Category: Character Development

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Beyond writer's block, Character Development, Contemporary Events, Creative Process, Fiction, Fictional worlds, Juicy Craft Points, Memoir, Narrators, News; things to look for, Poetry, Story, The Craft of Writing, The power of the arts, Workshops, Writing & Social Justice, Writing and Place, Writing for Social Change

News! Creative Writing Workshop: Writing Place and Placelessness Friday, Sept 23, 2022, 1:00-3:00 pm EST

Anya Achtenberg

for the International Women's Writing Guild Free Write withAnya Achtenberg Sefara-Rabi Writing Place and Placelessness A sense-of-place writing workshop to address place in a world of historical amnesia, diaspora, flight, trauma that knocks us out of place, gentrification; place as investment property, as profit. The poisoning of the sacred. Climate catastrophe.  All this with a deeper dive… Continue reading News! Creative Writing Workshop: Writing Place and Placelessness Friday, Sept 23, 2022, 1:00-3:00 pm EST

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Beyond writer's block, Character Development, Fictional worlds, Narrators, News; things to look for, Story, Writing love

Beyond Formula: Writing Love Scenes that Support the Story with Spirit, Passion, Grit, and Character Truth: Independent class beginning January 12, 2012!

Anya Achtenberg

Dear Writers, I want to talk with you about my independent classes. I continue to teach Claiming Our Stories: Working with the Power of Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Parts One and Two, with writers.com/writers on the net, as you can see from my last posting. But I have been teaching Finding the Real Story: The… Continue reading Beyond Formula: Writing Love Scenes that Support the Story with Spirit, Passion, Grit, and Character Truth: Independent class beginning January 12, 2012!

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Beyond writer's block, Character Development, Creative Process, News; things to look for

Story classes news, and a little story!

Anya Achtenberg

Dear Writers, I am gathering a group for another independent online writing workshop. But here is a little incident that happened on the way to putting this on my Facebook page, something put into gear perhaps by the Great Narrator I can't see. I got bold. I got tired. I know what happens in my… Continue reading Story classes news, and a little story!

Character Development, Creative Process

Character’s voice? Neruda said, “Speak through my words and my blood.”

Anya Achtenberg

I want to respond to something someone suggested about my book, The Stories of Devil-Girl, and then get to what I really want to talk about, which has to do with the process of writing strong characters, and the profound reasons for doing so. The statement said something to the effect that this character of Devil-Girl,… Continue reading Character’s voice? Neruda said, “Speak through my words and my blood.”

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Character Development, News; things to look for, Poetry

Good stuff coming very soon! Online class; local mentorship groups.

Anya Achtenberg

Dear Friends, Get in on it!  February 25, 2008 I will begin teaching an online class for Writers.com called Claiming Our Stories: Working with the Power of Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction. There are not many places left, so if you have been fencesitting, jump in and sign up as soon as possible! I am very excited about it,… Continue reading Good stuff coming very soon! Online class; local mentorship groups.

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Beyond writer's block, Character Development, Language and the Way of Words, Narrators, Voice

The Return of Devil-girl! or, The Stories of Devil-girl, a novella

Anya Achtenberg

The Stories of Devil-girl is a novella which I recorded on a double CD set and released shortly before the war in Iraq broke out in 2003. It works at the crossroads of poetry and prose, and of autobiography and fiction, perhaps also of the brutal and the magical. I began writing it in 1989,… Continue reading The Return of Devil-girl! or, The Stories of Devil-girl, a novella

Character Development, General Writing, Uncategorized

Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy

Anya Achtenberg

Dear Writers, This may the be first in a series of posts on bad guys, on miserable, annoying, cruel and unusual, evil types. You know, all that stuff we like to believe we contain not even a speck of within ourselves. In the good old days, a writer could name their characters something so that when… Continue reading Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy

Character Development, General Writing

Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy.

Anya Achtenberg

September 27, 2007  Dear Writers, This may the be first in a series of posts on bad guys, on miserable, annoying, cruel and unusual, evil types. You know, all that stuff we like to believe we contain not even a speck of within ourselves. In the good old days, a writer could name their characters something… Continue reading Bad guys: characters who are unpleasant, embarrassing, evil, heinous, or even unsexy.

Character Development, Narrators, Travel

The Effect of Travel on Storytellers

Anya Achtenberg

Having just returned from 2 months out of the country, including about 5 weeks in Turkey, I want to mention a few things about travel, and what for me seems to constitute a jolt to the writer who does travel, perhaps, especially, to the writer of story. Clearly, poets find themselves awash in images that… Continue reading The Effect of Travel on Storytellers

Character Development

How does a writer work to develop authentic characters and deepen characterization, whether in fiction or memoir?

Anya Achtenberg

For this post, I’d like to address a question which comes up often in workshops and classes, and calls for a much longer response than this entry will be, a response from many voices: How does a writer develop authentic characters, and deepen characterization? My intent for the suggested writing exploration below is that it… Continue reading How does a writer work to develop authentic characters and deepen characterization, whether in fiction or memoir?