10am to 12pm, Saturday, 21 November.
Writers know their characters need to be fully rounded, multi-layered, and believable but how do we do it? This session will cover a variety of theories used by counsellors and psychologists to understand human behaviour and adapt them into easy tools for writers to use when creating their characters. Darian Smith, author of “The Psychology Workbook for Writers: Tools for Creating Realistic Characters and Conflict in Fiction” will cover topics such as internalised messages, communication, conflict styles, and relationships, with a focus on how to bring this layered approach into your writing and ensure your characters don’t come across paper-thin!
Darian Smith is an award winning fiction writer with a degree in psychology. As the author of the ‘Agents of Kalanon’ series, he has won a Sir Julius Vogel Award, two Koru Awards, and was a finalist for the international fantasy book competition known as SPFBO. As a member of the NZ Association of Counsellors, he has worked in private practice as a counsellor and family therapist, set up a free counselling service at his local Citizens Advice Bureau, and helps people with neuromuscular conditions through the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He combines these two sides of his background to provide simple, easy to follow tools that make use of established psychological theory to help writers develop fully rounded, interesting, realistic characters and inject conflict into their stories.
WEBWORKSHOP ATTENDANCE FEE: NZSA Members – $30. (Non-members – $60)
NZSA WebWorkshops are hosted on Zoom. Zoom is free to download