The Countdown Continues…

Number of days left until the first faculty post for #KidlitSummerSchool!

Hooray!

We hope you’re ready to get into character! (Double entendre alert.) We know we are!

We did think, however, that before tomorrow’s post (and all the others that will follow) it would be a good idea to take a moment and think about what character truly is. If you look up the word character, here’s how some dictionaries define it:

1. the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual.

   • the distinctive nature of something.
   • the quality of being individual, typically in an interesting or unusual way.
   • strength and originality in a person’s nature.
   • a person’s good reputation.
2. a person in a novel, play, or movie.

   • a part played by an actor.
   • a person seen in terms of a particular aspect of character.
   • informal: an interesting or amusing individual.

As we go through Summer School, learning about creating characters and adding depth to characters and so much more, we’d like you to keep these bullet points in mind. Create individuals that are distinct, interesting, and unusual. Think about your character’s reputation and his strengths. Make him amusing with a lot of originality, so that he is the best candidate to play the part you’ve created for him in your manuscript.

Meet Our Characters

If you guys have looked around this site, you’ve probably already read our bios on the Faculty page. Instead of repeating ourselves, we thought we’d kick off the week with a note about some favorite characters from our own books.

For Kami, that character is Priyanka Gupta, from The Boy Problem (Notes and Predictions of Tabitha Reddy)

Scholastic 2014

Kami: Pri is not the main character in this book. I created her because my main character, Tabbi, needed a new friend with a lot of personality to make The Boy Problem significantly different from my first book, The Boy Project. So Pri has some distinctive character traits. She loves cupcakes. She loves t-shirts with cupcake slogans. (I got the idea for these traits from my cupcake-loving middle schooler.) She is super-enthusiastic, which makes her at times both annoying and endearing. She is also a little clumsy, a hard worker, and loyal. (Every middle schooler needs some loyal friends.) All of her character traits were important to the story. My favorite thing about Pri though, is by the end of The Boy Project, I really liked her, and knew she’d be a fantastic friend for Tabbi.

Disney-Hyperion 2014

For Sudipta, that character is Moose, from Duck, Duck, Moose!

Sudipta: Moose is one of those folks who means well, but can’t help but create chaos in the form of something I call Moose Moments. What is a Moose Moment? It’s basically a moment of disaster. like dropping your ice cream cone on the sofa, or knocking over the milk jug, or not noticing that you’d stepping in blue paint until after you’ve tracked blue footprints all over the house. What I love about my character Moose is that he is so real (or, at least as real as a talking Moose who lives in a house with two ducks can be!). We’ve all witnessed his type of Moose Moments. We’ve also all experienced his type of Moose Moments — probably many more than one. To me, Moose is a universally understandable character, someone I feel every reader can connect with. That’s what I love most about him.

And Now, Last Words (before tomorrow!)…

The authors on our fabulous faculty have prepared all kinds of great posts on a wide variety of topics like How to Enrich Your Main Character with Magic or Talents,  and Crafting a Unique Voice, also Yadda, yadda, yadda…Funny Characters, and Taking Your Character Interview to the Next Level. Every contributing author will offer a different perspective on how to accomplish excellent characterization. Sometimes the posts might even contain conflicting advice! Don’t worry! You should take from each post the parts that will help you on your writing journey. No two people approach the writing process in the same way!  So sharpen those pencils and get ready for tomorrow’s post from National Book Award winner, Kathryn Erskine.