Getting to Know Your Character Online Course Jan 2021

Online Course Info:

This is a four-week online course featuring LIVE sessions with faculty, writing exercises, a community forum, a LIVE peer-to-peer roundtable, and an opportunity for editor or agent feedback on your manuscript.

Online Workshop Participant Cap:

18 students.

What You’ll Learn & Experience:

Deepen your understanding of your characters and how they are the foundation for every aspect of your story. Explore resources and complete writing exercises to unlock your characters’ secrets and make decisions about your point of view, plot, pacing and more. Participate in weekly faculty LIVE lectures and Q&A sessions, and receive faculty feedback on your work.

Character can tell you so much about your story, both what goes “on the page” and what happens behind the scenes. In this course, you will:

• Engage in Q&A sessions and hear weekly faculty lectures.
• Explore resources and complete writing exercises (2 per week).
• Participate in a community forum to connect with peers.
• Receive editor or agent feedback on your cover letter, synopsis, and the first 10 pages of your novel.

The Lectures:

• Getting to know your main character
• The influence of secondary characters
• Seeing characters through Scene
• Strengthening your characters with the help of outlines, storyboards, and other tricks

Please note:
If you’re unable for any reason to attend any of the sessions, you’ll have access to the recordings of each through February 28, 2021.

Join Us If:

• You have an in-progress or completed draft of a chapter book, middle grade or young adult novel. Whatever point you’re at, exploring character will help you grow your story.
• You want to learn strategies to improve your novel draft. Exploring your characters will help you with every aspect of your story: plot, voice, point of view and more.
• You want to make sure that readers connect with your characters. The better you know your character, the more likely they will resonate with readers.

Preliminary Agenda:

The dates for the LIVE sessions:

• Session one: January 7@ 1pm Eastern
• Session two: January 14 @ 1pm Eastern
• Session three:January 21 @ 1pm Eastern
• Session four: January 28 @ 1pm Eastern

The Monday following each LIVE session, Sarah will lead an open brainstorming session (not recorded).

Resources:

Characters with Charisma

Making ALL Your Characters Real: a #HFGather Writer Chat with Sarah Aronson & Debbi Michiko Florence

Take Your Character to Work Day

Playing with Point of View: A Webinar with Sarah Aronson

Testimonials:

“Sarah Aronson was organized, thorough in addressing character development through many avenues, personable in presentation, eager to pose and engage online dialogue in community as well as being responsive to the exercises that she posed for us.”

“Sarah was a master at character development and so approachable in her delivery. I am grateful for the opportunity to take her class and feel that it’s definitely helped me move forward in my middle-grade fiction book.”

I learned the importance of storyboarding each scene in the book and in the picture books I have been drafting; also the importance of community and sharing ideas.”