Topic for an exposition: What makes your character tick?

You have each chosen minor characters from our book as interview subjects. Your job is to develop a list of questions that you would ask this character if you had the opportunity to interview him/her. Start with what you know. Go back through the book, and read about your character. Based upon what you read, decide what questions you can ask. Expository writing is about information. You are illuminating your subject, in this case, a person. Then, go a little deeper. Based upon what you know about your character, ask other questions that will reveal information that you do not know about your character. Remember, you will have to use your imagination. The fancy word for this is extrapolation. Extrapolate, in other words, think beyond what you know and come up with some questions--and answers--that you believe would fit in with the character of the person you are interviewing.

You may choose to write the results of your interview in Q&A fashion as Nathan inquired today. Or, you may summarize the results of your interview and write a brief summary paragraph that gives your reader some insight into your character. If you choose to use the Q&A--and this is easier--be sure to write a few sentences that serve as an introduction to your character.

For example, let us consider Nathan's character Black Market Dude. (Yes, I have changed the name because grammatically, it needs to be a subject. Using "Him" would make it an object.)

When I sat down to interview Black Market Dude, it was very early morning. This means, we were breaking the law by being out before the nightly curfew had been lifted. Black Market Dude was not nervous. Breaking the laws of East Berlin is natural to him now. Black Market Dude always has to blend in. To do that, he must always be calm, or pretend to be calm. During the interview, Black Market Dude was not only calm, he was chill. He does not look like a smuggler. In fact, he looks like the typical boy next door.

Q: What made you decide to begin smuggling illegal items into East Berlin?
A:  

For more guidance in how to approach this assignment, please take a look at the Character Profile page for extra ideas. 


If you would like your character interview or summary to appear here on our blog, please submit your work to me as a Word document by e-mail attachment or as a Google document no later than 7 p.m., Wednesday, July 20. Otherwise, you may turn it in next Thursday during our class.