Creativity Enhancement
How To Write A Good Story And Exciting Characters!
By Michelle Rossi
May 1, 2008

BRAINSTORM AND VISUALIZE IDEAS: Write down as many ideas that come to mind. You may decide to use them all or just a few. The more ideas you have the better. Start by thinking about your own special talents, interests, and experiences also think about other people and their special qualities. Think about certain movies, cartoons, or situations that have sparked your imagination. Visualize your ideas and utilize your five senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting.


DEVELOP CHARACTERS: Think about the characters that you are going to be writing about. Who is the main character or characters? What are their names? How do they dress? What is their favorite food? Give them a personality. Make your characters interesting so people will be drawn to them. Characters make the story.

OUTLINE YOUR STORY: Always remember a good story has a beginning, middle and an end. Characters will interact and evolve throughout the story. The characters normally have conflicts or an obstacle that needs to be resolved. Here are some examples:

A. Introduce characters in your story by giving them a name, a physical appearance, and personality.

B. Create a conflict or obstacle that the main characters need to resolve.

C. The story needs a climax. This is a point of realization that the main characters come to. They will come in contact with the conflict or the obstacle.

D. The story needs to be resolved. How do the characters end up? What happens? Yes, it’s happily ever after!



When writing a story you need to have characters, a plot, and a setting. It is important to fill in the details about each of your story elements. Who are your characters? What is the plot? Where is the setting? Let’s start with the development of a character:

How many characters are there in your story?

Who is the main character?

Fill out the worksheet below for each character. Get to know your characters and have fun developing them.


GETTING TO KNOW YOUR CHARACTER IS AN IMPORTANT TASK!




Main Characters name:



Characters physical appearance:


Age:

Eye color:

Hair color:

Hair texture:

Nationality:

Skin color:

Body type:

Health:


Characters weaknesses:



Characters strengths:



Characters general mood:


Characters personality:


Education level:



What does the character enjoy doing most?



Special talents:



Skills:



Sports:



Characters family life

Mother:

Father:

Siblings:

Other close relatives:


Friends:


Closet friend:


Does the character have children?


Optimist:


Pessimist:


Mannerisms:


Accomplishments:



Motivations:



Character flaws:



What are the characters goals?



How does the character react to problems?



How does the character react to good news?



Have fun developing your characters and remember to get to know them. Write with feeling and your story will come alive.