat, peg leg and spyglass stands on his shoulder looking out

"Pirates" by Teemu Juhani (Source)

nine cats of various shapes, sizes and colours in different poses

"Cats" by Teemu Juhani (Source)

See you next time. :-)

Narrative Basics Lesson 1: Characters