Fiction Writing: Crafting Believable Characters

By gaining exposure to theatrical techniques, students will learn how to craft bold works of fiction with rich, believable characters. Drawing on the work of theater practitioners such as Sanford Meisner and Viola Spolin, this activity-based course will involve daily individual and collaborative writing exercises that teach students to orient themselves within fictional worlds through heightened sensory awareness and instill a practice of exploring character through desires and objectives. The goals are to provide a set of tools that enable students to express the inner complexity of a wide-range of characters through action and nuanced, realistic dialogue.

This is a writing-intensive course. Short writing assignments will challenge students to put into practice the techniques we have experimented with in class, and each student will craft two short stories that will be workshopped and revised. In addition, we will read between 10-15 short stories, and students will compose weekly reading responses that allow them to examine how character development relates to other fictional strategies such as plot, backstory, point of view, and tone. Evaluation is based on participation in class activities, successful completion of all minor and major writing assignments, and the ability to provide constructive feedback during workshop experiences.

Level: Introductory/Intermediate. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor. Class limit: 12. Lab fee: None.

Always visit the Registrar's Office for the official course catalog and schedules.