Character 2: Action
Character 2: Action is an Intensive, meaning it happens in a short time span (1 day in NYC, or 2 days on Zoom, or 3 weeks Online). The course includes a mixture of lectures and exercises. It’s open to writers of any level. Farther down, you can view a syllabus for this course.
If you feel you’re solid with conceiving characters, you may go straight to Character 2. If you’re in doubt about this, start with Character 1; it will be valuable even if some of it is review.
Characters are the beating heart of every story. When we’re made to feel their presence, the entire story awakens and we follow those folks wherever they go—likable or not, young or old, familiar or foreign.
Whether you’re working on fiction, nonfiction, or a script, we’ll show you how to breathe life into characters that we see and believe and care about.
Character 1 teaches how to conceive characters—where they come from, who they are inside and out, where their desire lies, and what makes them fascinating.
Character 2 teaches how to bring characters alive on the page, making them real enough so we feel like we could live next door to them or bump into them on the street.
Notes
This is a cross-genre course, applicable to any kind of writing that contains characters, including nonfiction.
Upcoming Classes
Syllabus
This course gives an overview of how to bring alive characters, in any genre. Course components:
Lectures
Writing exercises
New York City/Zoom classes
The syllabus varies from teacher to teacher, term to term. Many topics will be similar to those covered in the Online classes.
Online classes
Week 1
It’s Alive!: Methods of revealing character—telling, physicality, dialogue/voice, actions, thought, other ways. Dosing the revelations—what and when to reveal, arc of perception.
Week 2
Reaching for the Light: Pursuing desire. Making choices. Experiencing change.
Week 3
Multiplicity: Assembling a cast. Relationships. The multiple roles each person plays.
Note: Content may vary among individual classes.