Writing to Explain, Describe
and Inform
Lesson 2
7th January 2008
LESSON OBJECTIVE
• To understand how to create a character.
•To use similes and metaphors to enhance their
descriptive writing.
Success Criteria:
•You MUST recognise the rules for creating a character.
•You SHOULD create a piece of descriptive writing
using an image.
•You COULD evaluate how well you have done using the
assessment criteria.
Creating A Character
What is a What is a
METAPHOR ? SIMILE ?
The night is a dark The night is like a dark
blanket covering the blanket covering the sky
buildings
Create a metaphor and a simile for…
1. Extreme heat
2. Extreme cold
3. Extreme loneliness
Similes, Metaphors and Adjectives
Bandana stretched
as tight as a drum.
His nose is a ski
slope.
?
?
?
Use adjectives,
metaphors
? and similes
This man was slim and wiry and he played football. On the
football field he wore white running shorts and white gym
shoes and short white socks. His legs were as hard and as
thin as ram’s legs and the skin around his calves was almost
exactly the colour of mutton fat.
The hair on his head was not ginger. It was a brilliant
dark vermilion, like a ripe orange, and it was plastered back
with immense quantities of brilliantine in the same fashion
as the Headmaster’s. The parting in his hair was a white
line straight down the middle of the scalp so straight it
could only have been made with a ruler. On either side of
the parting you could see the comb tracks running back
through the greasy orange hair like tram lines.
Captain Hardcastle was never still. His orange head
twitched and jerked perpetually from side to side in the
most alarming fashion, and each twitch was accompanied by
a little grunt that came out of the nostrils.
Annotate the text you have been given – how has this character been
created?
Creating a Character
1. Face – eyes, nose, mouth, hair, skin . . .
2. Body – size, shape, clothing, movement,
(shuffled, staggered ) . . .
3. Personality – likes, dislikes, qualities (e.g. kind,
thoughtful), friends, job . . .
4. Tone of voice – volume, laughter, accent . . .
Think of a
favourite character from
TV or film, how does this
relate to them?
How does this
woman feel?
Why does she
feel this way?
Where has she
come from?
Give this lady a character
• Think about these questions:
– 1. Who is this lady?
– 2. Where does she live?
» In the countryside, in the city? Where?
– 3. What kind of house does she live in?
» Is it big, small, old, modern, warm, comfortable, cold?
– 4. How old is she?
» Is she fairly young, old, very old?
– 5. Has she got any family?
» Does she have a husband? Any children? Any grandchildren?
Does anyone live with her?
– 6. Has she got any pets?
– 7. What does she do all day?
» Does she have a job, have any hobbies?
– 8. What is she thinking about?
» Is she happy, sad? Why?
Look at the picture
of an old woman you
have been given and
the answers to the
questions that you
gave yesterday.
Lets share some of
your descriptions
with the class....
• Please see ‘Stone Cold’ lesson 1, and
continue....
