90-minute workshop. Session #3: Friday, February 17, 3:15 PM – 4:45PM
Creative Nonfiction: Writing Character
A story is told largely through character, which is why creating believable characters is just as important in creative nonfiction as it is in fiction. But, paradoxically, creating believable characters based on real people can be trickier than inventing them.
How do we turn real people into characters?
How much information is too much or too little?
What are the ethics involved in writing about real people?
At what point does the “I” in a nonfiction story become a character, and not simply the author?
In this workshop, we will explore these and other questions that come up when writing memoir, personal essays, and other forms of creative nonfiction. There will also be exercises that will help make your characters come alive on the page.
Wayne Grady has been writing creative nonfiction for more than 30 years. He is the author of 14 books, mostly of science and nature writing, and is also an anthologist and translator.
His numerous awards include three Science-in-Society Awards, a National Outdoor Book Award, more than a dozen National Magazine Awards, and the Governor General’s Award for Literary Translation.
He is a former Chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada, and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.
His most recent book, Breakfast at the Exit Cafe, was co-authored with his wife, novelist Merilyn Simonds.
