When the reader is able to place himself in the shoes of someone within the story, he feels the stakes involved and cares for the story's outcome.

But how can a writer avoid the pitfalls of making characters bland, stereotypical, or unrelatable? How does one avoid the trap of writing unnecessarily lengthy character profiles? How can the writer flesh out the character without sacrificing the pace of the story?

Storywriting Basics: Characterization is a writing course that offers an effective and efficient approach to developing characters. The workshop uses the story design approach to give characters greater depth as the story continues to move forward.

Our course creator

Storywriting Basics: Characterization was created by Dr. Joem Antonio. A published author and playwright, he holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from UP Diliman and is an eight-time Palanca Award winner. He believes that writing is a skill that can be learned by even those who weren't magically "born with the talent." Through his writing courses and workshops, he teaches writing as a science, leaving students with clear methods that allow them to move their writing projects forward.