Description
The lead characters in our stories can be heroes, antiheroes, or something in between. If we want readers to follow them to the bitter end, we must take our heroes on a journey fraught with obstacles, so they take decisive action and thus reveal their characters. In this workshop, we’ll learn how to draw out their unique abilities, ideas, and values; and their hidden reserves of strength, resourcefulness, and will.
We’ll draw on multiple sources, from the writings of Joseph Campbell to Shrier’s own experience as a theater student at New York’s famed Circle in the Square professional workshop, where overcoming obstacles was the key to sparking dramatic scenes. We’ll learn how to create a difficult arc our protagonists (and all characters) must follow, using their inner resources—physical courage, sheer stubbornness, dogged will, or a clear sense of right and wrong. We’ll discover why our cast must include antagonists who continue to throw up obstacles along this journey, challenging protagonists to become ever more inventive and skilled.
This doesn’t mean our protagonists are full-fledged heroes from the start. They can start off small and reluctant. They can be fearful, lonely, seemingly without much strength or courage—until they transform. Watching this transformation, this arc, is what enthralls readers.
We’ll come away better equipped to turn our protagonists into living, breathing people who, with both abilities and flaws, climb past every difficulty until they have achieved their goals or fallen spectacularly short.
