Lesson video

Lyra Belacqua, Hermione Granger, Willy Wonka, Frodo Baggins, Aslan, Bruno and Schmuel, Auggie Pullman, Starr Carter and Greg Heffley.

Some of these names, you may recognise, some of them, you may not.

They are all the names of book characters, brought to life through the words of a writer and shared with us so that we may go on their journeys with them.

We laugh with these characters, we support them and sometimes, we even dislike them.

We experience every twist and turn of a plot with them.

They may be words on a page, but if a character is written about in the right way, they can seem living and breathing.

In today's lesson, we're going to think like a real writer.

Today, we're going to give life to our own characters.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Mr. Pryke and welcome to today's lesson on developing character.

All you'll need to complete today's lesson is a pen and paper or something to write on and with.

And if you can, try and move yourself away from any distractions.

And when you're ready, we'll begin.

We're going to begin by completing a review of Freytag's pyramid and seeing if we can remember how a dramatic narrative structure is usually put together.

Next, we're going to fully immerse ourselves in character creation by thinking about Vladimir Propp, a scholar who identified eight different types of characters in stories.

After that, we're going to have a go at creating biographies for our own characters.

And we'll finish the lesson by developing our character further, breathing life into them, so that we're ready to use them in a piece of writing.

Let's begin with a review of Freytag's pyramid.

Gustav Freytag was a German novelist and playwright.

His study of narratives led him to believe that most stories are structured into five parts.

Here, we have the five parts on a pyramid, but they're all in the wrong order.

Your job is to copy out the pyramid and label it with the terms in the correct place.

If you want an extra challenge, you could explain what each term means as notes around your pyramid.

Pause the video here and complete the task.

Press play to find out the answers when you're ready.

Well done.

We begin with the introduction.

This is where the writer introduces the setting and characters.

The atmosphere is established and a crisis or conflict is introduced.

Next, we have the rising action.

This is where the crisis or conflict begins to develop.

Here, the main character may try and fix the crisis or resolve the conflict but fails and as such, the tension rises.

At the top of the pyramid, we have the climax, the point of highest tension.

This is where the main character's life will be changed forever.

After that, we come to the falling action.

This is where the conflict or crisis begins to resolve.

It may contain a final moment of suspense.

During the falling action, readers know the story is heading towards the end.

Finally, we come to the end of the story, the resolution.

The conflict or crisis is usually resolved and the characters try and resume their normal lives.

Give yourself a tick for the ones you got correct and make sure you make any corrections on your own pyramid if some terms weren't where they were supposed to be.

Brilliant work.

Now, we're going to move on to the main focus of today's lesson, which is developing characters.

We're going to start by learning about Vladimir Propp.

Vladimir Propp studied narratives.

Remember, a narrative is a story.

He was particularly interested in Russian folktales and he came to the idea that certain types of characters could be found in the vast majority of narrative structures.

In fact, Propp argued that there were eight types of character that could be found in stories.

These stories may not contain every single character type but usually, there's more than one.

Let's have a look at what these character types are.

The first two character types that Propp says one will find in most stories are the hero and the villain.

Now, you may be thinking of a hero like Spider-Man, for instance.

But, in stories, the hero doesn't necessarily have to do anything brave or heroic.

The term "hero" is purely used to describe a major character, with whom the reader will normally associate most strongly.

The hero is the key person around which the story is told.

The term "villain" is used to describe the person who struggles directly against the hero, preventing the hero from achieving their goal.

The villain, typically, is morally bad, highlighting the goodness of the hero.

Let's apply some concrete examples to this.

In "Cinderella", for example, Cinderella would be the hero because the story revolves around her, whilst the villain would be her evil stepmother, who refuses her luxuries and forces her to cook and clean for the rest of the family.

The second lot of character types Propp argues appears in most stories are the dispatcher and the princess.

The dispatcher is the person who sends the hero on their mission.

They usually appear early on in the plot.

The princess is a little more complicated.

The princess may take two forms. First, the princess may not be a person at all but instead, an object which is deliberately sought by the hero and the villain.

That means you may sometimes hear the character type of the princess referred to as the prize.

The princess may also be a reward for the hero.

Usually, after completing a mission, the hero will gain the princess' affections or hand in marriage.

Remember, Propp studied old Russian folktales, so his theory is more of a stereotypical, traditional view of a princess needing to be saved.

For these two characters, think of Lord Farquaad from "Shrek".

He's a villain but he's also the dispatcher in that he sends Shrek off on his mission to rescue the princess.

Princess Fiona marries Shrek at the end but for most of the story, she's someone who is sought by the hero and the villain.

Then we have the helper and the donor.

The helper is someone who supports the hero in their quest.

A sidekick, so to speak.

If we're to continue with "Shrek" as an example, the character of Donkey would be the helper.

They often appear at critical moments to provide support to the hero.

The donor is someone who prepares the hero or gives them something to aid them on their quest.

Sometimes, the role is combined with the helper, which is why I've placed these two together.

Finally, we have the princess' father and the false hero.

The father is always protective of the princess.

This might mean he holds the princess back from doing what she wants.

Think of Princess Fiona's father in "Shrek", who isn't very happy at her choice of an ogre for a husband.

The princess' father may also combine with the role of the dispatcher and send the hero on his way to save the princess.

Then, we have the false hero, someone who seems heroic but isn't.

The false hero will make the hero's job very difficult indeed.

Many people will mistake the false hero for the real hero.

The false hero may take credit for the hero's actions.

Again, think Shrek and Prince Charming.

He's desperate to win the affections of Princess Fiona and comes across as heroic but isn't.

Let's see how much you've remembered.

I'm now going to read you some statements and I would like you to identify which character type the statement relates to.

Pause the video if you need to, in order to make your choice and press play when you're ready to hear the answers.

Here's your first statement.

This character is the person who sends the hero on their way.

Is this statement talking about the dispatcher, the donor or the false hero? Pause the video here if you need to and make your choice.

Press play when you're ready to hear the answer.

Well done.

This statement is talking about the dispatcher.

This character rewards the hero at the end.

Is this statement talking about the donor, the father or the princess? Pause the video here and make your choice.

Brilliant.

I'm hoping that you picked the father.

It's the father who rewards the hero at the end.

This character gives the hero something to help them on their journey.

Are we talking about the helper, the villain or the donor? Pause the video and make your choice.

Fantastic.

We're talking about the donor.

It's the donor who gives the hero something to help them on their journey.

This character tries to stop the hero from achieving their goal.

Is this statement talking about the helper, the villain or the donor? Pause the video and make your selection.

Brilliant.

It's the villain.

The villain is the character who tries to stop the hero from achieving their goal.

And finally, this character is usually the protagonist.

They have to achieve something in the story.

Are we talking about the hero, the dispatcher or the false hero? Pause the video and make your choice.

Fantastic.

We're talking about the hero.

It's the hero that usually has to achieve something in the story.

Propp identifies eight different types of character but usually, short stories will only have one main character.

That's because they have to remain short and so, the writer doesn't have time to add detail to the supporting characters.

Therefore, we're going to focus on developing one character.

And we're going to do that by creating a biography.

The word "biography" means a detailed description of one's life.

Let's look at the etymology of the word "biography".

This means we're going to look at its origin, meaning where it has come from and how it has developed.

Biography is made up of bio and graphy.

Bio means relating to life.

That's why the study of life and living organisms is called biology.

Graphy roughly means the process of writing or recording.

Put them together and you get the process of writing or recording about life as a rough translation.

If we look at other graphy words, then the same ideas apply.

Photography, for example, roughly translates to writing or recording with light.

Graphy, as we know, means the process of writing or recording.

And photo, roughly translated, means light.

The same applies to geography too.

Geo is a word-forming element meaning Earth.

Put that together with graphy, which means the process of writing and recording, and we get geography, writing or recording of the Earth.

This is why I love the English language.

It's so clever and interesting to hear where the words we use today originate from.

Anyway, let's get back to biography and think about how it is used in a sentence.

When I read the biography of King Henry the 8th, I was really surprised that he beheaded two of his wives.

Here's another sentence.

After completing much reading and research about her life, I decided to begin my biography of Mary Jackson.

Henry the 8th is a famous English king and Mary Jackson is a bit of a hero of mine.

She was a mathematician and was the first black female engineer to work at NASA.

So, using these two sentences and everything we've discussed, can you remember what the word "biography" means? Pause the video here and copy and complete the definition.

When you're ready, press play and I'll go through the answer.

Well done.

The word "biography" means a detailed description of someone's life.

If you got one, two or all three of the missing words, give yourself a tick.

Your next task then is to create a biography for a character you're going to make up.

Let me show you what I mean.

Here, I have some prompt questions to help you think about the characters that are waiting to be found in your imagination.

Use the questions to help you begin to form a character.

The first question reads, "What is their name and how old are they?" The second question reads, "Do they have any family? "If so, what are they like?" The third question reads, "Where do they live?" And the fourth question reads, "Do they have any friends? "If so, who are they? "If not, why not?" Using these questions myself, I've begun to make up the character of Daniel.

Here's what I came up with.

Daniel is 25.

He's moved away from his family, who still live in the UK.

Daniel now lives in the USA and he's moved there to pursue his dream of becoming a musician.

And because he's only recently moved there, he has no friends in the USA.

To help me create my character, I thought about my own personal experiences to make him a little bit more realistic.

For example, whilst I've not lived in America, I've been there multiple times so I know what it's like over there.

I certainly can't play an instrument but I like listening to music.

When you're making up your own character, use your own experiences and what you've heard from people around you to help shape your character.

You may want to ask a parent or carer for ideas if you're stuck.

And if you're really unsure, you can borrow the character of Daniel and add more detail to my notes that you see here.

So, I'm now going to show you a set of questions.

I'm going to bring up four at a time.

Pause the video after each set of questions and begin to craft your character.

You can present this biography how you like, as a mind map or a bullet point list, or you could even sketch an outline of a character and write your notes around the outside.

The choice is up to you but by the end of the task, you should have a small biography for your made-up character.

We'll begin with the same four questions I previously answered as an example.

Question one, what is their name and how old are they? Question two, do they have any family? If so, what are they like? Question three, where do they live? And question four, do they have any friends? If so, who are they? If not, why not? Now, pause the video and begin to answer those questions.

Remember, you can completely make it up but try, if you can, to make your character realistic.

When you're ready, press play for the next set of questions.

Well done.

Here are your next set of questions.

Remember, you can present this work how you like and if you can't think of a character yourself, you can always add to the one I made up at the beginning of this activity.

Let me read the questions to you.

What are their dreams and goals? What do they want from their life? Are they kind? Are they nasty? What has caused them to be this way? What challenges have they faced in their life? Are they the type of person to stick up for themselves? Do they stick up for others? Why? Pause the video here, answer these questions and then press play for the final set of questions.

Excellent.

Here are your final set of biography questions.

Remember, you can present this work how you like and if you can't think of a character, you can always add to the one that I've made up at the very beginning of this activity.

Let me read the questions to you.

Are they loud, quiet, shy? Nervous, excitable, serious? Anything else? What is the most important thing in your character's life? Is it a person? An item? What is the biggest risk the character has taken in their life? Are they the type of person to stick up for themselves? Do they stick up for others? Why? Pause the video here, answer these questions and then press play when you're ready to move on.

Fantastic.

You should now have a range of information about your character.

Let's begin to develop them.

I want you to think about what your character would be thinking, feeling, saying or doing if they were told they had to sing on stage or if they were lost and had no idea where they were.

What would they be thinking, feeling, saying or doing if they saw someone in need of help or someone said something horrible to them? What about if they saw someone asking for money? By putting our characters into these realistic situations, we can begin to give life to them.

Characters must be living and breathing in our head if we're to use them effectively in a short story.

Let's go back to my example.

If Daniel was told he had to sing on stage, he would probably relish the opportunity.

He's a musician and he loves performing.

He would not be nervous and would ensure that everyone had a good time.

If he was lost, he would probably panic.

He does not like situations that push him outside of his comfort zone.

He might ask someone for help but he would be worried about doing so.

Remember, I'm completely making this up in my mind, but these questions have really got me thinking about who my character is and also who I want him to be.

Your characters are your own creation.

They can be whoever or whatever you want them to be.

So, pause the video and complete the activity.

What would your character be thinking, feeling, saying or doing if they were told they had to sing on stage, they were lost and had no idea where they were, they saw someone in need of help, someone said something horrible to them, they saw someone asking for money, they were given a present they didn't like, or they were given three wishes? You do not have to answer all of these questions, although you can if you would like to.

Try and complete at least three.

There are no answers to this activity.

It's completely up to you what your character does or how they think and feel.

If you're stuck, however, you can always take my character and ideas to get you going.

Pause the video here to answer these questions and press play when you're ready.

And you can present this activity however you like.

To finish then, we're going to describe our character in a situation.

I'm going to pretend my character is in a sinking ship and I'm going to describe what he does, using the character biography I created to help me.

Listen carefully to my example, as you're going to be doing the same in just a moment.

I'm going to write my description in third person.

As the water seeped into his cabin, Daniel began to gather his belongings.

He picked up his guitar and headed for the door before turning back.

It would break his heart but he would have to leave his beloved instrument.

The case was too bulky to move in a hurry.

It would have to stay.

Quickly removing the photo of his family from inside it, Daniel briefly looked at his parents smiling at him from the picture.

They were back home in England.

He hoped he would see them again as he waded through the icy water.

Consider the points I've highlighted here.

They are the only bits of information I've used from my character biography and that's okay.

Some pieces of information about my character will never, ever be used.

They're for me to know about as the writer and no one else.

However, I've added just enough information in this description so that my character becomes realistic.

We learn about him through what I'm describing.

Now, it's your turn.

I would like you to pretend your character is in a sinking ship, is excited for their birthday, is waiting in a queue or having an argument with someone.

You may even want to pretend your character is running away from a dog or worrying about an important interview.

Using your character biography, write a small paragraph detailing what they would do if they were in one of these situations.

Write in third person.

If you're stuck, look at my example to help you.

If you really don't know how to start, look back at my example of a character in a sinking ship.

You can use my example to get you going and change the highlighted parts to suit your own character.

If you'd like to, you can complete more than one paragraph, picking two or three different scenarios to write about.

In fact, I would encourage it.

You may be surprised at how your character reacts when placed in new situations.

Pause the video here to write your paragraphs and then press play when you've finished.

That brings us to the end of today's lesson.

Well done on how hard you have worked.

We began the lesson with a review of Freytag's pyramid and looked at how narratives are structured.

Next, we looked at Vladimir Propps' eight character types, before creating our own characters and writing small biographies for them.

We finished by developing our characters, placing them in certain situations to see how they'd react.

Now, I'd like you to do two things.

Firstly, don't forget to complete the exit quiz when you click off the video.

Secondly, if you can, ask your parent or carer to take a picture of your work to send to your teacher, so they can see all of the fantastic things you've achieved today.

You might also want to ask your parents to share your work with Oak National on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, so I can see everything you've done today too.

I'm particularly looking forward to seeing some of the characters you've created today.

Well done for all of your efforts this lesson.

Take care and I look forward to seeing you next time.