My Once Upon a Time, Lesson 4: Character–Show, Don’t Tell

Lesson 4 — Character: Show, Don’t Tell

What we learned today:  Announce = tell the reader who a character is. Reveal = show the reader. Four Doors into Character: Action (what the character does), Detail Noticed (what the narrator observes), Dialogue (what is said and how), Object (what a character keeps or touches). Each door reveals character without stating a trait.

What we practiced:  We read Chapter 1 of Because of Winn-Dixie and identified how DiCamillo reveals Opal’s character. We wrote three short passages — one each for Action, Detail Noticed, and Object.

What belongs in your Story Notebook from this lesson:  Action passage (2–3 sentences); Detail Noticed passage (2–3 sentences); Object passage (2–3 sentences)

Mentor text used:  Because of Winn-Dixie (Ch. 1) by Kate DiCamillo; Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack

If you missed this class, do this first:  In your Story Notebook, write the Four Doors: Action / Detail Noticed / Dialogue / Object. Then write one short passage for three of the doors for your main character. Use the sentence frames in the Sentence Frame Bank if you need a starting point. These passages will feed directly into your draft in Lesson 7.