Advanced Creative Writing Seminar: Characterization

A work of fiction cannot come to life if its characters are not alive! But how to make our characters come alive on the page? This course focuses intensely on characterization in fiction. To that end, we study how writers render characters vividly on the page in a range of published work. This is an opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge and strengthen their skills in characterization, and to banish wooden, one-dimensional, and uninteresting characters from their work. Students complete exercises to practice the techniques we study and submit 10-20 pages of original fiction (a short story or novel excerpt; students may draw on a project in progress) for workshop. At the end of the semester, students submit a revised version of their story or excerpt and give a class presentation on the role of characterization in their work.