Classic Character Development

Developing a character throughout a story to make the character memorable.

After you set up a great character in your opening, then what? How do you develop the character into a living, breathing, memorable character?

Instead of focusing on only the openings, this workshop will focus on the development of a character through a story. All kinds of characters in every genre.

Characters make a story memorable. We all describe books by the memorable character. A Travis McGee novel. Or a Jack Reacher novel. Or an Alex Cross novel. Or a Dirk Pitt novel. Or a Smokey Dalton novel. Or a Poker Boy story. And on and on and on.

Memorable characters, well-developed characters, are why publishers put the character names on the covers of books. Readers want to read more by those characters.

Among the many areas worked on in this workshop:
--- Character background without information dumps that bore.
--- Know how to do characters that become the emotional heart of a story.
--- Know how to make a character memorable.
--- How to make a character become larger-than-life.
--- How to make a character come off the page and actually live in reader's minds.
--- Character Pacing
--- How to develop memorable, living characters while writing into the dark.
--- And so much more, including many, many professional writer tricks of the trade.

There are only seven basic plots. What makes a story unique is the character development. That development is what this workshop is all about.

Important for all genres.

In the Depth Workshop, writers learned how to get readers down into stories with character depth.

In Advanced Depth, the focus is how to open chapters and scenes in different ways, as well as alternate openings.

In the Character Voice Workshop, the study concerned on how to make characters different.

The new Character Development Workshop now takes the character work into the first third and middle of the books, to make characters round and alive and memorable to the readers when they finish your story or book.

Along with the Depth Workshop, this is a don't miss workshop.


Your Instructor


Dean Wesley Smith
Dean Wesley Smith

With over twenty-three million copies of his books in print, USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith now brings you original fiction every month for the past three years in his own magazine, Smith’s Monthly.

Dean wrote over twenty-five original Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, plus Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man novels, and others. He wrote many gaming novels including Final Fantasy.

He wrote novels and stories under almost fifty pen names and did scripts for Hollywood as well as being an editor for various magazines. He lives in Las Vegas with his wife, writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch. You can follow his writing life at www.deanwesleysmith.com


Course Curriculum


  Introduction to the Classic Workshops
Available in days
days after you enroll

Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
For lectures and classic workshops, the course starts now and stays on your dashboard for as long as you like! They are completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish. For the monthly regular workshops, each has a start date and each week's lectures will appear on the same day. After the course is finished it will remain on your dashboard for as long as you like.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
If you have any questions at all about anything in a course, simply email Dean with the word "workshop" in the subject line. His email is [email protected]

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