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Creating Characters in Stories
Two In-Person Sessions
Mon., Sept. 8, 15, 2025, 6:30-8:30 pm MT

Writers, love your characters! That means understanding their deepest thoughts and motivations. As you write, feel an elevated interest as you design their fate. What goals might they have? What might be keeping them from reaching those goals? What makes for complexities? What’s their backstory? What are their sharp edges and faults? In this fascinating quagmire of personality, what makes them believable to your reader?

In this two-session course, creative writing instructor and published author Rudy Melena unfolds methods to generate enthralling characters. “Famous characters from literature visit this workshop,” Melena says. “We interview our characters and listen to their answers in their own voices.” Students examine compelling images and design unique characters on the spot. Learn from the book Getting into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors by Brandilyn Collins. Practice showing emotions through characters’ actions and words. Humanize those characters by showing their interactions with others. Whether you’ve dabbled with writing over the years or are just getting started, now is a great time to begin exploring characters on a deeper, more meaningful level. And please note, there’s opportunity to write and share. The writing exercises are positive and generative—no red ink as you likely remember from school. Melena says he’s excited to meet your characters!

Rudy Michael Melena is an award-winning educator and retired principal who holds degrees from Colorado College and Lesley University. He has been a lifelong writer, and his short stories have been published in several literary journals. He is currently revising a novel.