Cambridge IGCSETechnique 2 of 4

Character creation

In 450 words you cannot describe a character from the outside in. You have to let them act, speak and choose - and the reader will fill in the rest.

The iceberg principle

Hemingway called it the iceberg theory: what the reader sees on the page is only the tip. The mass of the character - background, regrets, desires - lives beneath the surface. The writer has to know it; the reader only has to feel it.

Before you write, answer three questions for your main character:

What do they want in this scene?
What are they hiding?
What one object belongs to them?

You will probably use only the object in the finished story. The other two steer every choice they make on the page.

Show, don’t tell

The single most repeated piece of advice in narrative writing - and the one examiners most frequently note is missing from the middle band. Replace a label with a specific action, object or gesture.

Tell

“Sara was nervous.”

Show

“Sara smoothed the same corner of the tablecloth over and over until the cotton squeaked.”

Tell

“He was kind.”

Show

“He took the mug from me without being asked, rinsed it, and set it back on the shelf with the handle facing out.”

Tell

“My grandfather was very old.”

Show

“My grandfather moved the way a cathedral bell moves: slow, measured, and with a bit of distant ringing in between.”

Tell

“She was angry with her brother.”

Show

“When her brother spoke, she kept her eyes on her phone, but her thumb had stopped scrolling ten seconds ago.”

Tell

“The teacher was strict.”

Show

“The teacher closed the door at 08:59 exactly, and did not open it for anyone after.”

Give them a contradiction

A flat character wants one thing. A rounded character wants two things that cannot both be true at once. A girl who wants to be brave but is afraid of her grandmother. A man who loves his dog but hates being touched. The story lives in the gap between the two halves.

Example

“He said he hated surprises, but he checked the window every time a car slowed down.”

Interior monologue

Thoughts on the page can be italicised, direct, or indirect. Pick one method and stick to it. A single sentence of interior thought in the right place is worth five sentences of description.

Italicised

Not today. Please not today.

Direct

She thought: I can still turn around.

Indirect (free)

She could still turn around. Nobody had seen her yet.

The two-sentence sketch

A useful rehearsal. Introduce a character in exactly two sentences. The first gives a physical detail that implies personality. The second gives an action that contradicts, extends or confirms it.

“Mrs Hadley wore the same grey cardigan every day of the year, a cardigan the colour of a pigeon she had clearly never cared for. When she laughed - which was rarely - she laughed the way other people sneeze, suddenly and with some embarrassment.”

Back to narrative

Cambridge IGCSETechnique 2 of 4

Character creation

In 450 words you cannot describe a character from the outside in. You have to let them act, speak and choose - and the reader will fill in the rest.

The iceberg principle

Before you write, answer three questions for your main character:

What do they want in this scene?
What are they hiding?
What one object belongs to them?

You will probably use only the object in the finished story. The other two steer every choice they make on the page.

Show, don’t tell

The single most repeated piece of advice in narrative writing - and the one examiners most frequently note is missing from the middle band. Replace a label with a specific action, object or gesture.

Tell

“Sara was nervous.”

Show

“Sara smoothed the same corner of the tablecloth over and over until the cotton squeaked.”

Tell

“He was kind.”

Show

“He took the mug from me without being asked, rinsed it, and set it back on the shelf with the handle facing out.”

Tell

“My grandfather was very old.”

Show

“My grandfather moved the way a cathedral bell moves: slow, measured, and with a bit of distant ringing in between.”

Tell

“She was angry with her brother.”

Show

“When her brother spoke, she kept her eyes on her phone, but her thumb had stopped scrolling ten seconds ago.”

Tell

“The teacher was strict.”

Show

“The teacher closed the door at 08:59 exactly, and did not open it for anyone after.”

Give them a contradiction

Example

“He said he hated surprises, but he checked the window every time a car slowed down.”

Interior monologue

Thoughts on the page can be italicised, direct, or indirect. Pick one method and stick to it. A single sentence of interior thought in the right place is worth five sentences of description.

Italicised

Not today. Please not today.

Direct

She thought: I can still turn around.

Indirect (free)

She could still turn around. Nobody had seen her yet.

The two-sentence sketch

A useful rehearsal. Introduce a character in exactly two sentences. The first gives a physical detail that implies personality. The second gives an action that contradicts, extends or confirms it.

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Character creation

Show, don’t tell

The two-sentence sketch

Character creation

Show, don’t tell

The two-sentence sketch