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Characters are important, right?
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REACH YOUR APEX
Mid-April Updates
When you think of great books often the first thing that comes to mind are the iconic characters. Logen Ninefingers. Holden Caulfield. Lisbeth Salander. A couple of my personal favorites aren't even human: Marvin the Paranoid Android from Douglas Adams's The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the pigs from Orwell's Animal Farm (especially Napoleon).
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Unlike other forms of mass media where the creators can lean into sight and/or sound to help define a character, writers must do so exclusively with words. Later this month, Reach Your Apex is bringing you a one-shot workshop titled CRAFTING CHARACTERS THAT CONNECT led by Aaron Philips Clark. This is a perfect opportunity to have an acclaimed writer show you how to make a memorable villain (or hero, of course).
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CRAFTING CHARACTERS THAT CONNECT
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$40.00
Characters are the heart and soul of any story, and creating truly compelling and relatable characters is an art form. In this workshop, we will delve deep into the intricacies of character creation, exploring what makes characters successful by identifying their motivations, wants, and needs. By understanding what drives them to act in ways that defy stereotypes and illuminate the nuances of human behavior, we will learn how to craft characters that resonate with audiences on a profound level.
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Whether you’re a seasoned writer seeking to enhance your character development skills or a beginner looking to lay a strong foundation, this workshop will provide invaluable insights and practical tools to help you create characters that truly connect with your readers.
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$275.00
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Four Week Asynchronous course
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Are you drawn to weird tales? Speculative fiction grounded in an uneasy darkness that exists somewhere between “estrangement and recognition,” as Kelly Link describes it? Have people told you that the stuff you write is, well … not classifiable? Dark? Weird?
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Whether you relate to Kelly Link-weird or Lovecraft-weird, you know how important it is for the reader to understand what’s happening, even if they’re not exactly sure why. Mystery is one thing (good), but confusion is another (not so good). Whether it’s Rick and Morty, Cthulhu, or Nope, the most bizarre ideas need relatable characters to bring them to life. The more absurdist your plot or eccentric your place-time continuum, the more important it is to ground the reader in a world that feels true—urgently, heartbreakingly so. If you’d love one day to have a story picked up by the likes of Apex, Uncanny, or Strange Horizons, the first thing you need to find is the bleeding heart in your Weird.
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In four weeks, award-winning author and instructor, J.S. Breukelaar, will guide you through some basic touchstones of Weird; we’ll talk about genre, structure, place and heart—most of what you need to help your work to jump off the slush pile.
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DIVINING STORY: USING TAROT FOR STORYBOARDING
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$35.00
Join us for an immersive workshop where we explore the fusion of tarot and storytelling. In this unique session, you will learn how to harness the mystical power of tarot cards to unlock your creativity and enrich your storyboarding process.
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No prior experience with tarot or storytelling is required to participate. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, filmmaker, game designer, or simply a storytelling enthusiast, this workshop is tailored to kindle your creativity in new and unexpected ways.
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FOR WRITERS: COLLABORATING WITH OTHERS
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I once hosted a writing date, where a bunch of authors came together at a set time to (individually) write. The experience reminded me how private I am. Everyone else had eyes glued to their screen, fingers on the keyboard silently tic tic tac tac tictictactactoc! Others furiously scrawled ideas as the muse whispered spur. I was paralyzed.
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