An update from the twenty-fifth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett
A summary of the workshop held on Saturday January 29, plus some of the output published below
This week, Conner enumerated what makes a great character, the most important attributes being that a character should be flawed and be put under stress so that, according to Charles Baxter, "the story goes forward, [and] something in the situation or the characters is forced to reveal itself." Some famous characters we discussed were Don Quixote, Hamlet, Odysseus, Jo March, Anna Karenina, and Maleficent. During the workshop, we learned that oftentimes the best jumping off point for a character is ourselves. Before completing the prompt, Conner had us get in the mind of our character by finishing these sentences as if we were them: I spend my time worrying about..., What I want most in life is..., My biggest regret is..., My biggest secret is...,I believe in..., and The thing I do when no one else is watching is... And then we wrote!
The Challenge: Write a short story, a chapter, or a poem in the voice of your character in a situation under pressure.
The Participants: Nova, Amelia, Quinn, Emma, Alice, Zar, Penelope, Ellie, Josh, Lina, Gwynne
To watch more readings from this workshop, like Amelia's below, click here.
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