How To Make A Map Of Characters

A character map is a graphic organizer that shows how a fictional character’s traits, flaws, relationships, and journey play out. Even though these maps are often given as class or homework assignments, you can also use them to track how a character changes as you read or to make up your own characters for a story. Whether you’re coming up with ideas for an analytical essay or fleshing out the main character of your novel, a character map can help you see how he changes from the beginning to the end.

Keeping Track Of Problems And Changes

In fiction, conflict is when a character is put in a hard situation that changes them in ways they didn’t expect. You can use a character map maker that shows how a character changes over the course of a novel or your own story. Draw boxes or circles to show how the character is at the story’s beginning, how he changes, and how he turns out at the end. Connect the boxes when you’re done to make a flow chart. Write specific quotes from the literary text or your story draft that show how the character changes over the course of the story.

Picture Profile

Details about how a character looks, talks, acts, and what other people think of him can tell you a lot about who he is as a whole. Make a character map by drawing a picture of the character or searching the Internet for a picture of someone you think looks like him. Then, turn the picture into a diagram by writing the character’s traits on different parts of the picture. For example, you could write a list of the important things the character does near his legs, a general description of his worldview near his eyes, or a list of his main inner conflicts near his core.

Using Social Networks

If you’re reading or writing a book with more than one plot, a character map can help you figure out how the different people in the book are connected. Make a web that shows how the characters are related or linked, such as through family, romance, or friendship. If the setting is important to the relationships between the characters, you might want to set your website in important places where the characters live or spend time. For example, a web search for “The Great Gatsby” could lead you to East or West Egg in New York, where the story takes place.

Tracking Traits

Finding specific personality traits can be a good place to start when analyzing a literary character or a fictional character you created. You can learn about a character’s main traits by making a character map that shows how personality traits and textual evidence fit together. Write the character’s name in the middle of a circle you draw in the middle of a piece of paper. Then, make other circles that branch out from the center and have words describing the character. Write a direct quote from the book or your story for each adjective that shows how this word fits the character.

Setting The Scene

“Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t show how sad Georgia was during the Civil War. “Star Wars,” on the other hand, would be a very different story if it didn’t take place in a galaxy far, far away. Choosing a specific setting for your idea can make it into a story with more depth and complexity. Decide if your story will be realistic and take place on Earth, or if it will be set in the future or involve a made-up war. If you are writing about a historical war, think about how you can add music, culture, or political changes from that time to the setting.

Designing Unforgettable Details

In the end, war stories show what fighting was like by giving clear, often shocking details. As you write your story, try to imagine what it would be like for your main character to fight in the war at the heart of your plot. Think about the sights, sounds, smells, and other details that will stick in his mind. Brian Klems, a contributor to Writer’s Digest, says that instead of developing too many details at once, you should let yourself fill in only the ones most interesting to you. Most likely, the details that make you feel like a description is powerful will also be the ones that get your readers’ attention.

Show How An Allegory Works

In stories, monsters often stand for fears or problems in society, which makes people think about these things differently as they read. People often say that the violent zombies in the 1968 movie “Night of the Living Dead” are a social commentary on the Vietnam War. Think about how your monster could represent a certain problem or type of person to give him more depth. Use personification, which is when you give non-human things human traits, to give your monster personality traits that relate to the story’s main idea.