Welcome to Creative Writing for Kids Step 2. If you are here, you've already reviewed our creative writing formula and chosen a Who + What + Why Not. If not, return to Creative Writing for Kids Step 1.

Describe your character (Who)

Every story you'll write needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. In the beginning, you introduce your main character (the "Who" you chose in Step 1.)

How to describe your story character

What is your character like? Nice/Mean? Selfish/Kind? Shy/Bold? The way you describe him or her will shape the story.

See how changing the describing words in this Who + What + Why Not changes the story completely.

Choose some adjectives

To help your reader know what your character is like, write in some adjectives to show what she looks like and what kind of personality she has. Your character could be:
Enchanting / Horrid
Cruel / Compassionate
Spiky / Slimy
Sparkling / Dull
Monstrous / Puny
Frosty / Warm
Gorgeous / Repulsive
Cheerful / Grumpy
Shy / Bold
Lazy / Antsy
Wise / Zany

For more ideas on describing your character, see our awesome adjectives list.

Choose some verbs and adverbs

How would your character walk? Talk? Treat other people? Choose some really precise verbs and adverbs and you've told a lot about your character with just a couple words. Good creative writing uses fewer words to paint a more colorful picture, so have a look at these groups of more specific verbs and adverbs:

Verbs
Walk- stride, crawl, creep, skip, tip-toe
Talk- yell, cry, whisper, declare, announce, question
Eat- chomp, guzzle, dine, devour
Get more ideas from our interesting verbs list.

Adverbs
Carefully, quickly, secretly, suddenly, never, always
Get more ideas from our interesting adverbs list.

Putting it all together- Introduce your Character

So you have your Who + What + Why Not and you've chosen some interesting adjectives and action verbs. Now it's time to put it all together and start writing your story. Remember, in the beginning of the story, you are introducing the character (Who). Your reader will want to know what he looks and acts like, and what his basic problem is (What + Whay Not). Use these examples to see how it's done.

(Teachers- Try the Describe your Character worksheet . Considering comparing the Easy and Advanced Stories to show children how better adjectives and verbs can really improve the story.)

 

Story Example- The Rockstar Lizard

Who + What + Why Not =
A Lizard + Wants to be a rockstar + But he can't sing.

 

• Advanced Version
• Easy Version

A tall, green lizard stood admiring his shimmering form in the mirror. Running his bulbous fingers through is wild, blue hair he popped himself into a dance pose he was sure would get an audience screaming. He was born to be a rockstar-- with one teensy problem. The only thing making people scream was his awful singing. When Lizard (he liked to pronounce it "Liz- arggh", kind of like a pirate), opened his mouth, the noise that came out had people begging him to stop. If he was going to be the rockstar he knew he was born to be, he needed to learn how to sing.

Once there was a little green lizard who really, really wanted to be a rockstar. He had the long flowing hair and the super cool dance moves, but he couldn’t even sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” without the other lizards covering their ears and begging him to stop. He needed to learn how to sing. So...