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Start writing fiction: characters and stories
Start writing fiction: characters and stories

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Week 5: Creating convincing characters

Introduction

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You’ve already done some work on character and story, and we’re now going to develop that work with the help of a writer – Josip Novakovich. Like many novelists nowadays he teaches creative writing and he’s also written books on how to write fiction.

Novakovich says this of himself when he started writing: ‘I avoided letting anybody cramp my style. However, I think that I avoided advice and workshops a little too long: some lessons that I learned on my own, I could have learned faster from some good advice.’

This sums up what you stand to gain from studying creative writing.

With the help of Novakovich we will be looking at further ways to find and create characters, and at the importance of conflict in your writing.