Character

Character

Character 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.

Characters are the beating heart of every story—fiction, nonfiction, any kind of scripted show. In fact, it’s their actions, dialogue, habits, quirks, appearance, gestures, hopes, dreams, fears, triumphs, failures, and flaws that make a story what it is. We follow people like Sherlock, Hamlet, Katniss, Batman, Sethe, and ________ (fill in your great character here) not because they’re nice folks, but because they fascinate us.

It’s almost magical, bringing people to life through words. Here you’ll learn techniques for creating and revealing characters that seem as vividly dimensional as your wife or boss or next-door neighbor.

Whether you’re working with imaginary or real people, we’ll show you how to write characters that your readers or audience won’t soon forget.

About Character
Character

Take this course! It is SUCH a good way to learn about the people who populate stories, both fictional and non-fictional. I even feel like I understand the people in my life better (they're all insane lol).

Akbar Khan

writer

Notes

This is a cross-genre course, applicable to any kind of writing that contains characters, including nonfiction.

Upcoming Classes

If you test positive for Covid – Don’t come to class until you test negative. But let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.

If you show Covid symptoms OR If you have been exposed to someone with Covid – Don’t come to class for at least 5 days after showing symptoms or exposure, and then take a test to confirm that you are negative. Let your teacher know and we’ll work to give you access to your missed classes via Zoom.

If you have any questions about this, you may call (212-974-8377) or email us ([email protected]).
  • Starts Tuesday, January 7
    Online, anytime
    3-Week Intensive

Price

Registration fee $25, paid once per term

3-Week

Syllabus

This course gives an overview of how to realize great 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
All of Humanity: The role of character. Admirable traits and flaws. Round and flat characters. Origins of characters.

Week 2
Getting to Know Them: Background. Physicality. Personality. Magic keys. Contrasts and consistency.

Week 3
The Character Thickens: Voice—speech, narration. Desire. Change. Names.

Note: Content may vary among individual classes. 

Teachers

Jason Greiff
Jason Greiff

Jason Greiff wrote the feature screenplay The Godparents, which was developed with Universal Studios and Marc Platt Productions. He has produced credits in children’s animation in China and Portugal, and has helped develop shows for Disney Asia and China’s largest media company CCTV. His screenplays have won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, the Lew Wasserman Award for Best Comedy, and a national competition sponsored by the Writers Guild of America. He authored the chapter on Tone/Theme in Gotham’s book Writing Movies (Bloomsbury USA). He has taught at NYU. He holds a BA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU/Tisch.

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