Making Your Character Voices Pop
Making Your Character Voices Pop
Use prompts and exercises to spend time with your characters outside the world of your story, learning more about their voices and reactions in various situations.
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What you can learn.
About This Course
We take it for granted that real people bring their personalities to situations completely unrelated to their most pressing motivations and conflicts. What would it look like if our characters did the same? Now that you have a first draft of your screenplay or TV pilot, this course lets you unshackle your characters from the hard work of delivering your story so you can experience what they’re like “off the clock.” Through a series of writing exercises, you explore how your characters think, feel and behave when confronted with mundane situations we all recognize from everyday life. The premise of this course is that once your characters reveal to you what makes them interesting and distinct in situations divorced from the aims of your plot, you then see how to let them express themselves more vividly when it really counts.
Winter 2026 Schedule
No meeting February 16.
Enrollment limited to 15 students; early enrollment advised. Visitors not permitted. Internet access required.
This course is held via video teleconference. Instructors use Zoom to offer live class meetings at the designated class meeting time. Students must be present at the course meeting time as each student’s final grade may include scores for participation. Please inform your instructor if you will miss a class meeting. You are responsible for any class information you missed. We suggest you arrange with a fellow classmate to share their notes when feasible.