The Act of Writing : What Characters DO in Fiction with Michèle Forbes
Info
Date: September 28, 2022
Time: 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Duration: 8 Weeks
Level: Beginner | Emerging |
Cost: €240 (€220 Members)
Online/In Person: Online
All Irish Writers Centre remote courses take place on Irish Standard Time (GMT)
Course Summary
Novelist and critic James Wood says ‘The novel begins in the theatre and novelistic characterisation begins when the soliloquy goes inward.’ Is this a useful tool with which to create fictional character and to find how the interiority of character can be expressed? How do we get our characters to move and think on the page? And who is your character talking to? Michèle’s experience as an actor informs how she creates character in fiction.
Course Outline:
Over this eight week course Michèle will examine what level of scrutiny is needed to best express the innermost thoughts of our characters, and how we can infer the motivation of our characters through their actions. Each session will start with a talk led by Michèle on a different topic relating to the act of character creation (point of view, dialogue, physical description and detail, interior monologue, situation, backstory) followed by short interactive writing exercises for participants. Before the commencement of the course participants will be asked to supply 2000 words of their work-in-progress (from a short story or a novel) which all participants will read. Each week the session will finish with the work of participants being discussed and given constructive criticism within the class setting.
Course Outcomes:
Participants will develop the skills to write convincing characters from the inside, and to hone techniques to help them understand what their characters are doing within any given scene. They will also benefit from professional and peer feedback on their writing in a constructive and relaxed environment.
Michèle Forbes is an award-winning novelist, short story writer and playwright, with an extensive background in theatre. Her work includes the novels Ghost Moth, Edith & Oliver, the play POSTSCRIPT (with Noelle Brown), which was produced at the Abbey Theatre. Her short stories have won both the Michael McLaverty and the Bryan MacMahon Awards and have been broadcast on BBC and RTE Radio. She has been recipient of Literature Bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland.
