Character Exercise 2 - Who's There?

Description is an essential tool used to create character, writing that uses imagery and figurative language to show, not simply tell. Description is an element of character development. Description is imagery that brings your characters to life. Characters are measured by…

• what they see
• what they hear
• what they smell
• what they touch
• what they taste

Description uses dialogue and action.

• characters speak
• characters move around in a setting
• characters touch thing
• characters own things
• characters wear things
• characters make choices

Compare the following examples:

Tell-me writing = The elderly gentleman whom I saw enter the store looked rather seedy.

Show-me writing = At first, I only heard the uneven brush of his moccasin against the rough cement. Brought to awareness by a whiff of sour laundry, I glanced up from the daily receipts. It was Herman. He looked exactly as he had for the last fourteen years. His grease-smeared glasses sat askew, the left lens cracked and the crevice caulked with filth. The right bow was fixed in place by yellow-stained cellophane tape. Dark tufts of greyish hair grew from his nostrils.

1. How old would say Herman is?
2. Is he married? Why or why not?
3. Why use “cracked,” “creviced.” And “caulked”?
4. Can you see how he’s dressed? Describe Herman’s clothing.
5. What senses are used in this description?

Readers need to know certain basic facts about your characters. They should have some idea of their appearance and approximately how old they are. A writer can, of course, use direct characterization and simply tell the reader outright about a character, but it’s more interesting and dramatic to suggest things about a character. This can be done with description.

Using the same kind of “show me” technique as above, write a character sketch of at least 250 words for three of the following characters:

• A lonely man/woman at a singles dance
• A street child
• A basketball player
• A clerk at an X-rated movie theater
• A circus performer
• A farmer’s wife
• A radio personality
• A college professor
• A house painter
• An executive
• A professional dancer
• A middle school boy or girl