Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget

Riveting storytelling hinges on how you develop your characters. By tracking a handful of critical moments in your story, by examining the pressures and risks at each moment, by taking into account how your character’s identities inform their actions, and by understanding how your characters push against their histories and environments at each step, you can create compelling arcs that heighten your story’s emotional impact and make it truly unforgettable.

Join acclaimed author Stant Litore as he teaches you this powerful and tested process for character development in this intensive course that past students have called transformational.

Stant is the acclaimed author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, as well as a series of craft toolkits for fiction writers. He’s taught writing at Clarion West, Pikes Peak Writers, and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers; his teaching has been called “a superb resource for beginners and pros alike,” and he’s been spotlighted by Jeff Vandermeer and NPR.

In the first half of the course, you’ll engage in a combination of self-paced online discussion and live videoconferences led by Stant as you learn and master these powerful techniques for character development.

Then in the second half, you’ll take part in a deep character arc workshop where you’ll use all of the skills you’ve learned to refine an engaging and dynamic character arc. You’ll get detailed personal feedback from Stant as you workshop your arc to make it truly memorable, and you’ll leave with fresh ideas on how to structure your story to maximize the emotional and dramatic impact for your character and the reader.

By the time you’re done, you’ll have developed a profound understanding of how to create engaging characters, every time. These character arcs can empower you to ask more strategic questions about your plot, pacing, sequence of scenes, dramatic tension, what clues you provide the reader and when, and about your character’s agency, identity, and journey.

The techniques covered in this class will be relevant regardless of your genre or topic; after all, a fictional world can be as big as an imagined universe, or as local and intense as a crime scene or a dining room table. All writers are welcomed, with or without existing material, and writers of all skill levels will find this course a thorough reworking of their approach to creating characters.

Some of Stant’s career highlights

What you’ll learn

After you finish this class, you’ll:

• Complete a deep, energizing character workshop with personal feedback from Stant.

• Be able to bring your characters to high-stakes choices, and involve your readers in the emotion and tension of those choices.

• Learn how to tighten your pacing and plotting, identify where you’ve left gaps, where you’ve taken too long, and where there are additional opportunities for both nuance and suspense in your character’s journey as they struggle to become (or remain) who they need to be.

• Be able to employ battle-tested techniques to create memorable characters, every time, in every story.

Class outline

• Week One: What makes characters unforgettable?

• Week Two: Crafting unforgettable dialogue

• Week Three: Mastering the character arc outline; deep-dive character workshop

• Week Four: Applying character arcs across scenes and chapters; deep-dive character workshop

Student praise for Stant Litore

Working with Stant was an unmitigated pleasure. He took the time to read my already published work in the series as well as the working script for future volumes, and seemed to fully understand the story I was envisioning. He worked with me to uncover the plot and characters I was struggling to find in my own writing. It was an electrifying session, and the notes from that are still informing my work on the project a year later.

—Pink Pitcher, author and artist, Root & Branch

Encountering Stant Litore’s advice on character development was revelatory, and I had to immediately rewrite my novel. It was exhilarating.

—K. Tempest Bradford, Writing the Other

I had the opportunity to work with Stant during one of his workshops. He gave me such valuable advice and insight that I asked him to help me develop my characters and plot further. I am so glad I did! Stant has in-depth knowledge of storytelling and character, and he is extremely adept at applying this knowledge to the developing story at hand. Even when my thoughts and ideas are difficult for me to articulate, he is able to make sense of them and help me hone in on what I really want to say. He is an enthusiastic and skilled teacher and a lot of fun to work with. Last but not least, my story is so much stronger for having worked with him on it. If you have the opportunity to work with him, do not hesitate!

—Anna Brandt, writing And I Saw the Beast

I’ve worked with a number of editors over the years (some quite well-known), but Stant was unique in my experience. Instead of the usual line and structural edits, he did a deep dive into the world of my characters and discovered hidden gems I hadn’t noticed. The potential he unlocked turned the narrative from “just okay” into something truly exceptional. I’m still processing all the changes he suggested, but for the first time I feel my story can rise above the noise and make a big splash. Gotta lotta work to do!

—Hal Jay Greene, writer, Across Space

Zoom schedule

Along with these Zoom calls, you’ll also spend time taking in lectures and chatting on Scribophile over the course of the class. All Zoom calls are recorded, so if you miss one you can review it later.

• Monday April 3, 2023 12:00pm US Central time — 1 hour 30 minutes

• Monday April 10, 2023 2:00pm US Central time — 1 hour 30 minutes

• Monday April 17, 2023 12:00pm US Central time — 1 hour 30 minutes

• Monday April 24, 2023 12:00pm US Central time — 1 hour 30 minutes

• Friday April 28, 2023 12:00pm US Central time — 1 hour

How this workshop works

This class is conducted entirely online, on Scribophile and via Zoom videoconference. Participate from anywhere in the world!

You’ll join the instructor and your fellow students in a private group hosted on Scribophile. Take in reading and assignments at your own speed, and discuss them with the instructor and your classmates in the online class discussion forum.

You’ll also participate in Zoom videoconferences with the instructor and your classmates so you can get live lessons and insights, and ask questions in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Videoconferences will be recorded, so you can review them later if you missed them.

Questions about this class?

We’re happy to answer any questions you might have!

• Check out our Writing Class FAQ for answers to some common questions.

• Contact us and a real person will get back to you ASAP.

About Stant Litore

Stant Litore has taught fiction writing workshops for Clarion West, Pikes Peak Writers, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Apex Writers, Writing the Other, and Scribophile. Besides the Litore Toolkits for Fiction Writers, including Write Characters Your Readers Won’t Forget and Beat Writer’s Block and Reignite Your Creativity, among others, Stant is a noted science fiction and fantasy author whose work has been acclaimed on NPR and in Weird Fiction Review; his fiction includes Ansible: A Thousand Faces, The Running of the Tyrannosaurs and The Dakotaraptor Riders, The Zombie Bible, and Dante’s Heart. He has also written the nonfiction titles Lives of Unstoppable Hope, Lives of Unforgetting: What We Lose in Translation When We Read the Bible and On the Other Side of the Night: How Science Fiction and Fantasy Can Help Us Through Our Dark Hour.

Stant’s approach to character development has been featured in Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook: An Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction. He has been called “SF’s premier poet of loneliness” and, in the context of teaching fiction, “a superb resource for beginners and pros alike.” He provides one-on-one consultation and workshopping for fiction writers and has served in the past as a developmental editor for the writers’ collaborative Westmarch Publishing. He holds a Ph.D. in English.

You can support his work on Patreon or Kofi, and explore his life and fiction at stantlitore.com.

Other workshops starting soon

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