Creative Writing: The Craft of Character Course Syllabus
Full curriculum breakdown — modules, lessons, estimated time, and outcomes.
Overview: This concise, beginner-friendly course guides you through the essential elements of creating vivid, emotionally resonant characters. Over approximately 6–9 hours of flexible learning, you'll explore how desires, conflicts, and narrative perspective shape believable characters. With four core modules and a final project, the course blends theory, examples, and hands-on writing exercises to help you craft characters that feel real and dynamic. All content is self-paced with lifetime access, culminating in a certificate of completion.
Module 1: Discovering Characters from Your Life and Elsewhere
Estimated time: 2 hours
- Pre-writing thoughts and character inspiration
- Understanding conflict as purpose
- Identifying characters' core desires
- Refining characters by chipping away non-essentials
Module 2: Creating Characters on the Page
Estimated time: 2 hours
- Describing physical traits effectively
- Using actions to reveal personality
- Writing realistic and purposeful dialogue
- Establishing narrator perspective and voice
Module 3: Mastering Dialogue and Inner Monologue
Estimated time: 1.5 hours
- Shaping dialogue to reflect identity
- Using subtext in spoken and unspoken words
- Developing inner monologue for emotional depth
- Advancing plot through character speech and thought
Module 4: Narrative Perspective and Character Perception
Estimated time: 1.5 hours
- How narrative perspective shapes reader understanding
- Choosing the right point of view for your story
- Aligning narrator with character development
Module 5: Bringing Characters to Life
Estimated time: 1 hour
- Integrating description, action, and dialogue
- Highlighting emotional depth and believability
- Revealing character through what they do and don’t say
Module 6: Final Project
Estimated time: 2 hours
- Write an original scene featuring a dynamic character
- Apply techniques of desire, conflict, and voice
- Submit for peer review and receive feedback
Prerequisites
- Basic proficiency in English
- Interest in creative writing or storytelling
- No prior writing experience required
What You'll Be Able to Do After
- Build characters with clear motivations and emotional depth
- Write realistic and compelling dialogue
- Use narrative perspective to shape reader perception
- Create multidimensional characters through action and subtext
- Produce a polished character-driven scene ready for expansion