Music is our Inspiration!

In this exercise we will use music as inspiration. Music is a very powerful and exciting way to explore your character’s personality. Now, music can mean many things – electric guitars and classical strings. But it can also mean the sort of sounds you might hear every day like the rustle of trees or the tapping of a tea spoon. You might like to try listening to different pieces of music to spark ideas.

Task

Imagine your character is a piece of music. What is this piece of music like?

What is the rhythm of your character? The rhythm is the repetition of sound. What sounds do you hear again and again?

• What is the pace of your character? The pace is the speed – fast or slow?
• What is the mood of your character? The mood is like the atmosphere, what feeling does you character create?
• What is the melody of your character? The melody is the tune.

Here are some of my ideas...

My owl bobs over clouds bright as bubbles bop in lemonade. Her rhythm is playful like piano ripples. My owl soars through the trees light as lavender, sways on the breeze of a lazy hazy summer’s morning. Her pace is slow like smooth jazz. My owl is bold and boisterous as the golden bask of sunlight. Her mood is jolly like a jumping jig. My owl’s wings are gentle as harp strings. Her melody is a sunny tune sweet as syrup flows from a spoon.

Recommend for ages 6-7

Now you have explored you character’s personality you can move to the end of this chapter to find out the next letter of the dogs name.

Recommend for ages 8-9

If you would like to take your writing a step further, here is another exercise.

Explore how you character’s personality can change. For this exercise you might like to change your character’s surroundings. You could play with the difference between day and night.

When your character’s rhythm changes what happens to the pace? When your character’s mood changes what happens to the melody?

Here are some of my ideas...

Hunting at night my owl shoots across the stars swift as an arrow. Her rhythm rumbles like the roll of drums. Speedily she sweeps the silvery moonlit sky. Her pace is nimble like a penny whistle. My owl hops on the howling wind determined. Her mood is triumphant like the toot of trumpets. My owl swirls majestic across the midnight clouds. Her melody is like the smokey beats of a Sunday Blues band.

Congratulations on completing this chapter. You have been rewarded the second letter of the dog’s name – the letter A.