Let’s make the people you’re writing about in your fiction and non-fiction feel as real on the page as they do in life!
Do you have trouble making the people you’re writing about in your fiction and non-fiction feel as real on the page as they do in life? In this two-session course, we’ll tackle the problem of characterization head-on by discussing vital aspects of building memorable character portraits. We’ll look at examples from published writing in varied genres like novels, stories, memoirs, and poetry and do targeted exercises that will give you a toolkit of strategies to breathe life into your characters. Whether you’re in the middle of a piece or just have an idea for one, this course will help you get a handle on how to populate the stories you’re telling with vivid personalities that establish an emotional connection with readers.
Live video conference: This workshop will be held via our online video conferencing platform, Zoom. You can view brief tutorials on using the platform here. On the start date or the day before, participants will receive an email with login info (please check your spam if you don’t see it).
In this workshop you’ll learn:
- Characterization “”Hacks”” to Quickly Establish Who Your Characters Are
- Tricks for Unreliable Characters (Hint: All Characters are Unreliable!)
- Using Setting to Create Character
- Dialogue and Character
- Going a Level Deeper with Your Characters
Time requirements
- 30 minutes to an hour outside of class
Materials
- No materials required.
Who should take this workshop?
- This workshop is designed for prose writers of all levels looking to deepen their characterization skills
If you need an accommodation for this workshop, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.
