Class Description
In this seminar, we’ll take a breakneck tour through six ways of understanding how writers create dynamic characters on the page. Given only the tool of words, how do we create a being that has both physical solidity and ineffability—and will live on in the reader’s mind? This class is appropriate for novices and the experienced alike, as we’ll refresh some concepts and learn to see others in a new way. While the examples we’ll discuss are from novels and short stories, the concepts extracted are equally applicable for writers of nonfiction. No matter which genre you write in, please bring 3 pages of a draft to class in which a character appears who’s giving you trouble. Our emphasis will be analysis and craft discussion, but we’ll make time to quickly try these strategies on our own characters, too.
Writers discussed will include Kevin Brockmeier, Colum McCann, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Mohsin Hamid, and Elizabeth McCracken.
Part of GrubStreet's Elements of Craft series, dedicated to exploring craft issues on a deeper level. For more on this series' offerings, click here.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.