Out of Character

“As a writer, you should not judge, you should understand,” says Ernest Hemingway. Contrary to everything fiction writers are told about crafting credible characters, this workshop will explore when and why your characters should do something “out of character.” This isn’t only a technique to further develop who they are, but to also build tension, create conflict, and/or work toward revelation and resolution. No one is all good or all bad, so we'll discuss ways to write a flawed, wounded, or otherwise damaged protagonist, as well as how to really complicate matters by writing villains who do good (or at least are characters we can have empathy for). Focusing on all the ways people are walking contradictions, we'll learn to create complex, believable characters and realistic portraits of the human psyche. We'll start with low-stakes writing exercises, then work on applying these lessons to our own characters.