wrapped up in books

I haven’t taken a creative writing course since high school. I Though I have a great group of writer-friends I’ve met online who critique my work and I give feedback on their writing, too. But I’ve never done any sort of in-person workshop. At least not with fiction.

I’ve defended a thesis. I’ve worked on academic papers where I listened to all sorts of feedback from fellow students and my professors, who were often experts in their fields. But I was being judged on my ability to explain facts and synthesize ideas, not whether or my prose was moving or entertaining or inspiring. Opening up my fiction for critique seems so much more … personal.

This weekend I’m taking a workshop at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on character development. Since the workshop is with emily m. danforth—the author of one of the best books I’ve read this year, with the some most complex and real characters I’ve seen—I’m sure I’m going to learn a considerable amount about writing compelling characters. But in sharing my work with others, I think I’ll learn something about my own character as well.