Creating Compelling and Diverse Characters

What makes To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch or The Color Purple’s Celie so engaging? We’ll explore the fundamentals of crafting layered, multidimensional characters through readings, videos, discussions, and writing exercises. We’ll learn how to create characters from the inside out, enlivening them with distinct personalities and voices. And we’ll look at ways to reach outside our own identities and respond to contemporary readers’ and publishers’ desires for characters that authentically show our country’s diversity. We’ll review successful examples of recent novels that portray diverse characters; discuss how to avoid stereotypes and integrate aspects of ethnicity, race, gender, and culture with sensitivity and nuance; and experiment with writing characters outside our own experience. Participants will take away strategies for creating real, dynamic, and diverse characters.