Creating Memorable Characters

Creating Memorable Characters

Creating Memorable Characters

Friday, October 20, 2006
Sea Crest Resort, Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Characters make your story. Creating a memorable and intriguing character can be the difference between an agent or an editor deciding to commit several days of her life to read 450 pages, or putting your manuscript down.

FACULTY

Robert Dugoni, Esq. is the author of the nonfiction thriller, The Cyanide Canary, (Simon & Schuster 2004) - a Washington Post 2004 Best Book of the Year Selection and the Idaho Book of the Year. Bob recently signed a two-book deal with Time-Warner Books. His novel, The Jury Master, will be published March 2006 and has already been sold to publishers in nine foreign countries. His second novel False Justice will follow in January 2007. He is a two-time winner of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Award for fiction. Bob graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a degree in journalism and worked briefly as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times before obtaining his doctorate of jurisprudence from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law. He has practiced as a civil litigator in San Francisco and Seattle for seventeen years. In 1999 he left the full-time practice of law to return to writing. He lives with his wife and two children in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to writing he is an accomplished speaker and teacher.

Schedule

8:00 - 8:30 Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 - 9:00 Introduction of Instructor, Robert Dugoni, Esq.
Bob will explain how he went from a journalist to a lawyer to a novelist. He'll discuss the pitfalls along the way, living with and learning from rejection, and how he re-educated himself into a novelist, so you can as well.

9:00 - 10:15 Characters and Their Roles in Story Structure
Students will learn the basic character profiles as initially described by Joseph Campbell and more recently expounded upon by Michael Volger in his book, The Writer's Journey, what roles these characters play in the story, how the writer can use them to create problems, solve problems, or impart information seamlessly, and when and where these characters traditionally fit within classic story structure.

10:15 - 10:30 Break and Networking Opportunity

10:30 - 11:15 Creating Memorable Characters
Learn how to create memorable primary characters through the utilization of physical attributes, clothing or manner of wearing clothing, psychological attributes and mannerisms, actions and dialogue.

Using examples from well-known fiction and non-fiction, including authors Stephen King, Stephen Hunter, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the instructor's own work, students will study the techniques for making:

1. Heroes not wimps. A well-rounded protagonist is heroic, yet still vulnerable and capable of change.

2. Villains not caricatures. An antagonist is frightening when he/she is real. That means creating well-rounded villains and avoiding cardboard stereotypes and clich�s.

3. Sidekicks and mentors: Learn how to make a secondary character stand out using markers, without the character overtaking the story from your primary characters.

*Students should bring to class a description of a character (protagonist, antagonist or secondary character) from a novel or nonfiction book they have read that resonated with them and be prepared to discuss why.

11:15 - 12:00 Characters All Around Us
If a character in a novel seems unbelievable to you, get out more and meet people. Using the techniques previously discussed, students will participate in an in-class exercise to describe an antagonist, protagonist, and secondary character each in three sentences.

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch with Faculty (provided)

1:00 - 1:45 How to Write Character Sketches and Biographies
Once you have names and descriptions of the heroes, villains, and secondary characters of your story, what are the nuances that will make them real to your readers? Then, how do you incorporate those sketches into your novel without stopping the story to introduce a character each time a new character appears on the page? Novelists can learn from screenwriters and playwrights who can't offer a character sketch each time a character appears.

1:45 - 2:30 Action Versus Flashbacks. Inner Monologue Versus Exterior Dialogue
This section of the class will focus on when the writer should use action and flashbacks to help define her character and when to use dialogue versus interior monologue to further define the character for the reader. Techniques will be discussed to improve dialogue, to show without telling how the character feels, to show how the writer can use all of his or her senses to help the character use all of his or her senses, and how to use particularity in detail to individualize characters.

2:30 - 2:45 Break and Networking Opportunity

2:45 - 4:15 Critique of Student Manuscripts
Students should come to class with the first chapter introducing a protagonist, antagonist, or secondary character. The class will discuss techniques learned to offer suggestions for further character development to bring the students work fully to life.

4:15 - 4:30 Concluding Roundtable: Questions and Answers