Character as Action
"Character," according to Aristotle, "gives us qualities, but it is in action—what we do—that we are happy or the reverse." In this one-day session, writers of fiction will explore building more engaging characters through action, as opposed to dialogue or happenstance. Come away with methods of swiftly giving their characters more agency and depth, freeing characters to move the story forward in unexpected ways. We will look to Samuel Beckett for guidance.
Please note that the class date has been updated from the print catalogue.
Registration dates:
August 22: Scholarship Donation Day (Learn more.)
August 23: Member registration opens
August 30: General registration opens
Robin McLean
Robin McLean was a lawyer and then a potter in the woods of Alaska before turning to writing. Her first short fiction collection Reptile House won the BOA Fiction Prize, was twice a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Prize, and was named a best book of 2015 in Paris Review. Her debut novel Pity the Beast, published in November of 2022, was noted as "a work of crazy brilliance" and a best book of fiction in 2021 in The Guardian, "stunning debut novel" in New York Review of Books, as well as a best book of the year in the Wall Street Journal. Her second collection of short fiction Get' em Young, Treat' em Tough, Tell 'em Nothing is forthcoming from And Other Stories on October 18, 2022. She lives in the high plains desert of central Nevada.
