Course Two · Free · By application

How to Write Fantasy Characters

Shaping the Soul - How to create a good character

A character is not a description. They are the set of choices you let them make, and the price you make them pay for making them.

A character is not a description. They are the set of choices you let them make and the price they pay for making them. What they want drives the plot; what they need drives the arc; the gap between the two is where the story lives. We work on flaws that cost something on the page rather than sitting in a character sheet, on keeping power progression and personal change on separate tracks, and on writing an ending your character has to give something up to reach.

What it covers

  • Want versus need, and building the tension between them
  • Writing flaws that generate scenes instead of labels
  • Keeping progression and character arc on separate tracks
  • Supporting casts: giving side characters their own wants
  • Villains who are right about something

The other courses