Is this character all that s/he appears to be, or is there something about her or him others in the story don't know or realize? Is there something about her or him that you can see but s/he doesn't realize? Is the character hypocritical, contradictory, unpredictable, complex?.Do I have access to the character's inner thoughts? Is there something I know that other characters in the story don't?.What does the character do? How does that affect what I think about this character, or what other characters think?.What does the character say, and how does s/he come across when speaking with other characters? Does the character's dialogue affect other characters or change the situation?.What does this character look like? How do I know? Does it matter?.How important is this character to the story? What does the writer do to suggest this?.How do I know what I do about this character? Am I seeing this character through someone else's eyes?.

When considering these, add: And why might this matter to the story? Just use them to help you analyze the work as a writer. Again, you don't have to answer all of these. Here are some questions to aid your thinking. Interrogate the text (what, where, when, how, why, who) to examine the writer's choices. Remember to read like a writer, not a lit student. In 300 to 500 words, discuss how the writer creates a believable, interesting character using specific methods of presentation covered in Burroway (you don't have to cover all of the methods, only the ones that you think are most important in this case).

How do Larry McMurtry and Tobias Wolff construct their characters out of different presentation building blocks discussed by Janet Burroway in chapters 3 and 4? Choose a main character from one of the stories and deconstruct her or him.

Bullet to the brain tobias wolff