Character

Writing from the world

- Taking risks, undertaking research, pretending to be people you’ve never met

Writing from life

- Draw on your own experiences and that of those around you.

Character Development
- Writer must understand every aspect, motivation in the character’s inner life
- Behind the scenes work - shouldnt be explained

Protagonist
- main character, the character whose actions, choices and decisions trigger
forward movement in the plot and whose emotional journey brings depth and
dimension to the story.
- While the protagonist need not have heroic qualities or indeed, even be likable,
they should be the character whose fate matters most to the reader.
- ALL YEARN for something
- Can be external - winning a pie eating contest
- Or internal - overcome feelings of guilt/ self-loathing
- What drives the protagonist to do what they do/ choose what they choose

Conflict and Antagonism

- Conflict arises when a protagonist, in pursuit of their yearning, encounters a
significant obstacle, one that is a genuine threat.
- Threats = antagonisms, and the more significant the antagonism, the more
interesting the protagonist. Antagonisms have a yearning in direct opposition to
the protagonist’s yearning, thereby creating conflict.
- Pose genuine threats that we aren't sure if the protagonist will reach their goal

Antagonism operates on 3 levels

Internal
- protagonist battles with something within themselves
- “I am my own worst enemy”
- Take characters strongest trait > see how it can conflict
Interpersonal
- protagonist’s yearning is at odds with the yearnings of other characters
- They want opposite of what protagonist wants
- Characters (antagonists) can be anyone and act as obstacles from start to finish
Societal
- protagonist battles beliefs, laws or prejudices within their community or the world at large
 - Where we begin to understand the placement of our character in their community and
the world
- Ex. female struggling in male dominated field
- Does character hold core belief thats against one of society
- How do they navigate the obstacles
- How do these obstacles elicit range of emotional responses (anger, guilt)
- Or lead to certain behaviours (secrecy, ingenuity)

For a story to be compelling, a protagonist must face all three levels of antagonism at
the same time.

Antagonism as an Idea
- The problem with antagonism as an idea is that ideas are abstract rather than
concrete.
- while it's fine for your story to address a big issue, it has to do so in a
concrete way.
- The way to do this is by finding concrete examples of how this idea might exist in all
three levels of antagonism: personal, interpersonal and societal.
● For example, if your antagonistic idea is racism, you might have a character
facing racism in her community, facing racist antagonist characters, and also
facing racist beliefs within herself.

Microfiction
- Can be a particular moment
- Moment that sums up a bigger idea you want to explore
- Like you are joining a story
- Story where something (usually character) changes

Images
- AVOID complex metaphors and focus on direct sensory experience
- What do they hear/ touch > HOW DO THEY THINK?
- Story needs to escalate - then turn where an unexpected truth is revealed

Create tension through revelation (not confusion)

 - One expected turn after another / sentence by sentence
- As reader reads every line - they should learn more and more
- Until arrives at a deeper understanding of the character and story - each line
reveals something new
- Too much explaining, leaves no room for reader
- Make every word count

THINGS

re the worst.