Characters

Create characters your readers can believe in, care about and want to follow.

A character is more than a job description

Same title perhaps, same mode of transport, same ideas even, just a man in a boat.

Three very different captain stories.

Moby-Dick — Herman Melville

A thoughtful observer who signs on to a whaling voyage and becomes our way into Ahab's increasingly obsessive hunt.

Mutiny on the Bounty — Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall

An officer whose conflict with Captain Bligh ends in mutiny, rebellion and a very different sort of voyage.

Treasure Island — Robert Louis Stevenson

A boy drawn into a sea journey involving pirates, betrayal, buried treasure and rather more danger than he expected.

All stories about ships and crews.

Not the same education system at all.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie — Muriel Spark

Charismatic, unconventional and entirely convinced that her influence over her chosen pupils is for their own good.

Matilda — Roald Dahl

Gentle, observant and encouraging, she sees Matilda's abilities when almost every other adult manages not to.

Harry Potter — J. K. Rowling

Brilliant, intimidating and sarcastic enough to make a classroom feel considerably less welcoming than Miss Honey's.

All teachers but none of them alike.

HOW TO WRITE RAIN

It rained on Sarah.

We have a character now.

What happened to her?