Cooper Street Workshop: How to Make Characters Feel Real

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

What really makes a character jump off the page? We all know the magic of strong motivations, a well-rendered belief system, and a palpable history, but all these things leave something very important out: idiosyncrasy! Does your character pronounce the “T” in “tarot”? Do they always wear a frog-shaped barrette in their hair? How do their lived realities reflect in how they speak, dress, and behave? Unrooting the peculiarities of our characters is an important step in making them feel real to the reader. It is always more compelling to read difference than sameness, so we’ll examine ways stories use these little artifacts of character in order to animate the lives we render on the page, and how to extract our own observations from real life and put them in our work for the greatest impact.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Tembisa Aborn is a South African-American writer based in the Philadelphia suburbs. She primarily writes and reads speculative fiction, and is particularly drawn toward stories focusing on themes of memory, belonging, and trying to figure out what you are from what you aren’t. She is currently an MFA candidate in Rutgers-Camden’s creative writing program.

This is a virtual event. To facilitate community-building, please plan to have your camera on during the workshop.

Register

$20 General, $5 Camden residents & Rutgers-Camden students