How to Bring Characters and Settings to Life
The Art of Narrative Writing for GCSE English
Nov 6, 2009
Aspiring writers at GCSE level have to engage and entertain readers through the creation of interesting charcaters and well drawn settings. A number of key techniques will help all aspiring writers to achieve the very highest examination grades.
How To Develop Convincing Characters
Characters in any story are very important. Convincing characters capture the imagination of the reader and provoke an emotional response. It is important that the examiner believes in a character and identifies or empathises with them. It is necessary to provide a physical description of a character to allow the reader to visualise how they look. Similes and metaphors will help to add spice to characters. However, in attempting to add depth to character portraits do not neglect interesting adjectives. Expressive adjectives allow a writer to develop character traits while flaunting our astute lexical choices.
At its most simple, character description describes a person’s physical features or mood. Used cleverly, careful use of detail can bring a character to life, adding colour and depth to your writing. Jane’s eyes sparkled mischievously. Her deep blue irises flashed like a shimmering mountain lake is far more effective than simply stating Jane’s eyes were deep blue Do not be afraid to describe what a character is doing in detail. Clever use of descriptive adjectives or adverbs will further improve your grade. For example: The man lurched drunkenly into the alleyway, staggering like a newborn foal as he struggled to control his twitching legs.
The internal monologue is a technique used by good writers to allow the reader an insight into a character’s feelings. Used properly the internal monologue allows the reader to “read the mind” of a character, providing a window on the deepest thoughts, feelings and insecurities. Tell the reader how a character feels and why they feel the way they do. Use the senses to allow readers to feel what they character feels. Do not focus exclusively on what the characters see, take time to elaborate on what they hear, smell and feel. The examiner wants to get a sense of the character as a real person. Imagine that you had to analyse your own story in an essay; have you provided enough real depth to allow a reader to provide a commentary on the invented figure?
A subtle technique employed by professional writers is the authorial interjection. Simply stated this is when a writer actively tells his readers something deeply meaningful about a character. William Golding in Lord of the Flies [Penguin, 1959] uses this trick to good effect in describing Ralph in chapter one, stating, “There was a mildness about Ralph’s eyes and mouth that proclaimed no devil.” Here the author is shaping our response to the character, telling us Ralph is a mild and decent boy.
How to Create Convincing Settings
Great writers draw their readers into the narrative by creating believable and realistic settings. The key factor to bear in mind here is to paint a vivid picture in the reader’s imagination. Too much description and you swamp the reader, too little and the audience is left struggling to picture the world you are attempting to invoke. Your use of descriptive setting will set the tone, mood and atmosphere of your piece, so choose your words with diligence and care.
Figurative language helps to imprint a setting in the reader’s mind. Personification can bring the weather to life for example. The wind howled like a malevolent demon creates a far more vivid scene than simply stating it was a windy night. Metaphors and similes create atmosphere, adding vibrancy and colour, which again helps to immerse the reader in your invented world. Descriptive use of setting will add marks to any narrative essay. Instead of describing the tall castle tower, take a leaf out of Meryvn Peake’s book [Titus Groan, Methuen Publishing, 1953] and try something like, “The Tower of Flints arose like a mutilated finger from among the fists of knuckled masonry, pointing blasphemously at heaven.” Writing as evocative as this creates atmosphere, adroitly comparing your object to another, thus widening the reader’s appreciation. Finally descriptive flourishes such as this allow the best students to demonstrate their flair and expressive vocabularies.
Imagine that your perspective is that of an ever-moving camera that can go anywhere and describe anything. This cinematic technique will allow you to fully set the scene in a way that will achieve the highest grades. A good description might start out describing the environment around a key character before moving ever closer to flesh out the immediate area. For example: The mountain loomed menacingly over the school building, casting everything in its shadow. The rain lashed down driving the small children, who scurried like ants, into the safety of nearby classrooms. High atop the school, sitting alone in a darkened changing room Mark waited nervously.
Think Like an Artist
The successful writer needs to think like an artist, painting pictures and evoking images in the reader’s imagination. Detailed characterisation and effective creation of setting will allow your story to leap from the page. In search of the very highest grades a few more advanced techniques will set the seal on your narrative writing.
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