Craft Talk: Writing the Wounded Character in Fiction

Writing the Wounded Character: How Feelings, Emotions, and Fear Function in Plot:

If structure is a vehicle and plot is the road ahead, our characters belong in the driver’s seat, but where does the writer fit in? In this course, I will offer control of the wheel from the writer’s seat when dealing with wounded characters. We will define and discuss character roles such as protagonist, antagonist, and catalyst to determine how these roles function within narrative structure. During the workshop, attendees will work with a wounded character they’ve created and desire to expand. Together, we will unwind the psychology of our characters to understand emotional wounding, how feelings and fears work in relationship to central conflict, and how these states affect characters’ decisions. Workshop offerings will include various tools and methods including specific outlined instructions for the method of unraveling the wounded character, exercises that will be practiced together, instructor feedback, how to use the power of “why”, practice using the character in the context of a scene, and more. A generative experience, writers will practice writing the wounded character in the context of a scene. Attendees will leave the workshop knowing their characters more intimately through an understanding of the roles they play with a firmer grasp on how our characters drive plot and build the scaffolding of structure. In this, writers will deepen bonds with their most mysterious characters by better understanding the psychology that motivates them.