Fiction Folk Characters: Make them live and breathe. Long after the twists and turns of your story has been forgotten, wonderful characters will live on in the reader’s imagination, drawing them back to your writing for more. Even the purely plot-driven story can benefit from vivid characters. Learn how to build characters, layer by layer, until they walk, talk and move about your story like real people, then explore the techniques that make them truly memorable, so that your characters draw your reader deep into your story world and makes your reader care what happens to them. Course Outline Character 101 Major characters Minor characters Spear carriers Walk-ons and cameos Character 201 -- A Cast of Thousands Heroes & Heroines Villains Anti-heroes Ensemble casts Round and flat characters Stereotypes vs. character types Character 301 -- Warning! Character under construction. Motive! Main trait Background details Character profiles Stereotypes ... and when to use them. Ideas! Getting ideas for characters "Collecting" characters Ideas from setting & situation Characters from plot Advanced techniques -- making your character live Individualising your character Habits, mannerisms The five senses Walk & gesture Appearance Facial dynamics Dialogue Tone of voice Choice of words Tempo Figures of speech Internalisation Cause and effect considerations Master techniques -- making your character unforgettable Raising the emotional stakes First impressions Love or hate? How-to. Mythical vs. realistic characters Contrasts Market demands The type of story POV Degree of development Limits and prohibitions Reader expectations Market expectations The suspension of disbelief factor Romantic vs. Realistic Current social trends  Contact Susan Lieberman, Writing Works Manager, at Grant MacEwan Community College for enrolment information. Ebooks & Romance Novels * Sherlock Holmes Pastiches * Creative Writing Instruction * Home