Tutor profile: Lauren H.

Let's pretend I want to write a short story. How should I start?

Creatively I like to start with a quick brainstorm on what I would like my story to be about. I use a graphic organizer of my creation and write all my ideas out on to the paper. Once I have a general idea of what I want my story to be about I begin working on the plot outline. Start by writing down what you might think the underlying idea, or premise for your story should be. Then construct a setting and write down as much about it as you can. Next think about and write out what kind of characters would live in your story. Who might be your protagonist and antagonist? Flesh out their characteristics. Why are they a part of your story? With all of this brainstorming and creative thinking begin to use a plot outline to complete your ideas alongside a cohesive plot line. Then you get to do the best part and begin to write a draft of your short story.

Tell me what you think a character study is and why it is important for an actor to do one. Then choose your ideal character role, the one role you've always wanted to have. Now, as any good actor should do before any performance explain how you would start a short character study on this character.

Character study is a highly important process for young actors to master so they are able to connect with their given role. It can be an extremely in depth study into the character or a quick short form analysis of the basic features of your character. This technique can improve any actor's performance and give them a deeper understanding of the character they are portraying. To start analyzing for any character for a character study I would start with the five qualities and the questions that accompany them. Physical Qualities, Social Qualities, Psychological Qualities, Moral Qualities and lastly Play Qualities. Each one of these has in depth questions you can ask yourself about your character and yourself. This will help any young actor mold and create their best portrayal of the given role through their work on character analysis.

Define characterization in your own words and tell me about some of the character types found in fiction. Think about characters in previous books you have read and how they might fit into those types of characters you list.

Characterization can be defined as the construction of a fictional character as the author reveals a characters personality. This can be done through the character's actions, speech, thoughts, appearance and more. There are a few types of characters that can be found in fiction writing. For example the most commonly known are the protagonist and the antagonist. The protagonist is the central character in the story commonly known as the main character. While the protagonist is the main character the antagonist is the opposing force for the protagonist, it could be a character or a situation. It's the antagonist's role to be the obstacle that the protagonist has to overcome or defeat. The easiest example of this is Harry Potter as the protagonist and his opposing force throughout the series is Voldemort as his antagonist.