In the Fictionary Story Elements, you can use these Elements of a Story to check how a character is shown in the draft. Now we know what characters are and how to characterise them, let’s get on to check how well these are shown in a draft.Īnd using Elements of a Story you can check the Characterisation Where are they in the pecking order of the group? No person is an island, interactions are big for characterisation. How a character interacts with other characters shows a lot.The past that happened before the story began. This world view will be a cumulation of their upbringing. How a character sees the world will dictate how they think and feel about issues.Perhaps a character who has a PHD is more comfortable around certain academic words than someone who entered the world of work at 16. How a character speaks is also a way to make the character believable.Are they dressed in certain clothes, are they well kept, or do they need to brush their hair? First impressions matter to the reader. How they present themselves to the world is another way.And this needs to be consistent with where that character is in the story. How a character acts makes them real to the reader.When an editor looks at the characters in a story, they look to see how “shown” a character is.ĥ ways of characterising a character in a story Major characters need more nuanced characterisations than minor characters. ![]() Minor characters stay the same at the end of the story.Major characters change by the end of the story.There are two types of characters in a story: major characters and minor characters. We can even call these story elements: character elements of a story.īefore we look at the character elements of a story, we will look at the two types of fictional characters and how to characterise them. Story elements are fundamental building blocks of a story. Great story elements build great scenes, and great scenes build a great story.Īs Kristina Stanley says in this fantabulous blog here: an element of a story is the mandatory part of a story. And those deep structural edits will inform your revisions. We’ll use some of the Fictionary Elements of a Story in ways that will really show you some deep structure. Finally, we’ll show you how to check if all the characters ring true. Then we’ll look at how to characterise them. Yes, use Fictionary’s Elements of a Story!įirst, we will look at what Elements of a Story are, then we will look at the type of characters in your book. The great news is there are 5 principal ways of showing a character to the reader.ĭid the draft say that a character is a strong worker? Or did it show the character striding into a meeting room at 5 minutes to the hour, dressed in freshly ironed clothes, answering the phone? Then apologising for their manners, and putting their phone down, whilst greeting their colleagues? Is there a way to check these 5 ways of showing for each character in a manuscript? Showing when characterisingĬharacterisation is the editing way of saying: how well did the draft show the reader the character? And you show characters to the reader through the way you characterise them. Least of all readers, they like to be shown, so they can make their own deductions. And how you have shown them in your work. ![]() ![]() And the great news is this blog will show you how to use some of the Fictionary Elements of a Story to check your characters. This showing is called characterisation, and when done well, the characters jump off the page. When a character is being edited-any character from your book-you need to see if you have shown that character to the reader, not told the reader about the character. Use these 5 Elements of a Story when editing characters Editing Characters
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