Class Description
Do your readers tell you that your characters seem undeveloped? That they don’t understand their motivations or can’t connect to them? That their emotional reactions seem unearned, their dialogue unbelievable? Understanding our characters and evoking their complexities on the page is the cornerstone of good fiction. Nonetheless, writers are often lost as to how to convey a character’s internal world on the page, and don’t always realize the many different ways open to them in characterizing their most important players. Through a combination of lectures, readings, and writing exercises, this course will help you discover the inner workings of your characters both present and past, their ghosts and obsessions, habits and triggers, and how best to reveal their thoughts and feelings through what can be seen, heard, and touched. Part of a monthly series of 8 one-day classes for novelists at the beginning or more advanced stages of their manuscripts.
Part of GrubStreet's Novel Essentials Series, led by Michelle Hoover and dedicated to exploring the core elements of novel writing. To see more of 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. About 15 minutes before your class is scheduled to begin, you'll receive an email from your instructor with a link to join the class meeting!
Zoom Participation:
Students are not required to turn their camera on, but are encouraged to participate any way they feel comfortable through functions such as the live chat, emoji reactions, and unmuting the microphone. Learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
We ask that instructors enable closed captioning and send a transcript of the session after class. You can also enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting. If your instructor forgets to send the transcript, just send ’em an email!