Time To STEAL

The way in which an author reveals information about a character is called characterisation.

There are two types of characterisation that students need to know about.

If a writer tells you that a character is ill-mannered or crestfallen, that is direct characterisation. When a writer uses direct characterisation, then reading between the lines isn’t called for.

Indirect characterization is the process of describing a character through that character’s thoughts, actions, speech, and dialogue.

An writer will use this type of characterisation to help us make out own conclusions about a character.

To help students in their writing and observations they can use STEAL.

STEAL is an acronym for what a character says, what a character thinks, the effects a character has on other characters, how the character acts, and how the character looks.