I
have been contacted by the organisers of the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School inviting
me to run a workshop. I feel genuinely honoured to be asked to pass on my own
thoughts to other writers. In years passed I have enjoyed listening to famous
writers passing on their skills and I anticipate it will feel daunting for me to
follow in their footsteps.
The
theme of the workshop will be characterization. I’m aware that many better
writers have passed on their thoughts on that subject and I don’t want to bore
the delegates with information they will have already gathered from other
sources. This will have to be my thoughts on how to go about bringing
characters to life. So I aim to cover four elements that I address in order to make
a character jump off the page: name, appearance, dialogue and actions.
How
I tackle the workshop is something I will need to think about in the next few
months. My initial thought is to give the delegates brief information on a
fictional character and discuss with them the importance of using each of those
elements to bring that character to life in the reader’s mind. I’m glad the
organisers have given me plenty of time to think about it!
That'll be great - your characters are always well-drawn. I'd love to do Swanwick some day.
ReplyDeleteYou would enjoy it, Kath. It's by far the best gathering of writers I have ever attended. And you cannot help but come away having made new writing friends.
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