Character-driven Fiction: Making it Happen

Virtual Writing Workshop with David B. Seaburn 
Curated by Writers & Books
Sponsor & Host:  Central Library of Rochester & Monroe County

February 12, 2022, 10:30 am – 1 pm
Free to the Public | Enrollment limited to 16

Register here. 
Workshop is fully enrolled, but a waiting list is available.

E.M. Forster suggested that if an author writes that the King died and then the Queen died, there is no plot for the story. But if the author writes that the King died and then the Queen died of grief, the writer has provided a plot line for the story. It is through the nuanced complexity of characters’ internal lives and external actions that plots are driven. 

Participants in this workshop will learn how to create characters that become people on the page–people who engage each other, and in the process, create stories. In this workshop, we will examine the key elements of plot, the importance of subplots, the value of movement, dialogue, and how to introduce twists and turns. Ample time will be provided for writing exercises. 

David B. Seaburn’s first novel, Darkness is as Light, was published in 2005. He followed with Pumpkin Hill (2007); Charlie No Face (2011), a Finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award in General Fiction; Chimney Bluffs (2012); More More Time (2015); and Parrot Talk (2017), which placed second in the TAZ Awards for Fiction (2017) and was shortlisted for the Somerset Award (2018). Gavin Goode (2019) was an American Book Fest Finalist for “Best Book” in General Fiction (2019) and Semi-Finalist in Literary, Contemporary and Satire Fiction for the Somerset Award (2019). His latest novel is Broken Pieces of God.

Seaburn is a retired marriage and family therapist, psychologist and Presbyterian minister, and currently a writing instructor at Writers & Books.

Registrants receive a reminder email from the Library the day before the workshop and a Zoom link.