Hi Reader,

As a writer, you know your story hinges on a protagonist who feels real, relatable, and richly human. Whether that character is you in memoir—or someone you've imagined in fiction—they need to be fabulously flawed, emotionally layered, and full of contradictions.

I was recently struck (again) by this powerful TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Danger of a Single Story: Watch it here​

She reminds us how easily society stereotypes people based on a single version of who they are—based on where they come from, how they speak, what we think we already know. And how essential it is to show the complexity of real human experience by offering more than one character, more than one story, more than one angle.

That’s what our characters are for, and that's what the course I'm teaching with Linda Joy Myers is all about. It starts tomorrow.

Even if you set your characters in the same small town, if they share the same culture, religion, race, and socioeconomic background—your characters are not all the same. Not even close. Every character brings their own emotional landscape, contradictions, coping strategies, and desires to the page. It's your job as the writer to reveal those differences—subtly, skillfully, and truthfully. That’s where character comes alive.

It’s up to you to bring your characters to life with depth, tension, and emotional truth—so they cannot be reduced to a stereotype. To show them in all their mess and magnificence.

Are you up to the challenge?

In our 4-week course, Bringing Your Characters to Life on the Page, you’ll learn how to:

• Differentiate voices through dialogue, tone, and silence.
• Use gesture, habits, clothing, and body language for emotional texture.
• Reveal truth and contradiction—what’s said, what’s meant, and what’s hidden.
• Represent characters across religions, races, cultures, and class backgrounds with depth and respect.
• Show how characters push and pull at each other in scene, creating tension and movement.
• Craft people your readers will remember, long after the last page.

We start tomorrow—and there’s still time to join us.

Make your story full of stories—layered, human, unforgettable. We’d love to have you with us.

Warmly,
Carla

PS: Last week, Linda Joy Myers and I held a mini-class on character with extended Q&A. Find it here: Video Replay | Slides | Link to Course​

PSS: Every course in the Writing & Publishing Circle includes access to a companion discussion group—an optional space to share your writing, exchange feedback, and connect with the other writers in the course.