Character Comes First

with Chris Whitaker

From Scout Finch to Jane Eyre, Jack Reacher to Hannibal Lecter, it’s often the memory of the characters that outlive the stories they inhabit. You can write the perfect opening, a mesmerizing twist, and a heart breaker of an ending, but if your readers don’t truly care about the characters involved, nothing else really matters. When working on my latest book, All The Colours Of The Dark, I spent the first year writing nothing but dialogue between the two protagonists. I knew the success of my story would live or die with the characters, and in order to fully get to know mine, I had to spend time helping them get to know each other. I drew from my own past trauma when writing theirs, my own relationships when forming theirs, and my own failures and successes when helping them face theirs.

Together we’ll look at how to bring your characters to life through background, dialogue and creating a voice that demands to be heard. We’ll map character arcs, and work on how using your own experiences can help you not only to connect with your writing, but also to create protagonists your readers will never forget.