Class

How Character Happens (a Character-Building Workshop)

This course explores character-building through a collaborative, generative process designed to help writers create more surprising, psychologically complex fictional people. Rather than beginning with biography questionnaires or abstract backstory prompts, we will build a character together by accumulating seemingly arbitrary elements, both superficial and deeply persona, and then asking how those details might connect. The goal is not randomness for its own sake, but discovery: learning how disparate traits can begin to suggest a coherent inner life, a history, a set of desires, and a pattern of behavior.

Class time will be spent primarily in guided discussion, generative exercises, and close collaborative analysis. Together, we will turn isolated facts into meaningful psychological relationships, exploring how character emerges through tension, inconsistency, suppression, association, and desire. We will also consider how character is revealed on the page through action, voice, gesture, and selection of detail.

Once we have our character, we will begin to discuss how to build a story premise around that character in a way that promises a compelling narrative.

This course is best suited to fiction writers who want new strategies for developing characters that feel less predetermined and more alive, particular, and dramatically fertile.

All classes listed on the Loft website take place in Central Time.

Instructions for Accessing This Online Class

In order to access live class meetings, you must have the Zoom application downloaded to your computer. You will also need a WiFi/Internet connection throughout the duration of your scheduled meeting and a computer with audio and video capability. The information to join your Zoom classroom will be provided in your confirmation email upon registration. Please check spam folders if you do not see this email upon registration. For more information on how to use Zoom, please see our training manual here.

Some classes use a supplemental Google Classroom page. Should your teaching artist use Google Classroom, you will be invited to join the classroom via email at least 24 hours in advance of your class (check spam folders if you are not seeing this invitation). Please note that Google Classroom requires a Gmail address to access the Classroom. If you do not have a Gmail account, the email invitation will be sent to the email address we have on file and will prompt you to create a free account or enter an existing account to join the classroom. If we are unable to send an email invitation to your non-gmail account, you will be contacted by a staff member to provide a Gmail address. If you do not have a Gmail account, you can create a free account here. Should you have concerns about this, please contact a Loft staff member at [email protected] or 612-379-8999. For more information on how to use Google Classroom, please see our training manual here.