Personal commitment in writing

Hello everyone, time flies and we are almost done with this Exploring Children’s Literature in English subject. For my (last) post, I have decided to write about the process of creation of a story, more specifically, of the characters appearing in the story.

I have written since I can remember. Sometimes I just let my imagination take me wherever it wanted to go, and wrote until my eyelids dropped. Other times, I had to push myself in order to get something readable that met the established criteria for a given task. But every time, I did my best to make it work.

A few weeks ago, our teacher asked us to create a Fairy Tale Character. Yes! I thought. That was possibly the best chore I had this semester. She provided us with a template (included below) that we had to use to make this character as real as possible. We were required to create the psychological aspects of the characters, more than the usual physical descriptions. And depending on how comfortable students felt about dealing with feelings, some of us were thrilled to bits, while others thought OMG! How are we going to do this?

character_template0001

And here is the point. Creating a character requires, and deserves, a level of commitment that transforms the task into something serious. You need to be able to put yourself on your character’s shoes, and the last item of the template (Your personal connection with the character), allowed me to think that it could have a further use, such as including our characters in a story. In the end, if you have created them, who could understand them better than yourself?

But that wasn’t the case. This week, the teacher told us that we would be required to write, in groups of four or five people, the plot of a story, using characters created by others. It made everything much more difficult and challenging. What if the creators of Alexiah, Mr. Fitman, Guffita or Wickedmore (the characters my group had to include in our story) don’t like what we have done with them? That was my biggest fear when we started working on the project.

Now the project is almost done, and we have to present it to the rest of the class. I wonder what would be left of the character I create. I know how she thinks, I know what she wants. Will she behave the way I expect? I will have the chance to check it next Tuesday. I can’t wait.

2 thoughts on “Personal commitment in writing

  1. Hi Loli! Again, I have found your post very interesting and I have chosen it to comment on because you mentioned something about the creators of your Fairy Tale Characters… And I am the creator of Alexiah! :)
    I also agree with you in some issues. The creation of a character requires a high level of commitment. It is essential to put yourself on your character’s shoes because, in this way, it is easier to find the possible plot or even the connections and relationships in your imaginary story. Thus, you could give life to the concrete character you want to create.
    Like you, when Raquel gave us this opportunity I felt very enthusiastic… Almost like a real fairy tale writer! I am convinced that this is a great activity to be carried out with children. Therefore, if they feel that they are the protagonists of a story, they will be more motivated to write, so they will take this task seriously.
    When I was a child I used to imagine my own fantasy characters and I put them into a story. I loved playing with characters and including them in some series scripts. Due to this reason, I strongly feel that pupils would enjoy this type of activities. When you are the creator of something, you get more involved on it.
    Regarding your biggest fear about the plot of your fairy tale, I must tell you that I loved the way you used my character (Alexiah) for creating the story. In fact, I am really delighted with the final result and also grateful because you chose it as the main character! Thank you very much! :)
    Have a nice week!
    Xx

    • Hi Eva,

      Thanks for commenting! I am glad you are happy with ‘our Alexiah’. It was very important for my group to respect the characters as much as possible, because you, our classmates, had created them nice and strong.

      Maybe you could include her in a story, so we can see her development. It would be fantastic to read it, I am sure you are a great writer.

      Have a nice week you too,
      Loli

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