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Character and setting
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Characters and settings are the heart of a story. Writers build them from small details, and each detail is chosen to make you think or feel something.
How writers create characters
Actions: what they do.
Speech: what they say and how they say it.
Appearance: how they look, dress and move.
Thoughts and feelings: what goes on inside their head.
Other characters: how people react to them.
Speech: what they say and how they say it.
Appearance: how they look, dress and move.
Thoughts and feelings: what goes on inside their head.
Other characters: how people react to them.
How writers create settings
Writers use the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.
A setting can create a mood (an atmosphere), such as cheerful, tense or lonely.
When the weather or setting matches a character's feelings, it is called pathetic fallacy.
A setting can create a mood (an atmosphere), such as cheerful, tense or lonely.
When the weather or setting matches a character's feelings, it is called pathetic fallacy.
Zooming in
In the market extract, the writer moves from a busy, noisy crowd to 'an old woman' who sits 'perfectly still, selling nothing at all'. The contrast makes her stand out and makes the reader curious about her.
Which senses does the writer use in the first four sentences of the market extract?
- Sight: lamps, yellow light, wet cobbles.
- Smell: roasting chestnuts and frying onions.
- Sound: traders bellowed, a dog barked, a radio crackled.
Answer: Sight, smell and sound, which together make the market feel busy and real.
Characters are built from actions, speech, appearance, thoughts and reactions. Settings use the senses to create a mood. Look for details and ask: what does this make me think or feel?
The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.
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