Character Development Keys
Start with characters. End with characters. Find the story in between.
One question I get asked about screenwriting theory a lot is what’s my deal with character archetypes? Here’s your chance to find out with the Screenwriting Master Class course: Character Development Keys.
My mantra is this: Start with characters. End with characters. Find the story in between. As per the old adage, Character should equal Plot because it’s their story. By immersing ourselves in the lives of our characters and determining the nature of their interrelationships as well as their respective narrative functions, we can create a character map along the lines of the one above which informs the crafting of your story’s structure.
This process lies at the heart of Character Development Keys, a one-week online class which begins Monday, March 13. There are seven lectures written by yours truly:
1: Character Archetypes and Story Structure
2: Protagonist
3: Nemesis
4: Attractor
5: Mentor
6: Trickster
7: Switch Protagonist
The study script for the course: The Dark Knight, screenplay by Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, based on characters created by Bob Kane.
If you’re a fan of The Dark Knight trilogy, that alone is probably reason enough to take this class because you will understand the films in a whole new way, through the lens of character archetypes.
In addition, you will get the opportunity to put the theories you learn into action by workshopping one of your own stories.
And as a bonus: I’ll be presenting a set of character development tools I have assembled over the years to help you dig into characters even further to uncover their unique personalities and voice including: questionnaires, biographies, monologues, interviews, sit-downs, secondary character archetypes, and much more.
This is a great chance to delve into what I consider to be one of the most fascinating and helpful ways of approaching character development and indeed, the story-crafting process as a whole: character archetypes.
All of that in only 1-week beginning Monday, March 13.
Take advantage of the benefits of online classes where you do pretty much everything on your own time schedule: download and read lectures, review and post comments on the public forums, upload ideas and optional writing exercises. You want to do that in bed in your pajamas sipping coffee? Devouring chocolate bon bons? Be my guest!
There is one teleconference which is live, but I record and upload that, so you can even check that out on your own time, too.
Who should take this course?
Screenwriters, TV writers, novelists, playwrights, and anyone interested in learning tools to dig into their characters and make their stories come alive.
For more information, go here.
Plus there’s this: For nearly 60% off, you can gain immediate access to the entire content of all 10 Craft classes as well as automatic enrollment in each 1-week Craft course. Check out the Craft Package here.
As always, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you!
