“Plot grows out of character. If you focus on who the people in your story are, something is bound to happen.” – Anne Lamott
Readers pick up books because of a tantalizing blurb, a promise of action or romance or intrigue. But your book lingers in their hearts and minds because of the core of humanity inside it – even if it’s a novel set in a parallel universe where dogs walk humans. Deep character work is a portal, a cheat code, into making your novel feel whole. While you’re focused on plot or pacing or conflict, your characters are quietly building themselves, exhibiting motivations and backgrounds you can plumb for texture, choices, and access to the human wildness inside each of us. In this lecture, I’ll discuss strategies to create authentic, useful characters that linger long after the novel is done.
LINDSAY HUNTER is the author of two story collections and three novels, the most recent of which, Hot Springs Drive, won the Chicago Review of Books Fiction award and was named a top thriller of 2023 by the Washington Post. She teaches the Novel in a Year online program at StoryStudio and lives in Chicago with her family.
