Character Disruption

In real-life, we get to know a person by observing them and interacting with them, making judgements and drawing our own conclusions. And fiction, like real life, tends to become more complicated when there’s more than one character. In this workshop, we’ll consider how to build and reveal fictional characters with a focus on interactions, exploring the question: How does a character act—or react—when they’re among other people?
Please bring something to write with. No experience necessary.

About the instructor

Shashi Bhat is the author of the forthcoming novel Spinster (McClelland & Stewart), the story collection Death by a Thousand Cuts (M&S), and the novels The Most Precious Substance on Earth (M&S, Grand Central), and The Family Took Shape(Cormorant). Her fiction received the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and a silver National Magazine Award. She has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award for fiction, the Danuta Gleed Award, the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award, and other prizes, and was longlisted for the Giller Prize. Shashi’s work has appeared in publications across North America, including Hazlitt, The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, Best Canadian Stories, and The Journey Prize Stories. She is the editor-in-chief of EVENT and teaches creative writing at Douglas College.

About TWS Community Workshops

The TWS Community Workshops are planned and developed, and often hosted, by alumni of the Writer’s Studio at SFU. The proceeds from the workshops support writing scholarships in the Studio’s year-long cohort program. If you would like to know more about the Writer’s Studio, please visit our website. If you would like to submit a workshop idea, please email us at write@sfu.ca.