首页
登录
职称英语
Creative Writing[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img] [br] What as
Creative Writing[img]2014m9s/ct_etoefm_etoeflistz_0298_20149[/img] [br] What as
游客
2024-01-03
38
管理
问题
Creative Writing
[br] What aspect of creative writing does the professor mainly discuss?
Creative Writing
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in a creative writing class.
Professor
All right everybody. The topic for today is, well... we’re gonna take a look at how to start creating the characters for the stories you’re writing. One way of doing that is to come up with what’s called a character sketch. I don’t mean a sketch like a drawing. I guess that’s obvious. It’s, um ... It’s... a sketch is a way of getting started on defining your characters’ personalities.
To begin, how do we create fictional characters? We don’t just pull them from thin air, do we? I mean, we don’t create them out of nothing. We base them—consciously or unconsciously—we base them on real people. Or, we, um ... blend several people’s traits ... their attributes ... into one character.
But when people think fiction, they may assume the characters come from the author’s imagination. But the writer’s imagination is influenced by ... by real people. Could be anyone, so pay attention to the people you meet... someone in class, at the gym, that guy who’s always sitting in the corner at the coffeehouse .. . uh, your cousin who’s always getting into dangerous situations. We’re pulling from reality ... gathering bits and pieces of real people. You use these people ... and the bits of behavior or characteristics as a starting point as you begin to sketch out your characters.
Here’s what you should think about doing first. When you begin to formulate a story, make a list of interesting people you know or have observed. Consider why they’re unique ... or annoying. Then make notes about their unusual or dominant attributes. As you create fictional characters, you’ll almost always combine characteristics from several different people on your list to form the identity and personality of just one character.
Keeping this kind of character sketch can help you solidify your character’s personality ... so that it remains consistent throughout your story. You need to define your characters ... know their personalities so that you can have them acting in ways that’re predictable ... consistent with their personalities. Get to know them like a friend. You know your friends well enough to know how they’ll act in certain situations, right?
Say you have three friends, their car runs out of gas on the highway. John gets upset, Mary remains calm, Teresa takes charge of handling the situation. And, let’s say ... both John and Mary defer to her leadership. They call you to explain what happened. And when John tells you he got mad, you’re not surprised because he always gets frustrated when things go wrong. Then he tells you how Teresa took charge, calmed him down, assigned tasks for each person, and got them on their way. Again you’re not surprised. It’s exactly what you’d expect. Well, you need to know your characters like you know your friends ... if you know a lot about a person’s character, it’s easy to predict how they’ll behave. So if your characters’ personalities are well defined, it’ll be easy for you as the writer to portray them realistically . . . believably in any given situation.
While writing character sketches, do think about details. Ask yourself questions, even if you don’t use the details in your story ... uh, what does each character like to eat, what setting does each prefer. . . the mountains? The city? What about educational background? Their reactions to success ... or defeat? Write it all down.
But here I need to warn you about a possible pitfall. Don’t make your character into a stereotype. Remember, the reader needs to know how your character is different from other people who might fall in the same category. Maybe your character loves the mountains and has lived in a remote area for years. To make sure he’s not a stereotype, ask yourself how he sees life differently from other people who live in that kind of setting. Be careful not to make him into the cliche of the rugged mountain dweller.
OK. Now I’ll throw out a little terminology . . . it’s easy stuff. Major characters are sometimes called round characters. Minor characters are sometimes called ... well, just the opposite. Flat. A round character is fully developed. A flat character isn’t— character development is fairly limited. The flat character tends to serve mainly as a, um, a motivating factor. For instance, you introduce a flat character who has experienced some sort of defeat.. . and then your round . . . your main character, who loves success and loves to show off, comes and boasts about succeeding . .. and jokes about the flat character’s defeat in front of others . . . humiliates the other guy. The flat character is introduced solely for the purpose of allowing the round character to show off.
选项
A、How to keep a reader’s interest
B、How to create believable characters
C、Key differences between major and minor characters
D、Techniques for developing short-story plots
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3330297.html
相关试题推荐
[img]2012q2/ct_etoefm_etoefspeaka_0760_20124[/img]Inthissectionofthete
Thissectionmeasuresyourabilitytousewritingtocommunicateinanacade
[img]2012q2/ct_etoefm_etoefspeakc_0447_20124[/img][originaltext]The"greenh
[img]2012q2/ct_etoefm_etoefspeakc_0358_20124[/img]Themaintopicofthepassage
[img]2012q2/ct_etoefm_etoefspeakc_0357_20124[/img][originaltext]Theinterre
[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoefspeakc_2098_20121[/img]Therearetwohotissuesinme
"ATouristAttraction"[img]2012q1/ct_etoefm_etoefspeaka_1508_20121[/img]
[img]2014m3s/ct_etoefm_etoefwritea_0449_20138[/img]Whatoursocietysuffers
[img]2014m3s/ct_etoefm_etoefspeakc_0087_20138[/img][originaltext]Onestudentte
[img]2014m3s/ct_etoefm_etoefspeakb_0356_20138[/img][originaltext]Theprofessor
随机试题
Youwantedtohaveyourcomputerfixedbythecomputershopyouboughtitfr
Thegovernmentisnolongerpossibleto_______allinformationandstifleevery
特种设备生产、经营、使用单位或者检验、检测机构拒不接受负责特种设备安全监督管理的
对()类个人贷款账户,缩短借款期限后新的借款期限达到新的利率期限档次时,从缩短
学科中心论的出发点和中心是学科本身,主张学校课程论应以各科知识的分类为基础,以学
我国基金信息披露的规范性文件中,基金信息披露编报规则不包括()。A.交易的业务
下列叙述错误的是A.生物药剂学研究的是剂型因素,生物因素与药效之间的关系B.药物
历史学家的工作对象是史料,这些史料主要是各种文献、遗存,它们可以归为广义上的文本
()是政府预算区别于其他财政范畴的一个重要特征。A.法律性 B.集
简单系统等值电路如题图所示,若变压器空载,输电线路串联支路末端功率及串联支路功率
最新回复
(
0
)