Creative Writing The Craft of Character
At the center of a good story are the characters in it. In this course aspiring writers will discover how to build and bring to life complex, vivid and unforgettable characters. We will study the choices a writer makes to bring all characters to life on the page, and we will perform written exercises in order to develop a variety of writing and pre-writing techniques, in order to create a variety of characters. We will learn how to use our own life experiences, and the people we know (and how not to!). We will develop inner (thoughts and feelings) and outer (appearance, habits, behavior) lives for our characters and see how that can lead us to richer and more interesting stories. We will breathe life into our characters and let them surprise us.
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Syllabus
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Discovering Characters from Your Life and Elsewhere
Week 2
Creating Characters on the Page
Week 3
Dialogue and Monologue
Week 4
Set Your Characters Free.. and Give Them Somewhere to Go
FAQ
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Reviews
I enjoyed Amy Bloom's guidelines and am keen to create some well rounded characters. Thank you for enabling me to follow along without having to pay ( no evaluation of the assignments).
In this course I learned how to build characters traits and bring them to life. I also learned about POVs and the difference between them. I wrote, rewrote and did it! A special thanks to Amy B.
This course was very interesting and the assignments were good. I thought it relied too much on conversations with other authors but overall it was enjoyable and I learned new skills.
The course is excellent and I want to learn more. I enjoyed the first assignment and was disappointed when I couldn't submit the first assignment because I hadn't purchased the course.
