Character studies can also come from drama. Here are three teachers at a drama workshop
Three chairs and three people. What sort of a person is the high and mighty one? Where is he/she? What does he/she look like? What does he/she do? And what about the down trodden one? What is he/she feeling? Why is he/she like this? What has he/she done? And the middle one? What are the hopes and aspirations there?
Story writing/essay writing. 
This paragraph really needs a whole book but some ideas are:
1)The Writing Frame
Some children like to write stories that go on and on and their enthusiasm should not be quelled, but to make form to their stories and to give shape to the essays of older students, consider introducing them to a Writing Frame idea.
Draw a fat ladder. This is the basis for the frame. In the first space, at the top of the ladder, write the word "Introduction" and a few key words that show your plan for this, in the last ladder space at the bottom of the ladder, write "The end" or The sum up" or "The conclusion" and key words for this. In the intervening ladder steps, write key words in each step to label each point or stage you will write about at that point in the wriitng.... to lead the reader from the beginning of the writing exercise to the end. Now you have your framework ready to tackle each step from the top to the bottom.
This method stops the writer wandering on and on and shows the reader, (or maybe the examination marker) a clear-cut, well sculpted piece of writing. (I also tell students it makes the marking easier for the marker and keeps them in a good mood to give you good marks! The marker can see where to put ticks!)
Take a simple example Title: "Lady Macbeth was constantly craving for power".
Top step of ladder..Introduction..Sometimes was, yet sometimes wasn't
Next rung of ladder. She showed she was in scene ..
Next rung. She showed she was again in scene...
Next rung. She showed she was not when...
Next rung. She also showed she was not at...
Bottom step. In conclusion, Lady Macbeth was often.....but on the other hand....
Teachers on Courses.
I have explained the writing frame idea to Dominican teachers doing degree courses and it has not only been a successful method for them, but it has also given them a lot more confidence in tackling written assignments. In some cases, once they have labelled their ladder or writing frame, they then put each label on a separate card filed in a box in the writing frame (ladder) order.
Then, when doing any reading or when coming across any relevant quote, they pop this in the appropriate section in their box, all in preparartion for writing the first draft. I used this method when writing my M.A. dissertation. I had a shoe box of labelled cards behind which, and in appropriate sections, I collected quotes, book titles with page and paragrah references, cut-outs from professional magazine and newspapers. So I used a writing frame principle in a shoe box to get an M.A. It wasn't so hard!
2) Beginnings, middles and ends.
Following a similar principle to the writing frame method above, encouraging writers to understand structure in story and writing, the following idea proved very popular at a recent teacher workshop.
I took two, large, margarine pots and a dozen or so lids. I cut off the rims of the lids, so they would fit inside the pots. The two pots were decorated as they were to be the two containers for the now recycled lids.
One pot was labelled "Story Starters"
..........and on individual lids I wrote such story starters as:
Oh dear, I had lost my bus money. Now what could I do?
Well, how would I know I had a pot of disappearing dust?
I woke up extra early because....
The bottle on the beach had a letter in it, which said.....
I'd always wanted a pet, but not such a big one as this!
What a surprising invitation! It said.....
It all started when I found....
A ticket to go anywhere? I'll choose to go...
Bang! There was a knock on the door and...
I'd never been on a space ship, so didn't know what to expect.
The second pot was labelled "Story Endings"
..............and had writing on individual lids such as:
From then on, Grandad always made sure that that particular door was firmly locked.
And the bus was left hanging empty over the edge of the cliff!
And that is why the rocking chair appears to rock on its own!
And the cruise ship, although hours later than it should, finally sailed off into the sunset.
And that's how Granny ended up with the sweetest little kitten you could imagine.
After all that, it turned out to be a really happy day.
So that carpet was really magic after all.
And finally, by 11 minutes past 1, I was in bed and fast asleep.
Displaying creative writing creatively.
This is a crucial part of the creative writing progress and should never be ignored!
It tells the children that in being creative, they took a chance about making mistakes and they are to be congratulated on the creativity they have achieved!
No pinboard? Use an old chalkboard or beg a big cardboard box from somewhere, open it up and hang it from string. Or get a sheet of styrofoam from an electrical supplier and hide it in a fabric bag. Then be creative about how you back the children's work.
Reported writing in the form of a newspaper article can be displayed backed by old newspaper.
Descriptive writing of a forest or wood can be backed by brown packing paper with the creases scrunched in it even more and with a brown wax crayon rubbed over it to make it look like tree bark.
Poems about fish can be stuck on pieces of cereal boxes cut out into fish shapes and suspended from some drift wood that you found on the beach.
"How to" writing about growing a tree could be displayed similarly, with the work hanging from a branch that has been fixed somewhere in the classroom.
Adventure stories set underwater can be displayed on bubble wrap
about a time machine can be backed with old calendar pages
Imaginative writing "When I think of yellow" can be backed by scrunched yellow supermarket bags. (Many are yellow here, but you would choose the colour most easily available to you.)
Character studies can be illustrated by magazine cut out pictures of people stuck in shoe boxes and put brick like on the wall.
Other creative backing display ideas
String up really big leaves for backing creative writing titles like "Lost in the forest" or "The Millipede Walk"
Use sheets of thin, styrofoam, (polystyrene) that comes as packing. If it is bent use the bends and display it three dimensionally. Don't always assume that backing should be flat on the wall and square on. If you can't fix to the wall, put a string across the wall or the classroom and peg work onto it.
If you live in a colder climate, you might have access to old stretchy nylon tights, which can be made to look spooky! Cut off the toe and slit lengthwise up the leg. Tie a corner to a fixed point and stretch the nylon in any direction and attach it to the next fixed point. Slash it into holes as you go! Join on another piece and go on and up and sideways stretching and attaching. With the light behind it has interesting swirls. Title? "My Pet Spider" of course or, in the case of Dominica.."Anancy Adventures".
Find what you have an abundance of for backing. Here we have blue banana bags that can be sponged clean and used. I have seen excellent displays of children's work written on white paper and backed by black bin liners cut open. We can find lengths of fishing net on the beach and drift wood. Bakers can give us plastic flour bags as flour comes onto the island in those. Use what you have creatively.
Whatever you use, make sure that you display children's work in a way that makes them feel they are being congratulated on their work.
Encourage children to be free by allowing them to draft work first and then edit and them publish a best copy for display. Children should not be confined to one piece of paper to do their final copy on or they feel restricted to make a tidy presentation from the start at the cost of their word ideas and experiments. Let them work on rough paper to get started.
Marking Creative Writing Creatively
Be creative in the way you mark the children's creative work!
Write positive comments, preferably refering to a specific creative idea of the childs that is in the writing. And be careful! One young lady I know was so upset when she was ten and was told to predict the future in creative writing. She wrote about something high tech and she was so proud of her idea, but the teacher's negative comment of "A little far fetched I think!" dampened her enthusiasm for writing. Only 15 years later, that far fetched idea was, through the wonders of modern technology, everyday. "I still remember the effect that that negative comment had on my creativity" the young lady says.
Do not overmark. In being creative, the children were taking chances and do not want to be put off from doing the same again by an over use of red ink. Red ink can be like poison to their efforts. Make a personal note of specific weaknesses and plan follow-up work from that.
AND after all the work involved, allow children time to read and admire the work, not just classmates, but other pupils and teachers in the school and parents and visitors too. Get the children to invite them in. Both you and they deserve a chance to feel proud!