Use this WAGOLL extract and accompanying resource pack to help teach your pupils how they can create engaging and believable characters.
The WAGOLL extract is from Natasha Farrant’s The Rescue of Ravenwood.
On the top of the hill, overlooking the sea, that’s where you’ll find a magical place… To Bea and Raffy, Ravenwood is home.
In its own way, the house rescued them, even if it did have a fallen-down tree taking up most of the kitchen.
So the idea that it could be sold – demolished even – well, that’s unthinkable.
Then again, it’s not like the children get a choice. But the truth is, we can all make our own choices, especially if we care enough…
Climate change
Every story has a different starting point, and The Rescue of Ravenwood was born of a desire to write about the climate and ecological crisis on a scale that felt manageable for children, and in a way that balanced truth with hope.
It was a difficult book to write, chiefly because I wanted to stay true to the complexity of the issue while delivering not a lecture but a thumping good read.
In this story, three children band together to save a place they love – a home and garden; a solace for wildlife and for people.
There are stowaways on trains and international police searches, heatwaves and fires, near drownings and swimming with seals, full-blown protests and long-buried secrets, friendship and family.
But of course, it’s those three children who are the key to the story. How can you be swept away, laugh, cry, care, if you don’t love the heroes? Or indeed share their struggle, fear for their lives, and urge them on, if you don’t believe in the villains?
It’s all very well having an idea as a starting point, but ideas don’t live and breathe.
The two biggest questions I ask myself when creating new characters are, ‘What do they want?’, and ‘What do they need?’.
These are rarely the same thing. For example, in my book, Noa wants her parents to get back together, but she needs to accept their separation.
These questions, applied to every single character, provide the framework on which the plot will hang, and those twin quests (one conscious, the other subconscious) will drive it forward, making for a satisfying read in which plot and character are completely intertwined.
They will also illuminate all those other questions you will need to ask about your characters’ qualities, flaws, and even their backstory. Here’s how I go about developing my characters…
Download this WAGOLL resource pack to learn more about how Natasha crafts her characters.
The Rescue of Ravenwood by Natasha Farrant (£7.99, Faber & Faber) is available now.
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