The Essence of Creating a Character on the Page and the Stage. (7 Sessions)
Dates: March 2 - March 23 We will explore how a character’s yearning drives key elements of story, including narrative, dialogue, conflict, plot, and reader empathy. Understanding a character’s passion is essential to creating a compelling person – someone with whom a reader or audience want to spend time.
Setting (4 Sessions)
Dates: April 11 - April 20Stories happen in specific places. Yet, many writers offer little description about the story’s world. Setting is an essential element for bringing your writing to life. It provides a context and backdrop for the story to unfold – making the reader feel grounded and ready to follow your character as they traverse through this world. Whether your setting is realistic, fantastical, from the past or a leap into the future, you’ll want to create a unique place with vivid, sensory details of sights, smells, sounds, and feelings.
Plot and The Hero’s Journey (8 Sessions)
Dates: April 25 - May 18 Plot is the organizing force that makes our stories (in any media) progress and insists that something happen. In good fiction and memoir, it’s essential to support plot with other elements of craft such as characterization, theme, suspense, and conflict. Let’s explore the elements of the Hero’s Journey to see how this ancient storytelling format helps to create satisfying stories. We’ll learn to avoid formulaic plots and understand how characters drive an organic narrative from beginning to end.