Task 1: 

Beginning writers are often told to write from their own experience, to "write what you know." But an essential element of writing is the understanding of what makes other people "tick," what motivates the actions of our characters. It is essential that we get outside of our selfhood, our pasts, and let loose our imagination. 

This exercise asks that you make a leap into someone else's psyche and write from their point of view. Though our temptation as writers is often to write in an effort to explain ourselves, our past, our view of the world, one of the greatest rewards of reading fiction is understanding the whole cast of characters and what motivates their reactions to the world they live in. Since human nature is somewhat mysterious, the following "exchange" of yourself with someone else helps to penetrate that mystery a bit. 

Exercise: 

Spend a few moments thinking about a conflict that you have had with someone, whether a bus driver, a store clerk, or someone closer, a parent, a significant other, a classmate from childhood. Write about what happened and why, how you felt, how the other person looked, what you remember about the place this occurred. What would you tell this peerson now so that he or she might understand you better? 

Once you have completed this, turn those sheets of paper over, or otherwise put them away. Turn to a fresh page. Close your eyes and now spend some time imagining that you are the person with whom you had the conflict. If you know the name of the person, write "My name is ______ and this is what happened." Then proceed to write from this person's point of view. What are you wearing? What do you see in the face of the other pesron (your real self)? How do you feel, in the "skin" of this person? Angry, hurt, happy? Why? What happened to you on that day or night? How would you describe the scene? WHat do you see, smell, or feel? What would you remember about what occurred and why? How were you changed by this conflict? Imagine your background, your history, what may have happened to you that day, good or bad, that only you know about? And what would you - as this other person- have to tell your real self about your role in the conflict? 

The object of this exercise is to get outside or ourselves and empathize with someone whose point of view was or is greatly different from our own. This way, we can see ourselves as yet another character acting in the world, and get more in touch with the person that we are. It also helps us to see the many dimensions of a conflict and the complicated ways we react to one another. 

Everyone is a character with motivations both good and bad- including us. 

"Empathy and the Creation of Character" - Kay Sloan, Write Now p. 89-91

Task #2

Task 2: 

To begin, go through your house and find an object that interests you. It might be offbeat, like a souvenir from a Florida alligator for, or it might be ordinary, like a wooden mixing spoon. Then sit down with the object in front of you and have your character explain in her own words why she stole it. 

"Why I Stole It" is a versatile exercise. You can use it to better understand a character you are already dealing with or you can use it to create a new character- for example, the lovesick baker who stole the mixing spoon. And after you have written about the baker's reason for stealing the spoon, you can go on to explore all the other things that follow from it: whom she stole it from; how she stole it; what happened after she stole it; whom she is now confessing to; and why she is confessing. 

When you have completed the task, add it to your Writer's Portfolio. 

Task 3: 

Find a resource for building and developing character. This can be a section of one of the writing resources in the classroom, something from the video resource library, or something that you find on your own. In some way document your resource within your Writer's Portfolio.