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.
Ce cours fait partie de la Spécialisation Rédaction créative
Creative Writing: The Craft of Character
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À propos de ce cours
Résultats de carrière des étudiants
47%
50%
Résultats de carrière des étudiants
47%
50%
Certificat partageable
100 % en ligne
Cours 2 sur 5 dans le
Dates limites flexibles
Approx. 13 heures pour terminer
Anglais
Offert par
Université Wesleyenne
At Wesleyan, distinguished scholar-teachers work closely with students, taking advantage of fluidity among disciplines to explore the world with a variety of tools. The university seeks to build a diverse, energetic community of students, faculty, and staff who think critically and creatively and who value independence of mind and generosity of spirit.
Programme du cours : ce que vous apprendrez dans ce cours
Discovering Characters from Your Life and Elsewhere
What happens in the writer's mind before any words are written on the paper? Characters then reveal themselves through conflict and drama. Without conflict there is no purpose to the story. We then discuss desire. Human beings want things, even when we don't really know what it is we wish for. Finally, we conclude the module like Michelangelo, chipping away everything that is not the masterpiece statue of David. Learn to find what is germane to the story you are telling by looking closely at the character.
Creating Characters on the Page
Here, we delve deeper into the characters. What is their physical description, and how can we describe them through action? How do they speak? What makes me want to read about them? When your characters need help or understanding, or even rescuing, this draws the reader in, far more than likability. Finally, we discuss how the plot reveals the inner life of characters through what they do as well as say.
Dialogue and Monologue
How do we lead a reader to a world that feels real? Narrators have an attitude, towards subjects and audience, about the world and its events. We discuss in this module considerations involved in planning for these realities, including the differences between first and third person and the construction of dialogue with verisimilitude - the feel of real life - while stripping away the tedium. We ask what idiosyncrasies your characters possess and how to control them to advance the narrative.
Set Your Characters Free.. and Give Them Somewhere to Go
In this module, we reflect on how our readers learn about our characters - and how we as writers do, as well. We ask questions about who is telling the story, why, and with what goal. We conclude the course with a conversation about the narrator and, distinctly, the narrative, to see how they shape the reader's perception of character and story.
Avis
4.5
Meilleurs avis pour CREATIVE WRITING: THE CRAFT OF CHARACTER
I loved this course! Extremely useful and hands on. The course instructor was really impressive, both informative and empathetic, both arty and to the point. Totally admired her style of instruction.
Excellent teaching, be aware the meat of this course is in the interviews. If you read and watch them then the assignments are self-explanatory. The discussion boards were however a disappointment.
The information I need to craft compelling characters. Wouldn't have learned this information just by reading books! Amy is an excellent instructor, and the work is challenging but not unreachable.
I think the assignments are well designed, and I really appreciate the part in which we are asked to tell our peers which part would we like them to comment on; it really helps me improve my work.
A really thorough course into making characters. I personally think that I have leaped further, in the quality of my writing. Recommend it to anyone willing to spend time to work on their writing.
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 had great focus and helped highlight and give remedies for a number of areas where I need a great deal of improvement. Both the instruction and the peer review was very helpful.
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).
Excellent course. I didn't know what to expect when I started. I was very pleasantly surprised at both how challenging - and rewarding - I found it. Amy Bloom was brilliant. Thank you!
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.
I do not understand why these courses over lap. I finished #2 today, tried to start #3 but found that I had 10 hours to complete the first weeks assignment? Who is in charge out there?
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.
À propos du Spécialisation Rédaction créative
Foire Aux Questions
Quand aurai-je accès aux vidéos de cours et aux devoirs ?
Une fois que vous êtes inscrit(e) pour un Certificat, vous pouvez accéder à toutes les vidéos de cours, et à tous les quiz et exercices de programmation (le cas échéant). Vous pouvez soumettre des devoirs à examiner par vos pairs et en examiner vous-même uniquement après le début de votre session. Si vous préférez explorer le cours sans l'acheter, vous ne serez peut-être pas en mesure d'accéder à certains devoirs.
À quoi ai-je droit si je m'abonne à cette Spécialisation ?
Lorsque vous vous inscrivez au cours, vous bénéficiez d'un accès à tous les cours de la Spécialisation, et vous obtenez un Certificat lorsque vous avez réussi. Votre Certificat électronique est alors ajouté à votre page Accomplissements. À partir de cette page, vous pouvez imprimer votre Certificat ou l'ajouter à votre profil LinkedIn. Si vous souhaitez seulement lire et visualiser le contenu du cours, vous pouvez accéder gratuitement au cours en tant qu'auditeur libre.
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