Mr. Turner's English



English 11

J. Turner

How to Write a Character Sketch

In the first couple of sentences of your sketch, you should be able to summarize a great deal of basic information--the context of your discussion, the basic facts about the character, and the situation that he or she appears in.

NOTE! Use the following as a guideline. Use your own judgment to determine what information should be included to make a full and interesting sketch of your character.

Context:

- The name of the text

- The kind of text (short story, bestselling novel, science fiction film, etc.)

- The name of the writer

Basic facts:

- Name

- Age

- Place of residence

- Occupation

- Etc.

Situation:

- The circumstances in which the character appears, and which provide for plot and conflict in the story.

Example:

Edgar Allan Poe's suspenseful short story, "The Cask of Amontillado", is narrated by a vengeful gentleman named, Montressor. It is unclear where and when he lives but we can surmise that he lives in a European city sometime prior to the days of electricity. He begins his tale by informing his listener that after having tolerated the many injuries of a man name Fortunato, he finally decides to exact a definitive revenge.

Now that we have a basic idea of whom we are talking about, we can get into the meat of our sketch: What is this person like? How does their mind work?

Choose two or three of the characters most noteworthy traits. Make sure you have prepared evidence to back up your claims, then explain, as clearly and interestingly as possible, what this person is like. In other words, what is it about the character’s way of thinking that you find interesting, strange, or wrong?

Express your opinions, but be sure to not to stray too far from a reasoned and well-supported reading of what is on the page.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download