How to Put Character in Your Characters (In Memoirs As Well as Fiction)

Instructor: Dan Wakefield

Do the characters in your novels and short stories seem bland and forgettable? What about the people in your memoirs? They need to be memorable too, and just calling them “My friend Jane” and “Joe, my boss” won’t do the trick. See how successful writers use dialogue, description, and action to bring their characters to life. We will consider characters created by writers such as James Baldwin, Joan Didion, George Orwell, Meg Wolitzer and others to see what they do to create memorable characters, and learn how to apply their techniques to our own work. Limit for class: 14