Chapter Six – A creative writing exercise to bring characters to life.

Now that you played with the structure and setting for your story it’s time to think about character description. How do we create intriguing and interesting characters that spring off the page? To practise let’s create a character for an animal.

Choose an animal, any animal you like. Look at these animal images if this helps – there’s a fox, a rabbit, a cat, a horse, an owl. Choose your favourite animal.

I’m going to choose a fox.

What is your animal like? Write down your ideas. You might like to use the five senses as inspiration.

What does your animal

• Look like?
• Sound like?
• Feel like?
• Smell like?
• Taste like? For this sense - think about the taste your animal leaves in the air.

Here are some o my ideas - The fox has a coat red as summer apples, her tail swishes from side to side and looks like the shimmer of crimson berries fallen to earth. Her eyes are narrow and alert with a twinkle of mischief. Her nose is keen and sharp. There is an eerie mystery to the silent way the fox moves. It feels unpredictable to be around her. Her fur is smooth as crystal water and soft as winters’ snow. The fox is vivacious and bright, she leaves a taste of excitement in the air.

As you continue to write consider how you might like to include your animal character in the story.

You can apply this sensory exercise to all other characters you create.

Congratulations on completing this step. You are rewarded the third letter of Boudica’s secret symbol. The letter R