Monday, December 7, 2009

Blog Assignment Five

We have discussed the many ways an author uses characterization, or the building of characters, the actors in a story. We've looked at several features that aid in this process (direct and indirect characterization, static vs. dynamic, flat vs. round). And we've read several stories (The Possibility of Evil, The Sniper, Regret) that characterize in very different ways.

I would like two posts.

Post 1: Please summarize your understanding of characters and how an author makes them interesting. What techniques and traits make for compelling characters? Explain why the characters in these three stories are or are not interesting using the language of the discipline.

Post 2: You will be writing your own short story during Winter Break. What will you bring to your characterization that you learned from these authors? How will you create characters we want to read about? What about your protagonist? Who or what will be your antagonist?

48 comments:

  1. Characters should grow and change in some way throughout the story. Authors put description and detail into their characters so the reader can have an idea. They make them interesting by trying to have them connect to the reader. people want to know that other people are going through the same things they are. A character that has a lot of confidence and bravery is compelling. or the opposite, a character that is mysterious is also interesting. Ms. Stangeworth is compelling because she may seem like a cuddly, sweet grandma on the outside but on the inside she is a psycho!

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  2. I will bring detail and in depth descriptions to my characters to my short story. I will create characters that are interesting by making the character go through conflict and crisis. My protagonist in this case is my main character. She will have personality traits that make people sympithize with her.

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  3. Characters are the people or personified objects in a story. In all forms of literature, an author wants the reader to connect with the characters. Compelling characters can be easy to relate to. Even in fantasy stories, a reader can relate with personality traits or similar conflicts that the characters have to solve. Also, most authors write what they know, so this also helps others to better understand and enjoy real-life scenarios. Compelling characters also have intriguing traits. Some characters are funny, while others are mysterious. Even villains are compelling to read about. No matter what kind of character it is, there has to be some quality that makes the reader want keep reading.

    In The Possibility of Evil, Miss Strangeworth is compelling because of her conflicting personalities. On the outside, she is the picture-perfect neighbor, who has her usual routine that she does every day. But on her own, Miss Strangeworth sends slanderous letters to members of the community, putting fear, anger, or hatred into their hearts. These opposing traits make the reader want to know more about her. In The Sniper, the main character is interesting because he is in the middle of a battle scene. This character always knows what to do and how to eliminate the enemy. This character has a keen sense of how to get the upper hand and as a reader, I want to see what he will do next. Last, in Regret, the main character is a southern woman who has never married nor had kids. She starts off not knowing what to do with the children she is watching, but you see her character evolve into a person who is sad to see these children leave, and a person who regrets her ignorant decisions about a family. The journey that this woman takes causes the reader to be interested in how these children will change her perspective on life.

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  4. Authors shape characters in many different ways. The characters can be flat or round, meaning they can be all good or bad or any one trait(flat) or have depth, reason, and personalities we can relate to (round). To me a character is compelling if they have the guts to do something I don't. Like Megan said, characters are compelling if they have confidence. I hate the characters who are pretentious. While I'm reading the scene with those characters, I just skip ahead until i found another part.

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  5. From these authors, I have learned that character personality is a large part of developing a compelling character. It is also important to create a character that readers can relate to. When writing my short story, I will write about events and hobbies that I participate in as well as characters that resemble people I know. If I do this, I hope others will be able to relate to the situations and personalities in the story.

    My protagonist is a young girl who plays the piano and has to practice long and hard to do well, which she does. The antagonist will be another girl taking piano who has natural talents, so she doesn't have to practice, but she does wonderfully. In the story, these two characters will compete. Their different personalities will make the events of the story interesting to read about and will have an underscoring theme about certain types of people in the world.

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  6. While writing my own short story i will keep in mind the way authors make their characters seem real. I will definitely want to use the tools that create relatable characters. My protagonist will be a bit of a dork but everybody loves her. The antagonist of my story will be society. hmmm i wonder what my story will be about?? :P

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  8. Characters are the people in the story that makes the story fascinating. Characters deal with all sorts of conflicts, making them a good canidate for any story. An author would make a character interesting, by allowing the character to have more than one personality, trait, crisis, etc., making them a round character. The techniques and traits that make a character compelling would have to be an ambivilant attitude, like Miss Strangeworth, a sense of humor, and a constant problem the character always has to come face-to-face with. The three characters in Regret, The Sniper, and the Posibility of Evil all are intersesting, because they each have an unexpected attitude that is uncommon, each are dealing with a problem, and each have a setting that matches their characteristics.
    -K.J

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  9. Characters should always be intresting by either learning a lesson, changing, or devoleping different feelings. Traits or actions is what makes characters intresting. I think that if you have a character who stays the same through the whole story, is highly boring. A exotic character is what the readers want; and if the characters is two sided, that makes it much more exciting. The characters in the three stories we have read are so intresting it's what makes you want to read more. If the character has something that intrestes you, it makes you want to read the story. I believe that these characters in the sory were well thought up and had many different sides to them.

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  10. In my story, I will make the characters intresting because they will have many sides to them, not just one. I will have my character face many problems that have to make her think but because she is so frantic about everything, it makes it hard for her. I will make more characters almong the way while she faces her problem. My main character, the girl, will be my protanganist. The antagonsit will be her mind or herself.

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  11. From what I have learned from these three authors, I will incorporate an ambivilant/enigmatic attitude, a sense of humor, numerous conflicts, and moral values within each of my characters. I will create chacters that deal with life-like problems children are experiencing today, I will incorporate a lesson learned within the protagonist, and I will have effective side-characters, hopefully making this story likable by the readers. I will make sure there is always a conflict, whether it is internal or external, surrounding the protagonist. The antagonist in my story will be a friend of the protagonist, and will later ask for help from the protagonist towards the end of the story; this antagonist will also conflict the protagonist in many ways.
    -K.J

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  12. Authors make their characters interesting in many ways. They have to be 'round' and develop as a person throughout the story, and should have more than one personality, so the readers see more than just one side of the character. A compelling character, in addition, can have a sidekick or 'character foil' that isn't necessarily the opposite of the protagonist, but the one who illuminates them and brings out the part of them the readers should see.

    The main character from Regret, Mamzelle, is a great character because she difinitely changes by the end of the story. By the time her neighbor comes to pick up her four children, Mamzelle regrets not ever having children of her own; she had completely different opinions about the kids when they first arrived.
    The protagonist in The Sniper changed feelings when he realized the man he thought was his enemy, was his brother. I guess this makes him a round or static character of the short story because his perspective changes and he regrets shooting.
    Miss Strangeworth from The Possibility of Evil is compelling because she's two-faced. To her friends in the neighborhood, she is sweet and affable. However, once she is in the comfort of her own home, she transforms into a derrogatory woman who insults and warns the townspeople about what could happen to the town if there is no possibility of evil.

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  13. Hopefully, I will bring just as much characterization to my protagonist as the authors we've read about have. I hope to include other people's opinions about the character, how they view themself, and information that I, the author, will tell the readers in a straightforward manner. By giving my character conflicting personalities, they may be more interesting than one who has only one side to them and doesn't change throughout the story.
    In my short story, the protagonist is the 15 year-old daughter of her Olympic-soccer-playing mom. :)

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  14. Characters, whether minor or major, bring a story to life. Without characters, a story would be nothing but words. Characters should have depth, and be somewhat realistic. They should have flaws, likes, and dislikes; someone everyone can relate to. Also, a character should change throughout the story in some way, whether it's their personality or even their physical being. We should see them as fully-developed and well-rounded characters. What makes a character compelling is if they have two sides, like Miss Strangeworth in "The Possibility of Evil," or Mamzelle in "Regret." Also, in "The Sniper," the author put a mysterious twist on the characters.

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  15. By reading these 3 stories, I have learned that a good character can't just be only one side, every great character has a good and a bad side to them. I have also learned that a good character can relate to I in some way because if I can relate to the characters in the story because if I can relate to the story, I feel as if I am going throught the character's experiences.

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  16. Reading these three stories and looking at how the authors developed their characters helped me realize that it's necessary to plan out the characters. It's not as simple as thinking of a random name and putting it down on paper; there's actually a thinking process involved. My character should be well-developed and should change throughout the story. Also, I should be as detailed as possible to make her seem realistic. By creating characters that the reader can relate to, I will most likely grab the reader's attention. In addition, I will have a character foil for my protagonist to illuminate her personality. In my story, the protagonist is the teenage girl who doesn't appreciate her family. Obviously, the antagonist, or the force opposing her, is her family and also, nature (tsunami).

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  17. The author makes his characters compelling by making them 3-dimensional through their personalities and sidekicks. A character that is 3 dimensional has multiple sides to their person, and multiple traits. For example, Ms. Strangeworth seems like a kind, caring, sweet, and sophisticated little old lady. However, once inside her house, behind locked doors, she turns to an evil and paranoid pshyco. Also, the character may have a character foil who is the exact opposite of him or her. In that opposition the main character's traits are illuminated and stand out. For example, in the story The Necklace Mme Loisel is extremely selfish and fastidious, while her husband is selfless and giving. His servile and selfless ways cause Mme Loisel's flaws to stand out.

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  18. In my story, my characters will be developed. They will have multiple personalities and traits that change from hour to hour and from day to day. They will be round and fat characters (not literally) not flat and boring characters. Also, the other characters in my story will cause the main character's traits and personality to stand out. In my story, the protagonist is the selfish and taking-life-for-granted teenager named Kristen. Hopefully, I will be able to put as much personality into her and other characters as the stories we have previously read.

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  19. I think that the main feature of a great character is realism. If you make a character that lacks real-life qualities, it is hard for your reader to connect with them and their decisions. One way to give them this '3D' quality is to give them flaws. It is much more interesting to read about a character is isn't perfect. For example, Miss Strangeworth is definitely not perfect. Her hobbies included walking around the town and collecting information, and then going home and writing horrid letters of gossip to the townsfolk. The fact that she has two sides makes the story interesting to read.

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  20. Like I posted earlier, a great character is a realistic one. So, to make my character more interesting, I will put real-life qualities to work inside of my character. My protagonist, at the moment, is named Kris. She, like many other teenagers, is bothered by her younger siblings and her parents. To make her more realistic, I will put some of the emotions I feel on a day to day basis in the story, so that I can truly express what she would be feeling during certain events. My antagonist will be her family.

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  21. As I said in class, my story is a work in progress. So I made up a new story. It's about a hockey prodegy named who is known to the public by the name Speedy. His dream in life was to make to pros and play for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But when he makes to pros, he does not get drafted by the Penguins, he instead gets drafted by the runner up Detroit Red Wings. Both the Speedy and the rest of the country knew that it was mystery that the Wings had even made the playoffs with a team that had the most penalties and the least amount of goals in the entire NHL. But also being a great mentor, he holds his own sectret practices without the coaches permission to teach the players how to be the best. By the end of the season, the Wings bairly make the playoffs in 8th place. After major adjustments were made, the Wings were able to sweep the 1st place team, breeze through the 2nd round in a 4-2 win, and battle for the conference title in the 3rd round in a 4-3 win; the Wings were going to the Stanley Cup once again. They lost the first two and fought for a win in game three. Losin game four, the Wing would have to win the next 3 to win the cup. Before game 5, the coach wanted to give up but Speedy would not let the Pens take another cup so after a very encouraging speech, the team went out to win games 5 and 6. Game 7 went to a shootout where Speedy was able to get the winning goal. Wings win the cup! (but i'm really a Penguins fan) As I said before, Still a work in progress.

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  22. Authors make character interesting by making them complex. For instance a character that is flat, or not fully developed is dull and they don't compell you to try adn figure out the character because they only have one side to them. On the other hand authors can make characters with round, or fully developed with many sides to them. It is also interesting when characters develop and change through out the story. A character should make the reader feel like they know the person; know all there sides and not really relate to them but to be a part of the story with them. In the story sniper, I didn't really like the story, though the plot was good, because the characer didn't seem like he had a very interesting personality. You could interpret some things about him, by the way he took the chance of getting caught to have a cigarette. But even then, if someone asked me to predict what he would do in a specicifc case, I wouldn't be able to predict. Ms. Strangeworth, however, is interesting because she is unexpected but yet you have a sense of how she is, even though its scary!

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  23. In my story, I am going to make my character interesting by making her change during the story. She will be a very affable and gregarious person during the begining, but then when her mom dies she become completely indifferent to the world around her and will become morbid. Then after her out of life experience she will become different, more beleiving in the spiritual world, and more of a mixture of her happy self and her morbid self. Secondly, i will make my character interesting by making her name mean like a part of the story. Sheol is described as a name to mean afterlife, and so i named my character Sheola. I will be changing her characterization through out the story.

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  24. I look at character as a picture frame. The plot of the story is the picture inside and the main attraction, while the frame is the character. Without a nice looking, well developed frame, the plot does not get the attention it deserves to share a message. The author builds this frame up in a variety of ways. The most interesting characters, in my opinion, are round. There are multiple sides of the character that make them who they are. Most often, rounded characters multiple sides are completely ironic and opposite. These kinds of characters hit the reader like a freight train on the 405; they don't know why it's there but now you are intrigued to find out more. Also, interesting characters are dynamic, they show change. These characters make it easy for the reader to comprehend the message the author was trying to share. In The Possibility of Evil, Ms. Strangeworth is a grandma-like person on the outside, but likes to make people suspicious on the inside. Only an evil person such as herself would intentionally send a letter to another women telling her about her husbands suspected affair. The irony of her actions and appearance make her an interesting character. In Regret, the women does not care for children one bit at the beginning of the story, but changes at the end to realize how much she misses them once they leave. The sudden change of heart makes her a dynamic character and helps the reader understand the author wants others to keep an open mind on certain matters until they actually experience enough to make an opinion.

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  25. Characters, the actors in a story, can be made interesting in many ways. The way that a character acts (what they do and do not do), talks, and looks all show what type of person (or thing) the character is (personality). Oftentimes the protagonist's character is "highlighted" by the comments of other characters. The protagonist is also "illuminated" by a character foil, who brings out aspects of the main character because of how different the character foil is from the main character. All of these features that make a character more interesting, are what make them more round, or developed. Characters that are not fully developed are called flat characters. Characters can also become more round, if they are dynamic, or have a character change during the story. Characters that do not have a character change during the story are called static characters. Lastly, characters will appeal more to the reader if they are realistic. This allows the reader to relate to a character more easily. Each of the main characters in the three short stories we have read, are interesting because they have all of the traits that a round character should have. They were all characters that were realistic, unique, and had aspects that made them interesting to the reader. The protagonists in Regret and The Possibility of Evil both had character foils, while the protagonist in The Sniper had characters opposing him who were different from him, but were not developed enough to be true character foils.

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  26. characters are interesting when they have more then one side to them. when there are mulitiple sides to a character, and are more complex, it makes them more interesting and it makes you want to keep reading to see all of their different sides. throughout the story, seeing characters develop and grow also makes them compelling.

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  27. in my story, my character will develop as she grows to learn that she has to start working for the things she wants in her life. she will develop and mature as she takes on more responsibilities and has to help with her family matters. instead of always getting everything she wants, she will work for even the most basic necessities. she will learn lessons and develop and grow as a person.

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  28. When writing my short story, I will make my characters realistic, and fully developed. They will be round in that they will have an interesting personality, outfit, attitide, and style. My protagonist will be dynamic, and will change throughout the story. My protagonist will be able to be related to, and will cause the reader to have mixed feelings about him. The antagonist in my story will also be fully developed and able to be related to too. The antagonist and will engender feelings of ambivalence in the reader, like the protagonist will. There will be two antagonists: people who have to deal with the environmental problems created in the past, and time.

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  29. Authors make their characters interesting by giving the more then one side. A character with one side is not interesting. If the character is always happy, you will always know what he or she is going to do because he or she is to predictable. But if the character has more than one side like General Zaroff and Ms.Strangeworth did, it makes them more compelling because you dont know what they are going to do next so you it will make you want to read more. Then the author will make the characters grow and go through changes as the story progresses to make them even more interesting and so they are not always the same.

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  30. Second Post:
    Well since I did not have my short story plot today I will tell you. My story is about two twin brothers. One is very successful and as nice home and a great family. But the other brother is struggling. He has an apartment that he can barely afford and has a low paying job. So this brother decides to start breaking into houses and stealing whatever he could find in peoples homes to get money. But then a witness comes forward and tells the police that he saw the local burglar and knows who he is. So the police aressted one of the twin brothers. But they aressted the wrong brother. The brother has no clue why he was aressted. He is set for trial in one week. In this week the brother who actualy commited the robberies has to decide if he wants to save his brother from going to jail or just let his brother suffer the consiquences for his crimes. The theme that I think works for this story is to always be honest. For my story my characters will be interesting and have many unique traits thta will make the reader not want to stop reading my story. Also my characters will have more than one side so they are not predictable and dull. My protagonist is my main character. My antagonist is also my main character because the main conflict is internal. As my story progresses my character will have to decide if he wants to change his ways and come forward to the police or if he wants to let his brother go to jail.

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  31. Characters are like candy..you want more and more. If the candy is "stale" or "flavorless" you won't want to eat it. This is the same when we read a story, the character needs to have more than one side to it so that us readers will want to keep reading.

    The main point of adding different traits is to give that character more interest. The three stories we read General Zaroff stood out because of his outer appearance differed from his inner appearance. On the outside he was well kept, on the inside he was creepy and sick by wanting to hunt humans.

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  32. I will bring to the characters dimension. Alexis (protagonist) has followed in her mother’s bad decision of having parties, getting drunk, and doing drugs from a young age. Getting pregnant at age sixteen, she decided that the right decision for her, the father, and her baby was to give it up for adoption. Raising her younger brother, she couldn’t see her own daughter going through the same mistakes and living in the same environment. Breaking away from her mother to go and live with her boyfriend and his parents she decided to give the baby up for open adoption, so she could see her baby, just not have to be responsible for the monthly expenses. I learned from the other authors that there is always meaning in the story and what the character does. The character won’t always have a happy life, but they will learn something about themselves during the process.

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  33. In my story, I will make sure to utilize the new methods of characterization we have just learned. My main goal will is to have round characters, even if they aren't the protagonist or antagonist. If my mother or father reads my story and can honestly say, I felt like I knew the person, then I know I will have succeeded. Although my story will have more influential characters than others, I have decided to have multiple protagonists. This is mainly due in art to my theme about effective collaboration. They will be opposing the natural elements with a little fate and internal crisis thrown in the mix.

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  34. A good character has many sides. They must have some good and some evil in them. They also must change through the story because that is what makes them interesting and worth reading about. If a character is the same thoughout the whole story, readers tend to get bored with the character and therefore the story. Authors also make characters interesting by maiking them complex. If they act one way in one moment and differnt in the next, they catch the readers interest because the are not one dimensional.
    The characters in the story are very interesting because they all change throuhgout the story. They also do things that are unexpected. Ms. stangeworth, for example, seems like a nice old lady but really is evil to others. She has two sides to herself and also does something unexpected which makes her an interesting character.

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  35. In my short story, i hope to make the characters very intersting by having them change throughout the story. They go from being one person then actually growing up and finding out who they are to become someone else. I will also put a twist on the characters so they have several sides to themselves. I want my protagonist to be someone who is good but has to deal with someone evil( antagonist). Seeing what the characters will do and also having them change personalities will make the story very intersting to read.

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  36. Post 1:
    Authors use many ways to make characters interesting. I always find interesting a character that has two sides to him/her. If a character is good in the outside I want him be bad in the inside. Also, I find it that when I can relate to a character, that character attracs me. The attracting character can make me attracted to the story which will of course, make me like the story.

    I enjoyed the characters in these stories because in the Most Dangerous Game, the two sided Kossack, Zaroff caught my attention and brought exitement to the story. Now, in The Possibility of Evil, Ms. Strangeworth I can tell that Ms. Strangeworth holds many mysteries and that attracts me to her.

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  38. Post 2:
    In my story, the main character, Kyle, will have all the traits of characterization that I've learned from the recently read stories. Kyle is a typical high school nerd. He is mocked and picked on by everybody. He gets the highest grades in the school and is the smartest sophomore out of all in the school. Kyle will end up to be one of the greatest rappers the world has ever seen. The antagonists will be the school's "posers" and wannabe rappers. My supporting characters will be Jose and Scoop who are the founders of the school's Hip Hop Club and find Kyle's talent one day at school.

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  39. Characters make the story interesting and without characters, a story is not complete. The author has different ways to express a characters personality, such as having other characters for contrast. In the three stories we read, the author did a phenomenal job with the characters. They expressed their personalities in ways I never thought could be possible. I had to think in several different ways to get a feeling of the characters mind set. When a character has multiple sides to them, it makes them become more interesting.

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  40. post: 2
    In my short story, I will make my character have different sides to them so they become more interesting. I will try to make the reader think of what the true meaning to the character is. I will make my protagonist have a kind and unique mind but at the same time make them mean so it can represent the multiple sides. The antagonist would have a weird and sick mind which will make the reader interested. The protagonist shall go through multiple conflicts to realize the moral they have learned.

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  41. Characters can be interesting in many ways. An author can make a character interesting by their appearance, just by the way a character looks can have a strong meaning. If the character is well dressed, wears flashy jewelry, and has perfectly manicured nails, you can infer in many different ways. Also, characters that are all good are all evil, are boring. Characters have to be edgy, and unpredictable, or the reader will not be engaged. The next way a character can be made interesting is by analyzing what they do or in most cases do not do. This is probably one of the more obvious ones, but is effective in showing character. Finally, the more realistic a character is the more the reader can relate to the text. Personally, if i cant relate to at least one character in the book i will put it down. I don't want to just read a book for no reason, i want to get a lesson out of it. It's important to make the reader connect with the characters because it will make them feel better. For example, if you area swimmer just like T.J. in 'Whale Talk' you would fall in love with the book. But if the story is about the most perfect little girl in the world who never messed up and got perfect grades and had a perfect personality and a perfect image, normal people cannot relate to this, making them either annoyed or the reader can just easily guess the theme and get bored.

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  42. The protagonist in my story will be the girl who catches her dad cheating. To make her interesting I will give her an outer image, and an inner image. I want the reader to see how she views her self, how others view her, and more importantly how her parents view her. I want the character to be brave on the outside but scared to death on the inside. The protagonist will have a great deal of internal conflict as well as some external. The antaganist in the story will be her dad. The dad is going to be two faced. He will seem very giving and self-less on the outside, but on the inside he is hurting, and is feeling a great deal of regret.

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  43. A character is like the actor in the story. An author can make a character interesting through the character's actions and appearance. In the three stories that we read each author had different ways in descibing the character. In the story Possibility of Evil Ms.Strangeworth looked like a nice old lady but inside she was a crazy old woman. In The Sniper the story took place in a battle and at the end the soldier in the story finds out that he killed his own brother. In Regret the character is a woman who never thought of raising a family. At the end of the story she regrets not raising a family. All the caharcters in these stories were built differently and have different character traits.

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  44. Characters should definelty grow and change throughout a story. Authors make their characters interesting by making them seem like real people. Acompelling character for me is one that iss funny and wise, and sometimes even a bit crazy. Ms. Strandeworth is the most compeling charcter to me out of theese three stories. She is an enigmatic character wh seems phyco.

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  45. In my story I will be sure to bring detail. My characters will be interesting and realistic. My protagonist will be a round character and go through many different crisis and conflicts.

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  46. In my story the protagonist will be a boy who dreams of becomeing a football player but doesn't know how to. I want my character to be postive about himself but somewhere in the story he decides to quit on his dream, but then someone inspires him to follow his dream and helps him become a football player. The antagonests in the story will be all the people who do not believe in him and want to see him fail.

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  47. Wow, I feel like I'm doing this really late. But I guess I am. Anyhoo(am I delirious, using that word?), authors make their characters interesting by making them have some sort of speech oddity, like calling someone a particular nickname or using one word a lot, just not enough to be annoying. In fact, any little quirk can become endearing as long as it's used in moderation.

    Although I haven't finished reading The Possibility of Evil(I plan to find it online today), Ms. Strangeworth has the odd quirk of saying one thing and turning back on it once she's in secret. It's a little baffling. Besides that, her name reflects her character. Her house reflects her appearance to society.

    The Sniper doesn't so easily release character. It seems to be centered more on the plot and then the horror that probably changed the man's mind about the revolution. So I think it characterizes through his actions. It shows he is smart and cool-headed. He is good at setting a trap. He was also fairly loyal to his side, at least until he killed his brother.

    Regret seems to be characterized mostly through her appearance and the short narration of her past. It also characterizes her by the way she pursed her lips when she first had to take charge of the children.

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  48. What I learned most from this is how setting and appearance can affect(effect?) characterization. I will definitely use that knowledge writing this story. To make it so that my protagonist and all the other characters in the story seem interesting, I'll have to make them realistic. I need to make sure they do natural things. Nothing too absurd unless it's in their character. They still have to be a little different, though, so I would say it hangs in a delicate balance. As for my protagonist, he will be a very little boy, not even in kindergarten yet. Naturally, he will abound in cuteness and innocence, which I hope will make him endearing. The antagonist will be fate, the cruel and twisted fate that tears up happy endings. But there could be a scrap of one left. :3

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