As usual, the crowd at Charles Beatley was an engaged and participatory one. I decided (of course) to develop a new presentation, focused on character development. This time, I talked about how budding writers can create their own characters by first listing characteristics or personality traits about themselves (the WHAT), then stating WHY they think those descriptions fit them, and finally, explaining HOW they fit through specific examples. Then, we practiced by looking at fun pictures of crazy creatures, listing physical features about those creatures, imagining what/why/how the creature uses that funny feature, and whether it hinders or helps it, and then coming up with stories of how these features helped or hindered the creature.
It was a great way to kick off book 2, and so thank you again to Isiah and Diana at Charles Beatley for being such amazing hosts! Maybe I’ll see one of you for the next presentation!