The Fictional Narrative: Character Development

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• What words did you use to describe the way Snow White looks?

• Did you say that she is pretty?

Maybe you gave details about the colors of her dress. Take a minute or two to think about words you can use to describe the way Snow White looks.

Now, watch this short clip from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and think about what it would be like to spend a day with Snow White.

With a Smile and a Song - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:

• What words would you use to describe Snow White's personality?
• Is she kind? Sweet? Friendly?

Welcome to the second lesson in our The Fictional Narrative series. You will need to refer back to the information you learned in the previous Related Lesson, found in the right-hand sidebar, so please go back if you have not yet completed, or want to review, that lesson.

Character Traits and Personality

One of the most important things to keep in mind when writing a story is details. This is especially important when you are writing a first-person narrative. You want to collect all your best describing words so your reader can feel like they know the fictional (make-believe) character telling the story.

When you describe your character, remember that your character is a noun. So, you need to use those special words that make nouns more exciting.

• What are they called?

That's right; adjectives. Adjectives are words that describe nouns, like beautiful girl or tall boy.

When you described Snow White's picture, you might have used words like beautiful or black hair. When you described her personality, you used special adjectives. Notice that most of the Dwarf's names are actually adjectives that describe them.

Remember, adjectives are words that we use to describe people, places, things, and ideas. They tell us what things look, sound, smell, taste, and feel like.

• Can you spot the two adjectives in this sentence?

My beautiful mother made delicious cookies for dessert.

That's right. Beautiful describes mother, and delicious describes cookies.

Adjectives also tell us how many nouns, and what color, shape, or size those nouns may be. They can also describe the way a person behaves or acts, like grumpy, sleepy, or happy!

• Can you think of some words to describe these cookies?
• How do they look?
• How do you think they smell?
• How may cookies can you count?
• What color are the chocolate chips?

All the words you used to answer these questions are adjectives!

When you describe what your dwarf is doing or how he does something, you need to use the special words that describe action words or verbs.

• What do we call words that make verbs more interesting or intense?

• Did you excitedly say, "Adverbs"?

That's right, adverbs help describe verbs and tell how your character does the things he or she does. For example: Sneezy sneezes wildly. Most adverbs end in -ly, so they are pretty easy to spot.

Think about the video clip of Snow White again.

• What was she doing?

One of the things she was doing was singing. Now, describe the way she was singing. We could say she was singing softly, or beautifully, or even happily.

Take another quick moment to review adverbs. Adverbs are words that describe verbs (as well as adjectives and other adverbs, too) and tell how, how often, when, and where.

You can usually tell if a word is an adverb if you can meaningfully plug it into this sentence below (In some cases, you may need to put the adverb before the verb, or tell before or after what.):

I walked / walk ___________________________.

Try a few of these words:

When you are sure you understand what adjectives and adverbs are, it's time for you to move on to the Got It? section to bring your dwarf to a whole new level!