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Crafting Memorable Characters – 5 week online course
January 21 @ 7:00 pm – February 18 @ 8:30 pm
**CLASS FULL**
Beloved. Holden Caulfield. Tom Sawyer. Most of us recognize these character’s names even if we haven’t read the corresponding novels in which they appear. What makes certain characters memorable and others forgettable? Why do we remember certain characters long after we put down a book? Why do we miss certain characters, as though they were our friend, once a story concludes?
This course will take up these and other questions, first by distinguishing between “flat” and “round” characters, as conceived by E.M. Forster, then direct and indirect characterization. Next, we will consider techniques for characterization, focusing throughout on what makes a character interesting. Finally, we will discuss pitfalls to avoid when creating characters, so readers are compelled to read their stories till the end. Assignments include a character sketch and a character-driven scene. Students will receive feedback on their work from the instructor on both of these assignments.
Wednesdays, Jan 21 – Feb 18, 7-8:30pm on Zoom
A graduate of SUNY-Buffalo’s English doctoral program with concentrations in Modernist Literature and Critical Theory, Moriah Hampton teaches in the Writing and Critical Inquiry Program and Honors College at SUNY-Albany, including classes on Metamorphosis Tales and Short Fabulist Fiction. She is both a critical and creative writer as well as a photographer, with interests in Modernist and contemporary literature and art, psychoanalysis, Indigeneity, and ethics. Her fiction, poetry, photography, and critical writing have appeared in Ponder Review, The Coachella Review, Hamilton Stone Review, Poetry South, Route 7 Review, Gargoyle Magazine, the quint, and elsewhere. Her photographs have appeared as cover art for Typehouse Literary Magazine and Wildroof Journal and in group exhibits at Artworks Gallery Workshop 13, Arts Center East, Main Street Arts, and elsewhere. A 2024 Poet-in-Residence at Kristine Mann Library, she is also a contributor to the NY State Writers Institute, having conducted multiple interviews with contemporary creative writers, and serves as a fiction editor at Cleaver Magazine. She has received fellowships through Soaring Gardens Artists Retreat, Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, and SUNY-Albany Initiatives for Women. Originally from the southeast, she has Scottish and English ancestry and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.