Our favourite characters stay with us for life. Whilst we are reading them, they can feel as real as people outside the pages. So whatever form or genre you are writing in, understanding your characters and their relationships is vital to writing something (or someone) readers will connect with.
In our upcoming evening masterclass novelist and poet Cecilia Knapp will take you through how to construct complex characters that your readers are instantly drawn to. Through top tips and practical exercises she will show you how to use plot to build, unsettle and break relationships between your cast of characters, how to work with setting to intensify the relationships in your narrative and to touch on wider social issues through your characters.
15 minutes will be reserved for a Q&A at the end of the masterclass.
This masterclass will be online, video platform to be confirmed. It will also be recorded so if you are unable to attend live, you'll be able to catch-up and access the recording for up to two weeks.
All attendees will be able to purchase Cecilia's book 'Little Boxes' from our independent bookshop partner DRAKE at a discounted rate. DRAKE is a family run bookshop situated in Stockton on Tees, who champion independent publishers and authors.
This masterclass makes up part of The Writing Process, a series held in collaboration with Book Aid International.
Cecilia Knapp is a poet, playwright and novelist and the Young People’s Laureate for London 2020/2021. She was shortlisted for the 2022 Forward prize for best single poem. She is the winner of the 2021 Ruth Rendell award and has been shortlisted for both the Rebecca Swift Women’s prize and the Outspoken poetry prize. Her debut poetry collection Peach Pig will be published by Corsair in 2022. Her poems have appeared in The Financial Times, The White Review, Wasafiri, Popshot, Ambit, Magma and bath magg and anthologised. She curated the anthology Everything is Going to be alright: Poems for When you Really Need Them, published by Trapeze in 2021. Her debut novel Little Boxes is published by The Borough Press (Harper Collins.) Purchase here.
The workshop fee of £30 (incl. VAT) is payable in full online.
This is a live online event which will be presented using video conferencing software. Joining instructions and full guidance will be provided by the W&A Team a week before the event start-date.
Event materials will be made available to attendees for a time-limited period after the event at the speaker's discretion.
Please note that payment instalment plans are available for all W&A events, writing courses and editing services. Contact W&A Admin on writersandartists@bloomsbury.com so that we can find a payment schedule that works for you.
Accessible to All
It’s of real importance to Writers & Artists that our events and courses remain accessible to all.
- At the speaker's discretion, event materials will be made available to attendees after the masterclass.
- A link to a recording of the masterclass will be circulated after the event. This will be made available to event attendees only, and for a time-limited period.
- This event will include written text and visuals. Please contact us in advance so that we can make arrangements to be sure all documents appear in a format that works for you.
- If you’d like to attend but have any questions or concerns regarding accessibility, then please email AccessWA@bloomsbury.com