Crafting Characters with Care with Carrie R. Moore 2025
Mondays, May 5-June 2 (no class May 26)
8-10pm ET
Craft Course
$275
$250
One of the best writing classes I've ever taken!
To be an avid reader is to fall in love with full, complex characters. Yet to be a fiction writer is to be responsible for creating them. In your own work, are you writing into challenging ancestral histories? Inventing nuanced characters whose experiences differ from your own? In this four-week course, we will consider how to be attentive to our characters’ humanity, looking beyond their functions as propellers of plot or thematic symbols. We will examine strategies for writing traumatic events without veering into exploitation, for making secondary characters feel as full-fledged as our protagonists, and for writing against stereotypes. Course participants can expect to complete in-class and take-home writing exercises, as well as to give weekly feedback on their peers’ work via discussion boards. (The instructor will provide feedback on one piece over the course of the class.) Participants will also read and discuss excerpts from works by Mohsin Hamid, Lauren Groff, Paul Harding, Toni Morrison, Edward P. Jones, and other authors. Novelists and short story writers of all levels are welcome!
This class was initially offered in May 2024, and new students are invited to attend. Because all participants are encouraged to be vulnerable in this space, this class will not be recorded.
About Carrie R. Moore:
Carrie R. Moore’s fiction has appeared in One Story, New England Review, The Sewanee Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, and other publications. She has received scholarships and fellowships from the Community of Writers, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies. She earned her MFA in Fiction at the Michener Center for Writers, where she won the Keene Prize for Literature and was the inaugural fellow at the Steinbeck Writers’ Retreat in Sag Harbor, New York. Her debut collection of stories, Make Your Way Home, is forthcoming from Tin House Books. Photo: Matt Valentine
Schedule
All sessions will take place on Zoom.
Session 1: Monday, May 5: 8-10pm ET
Session 2: Monday, May 12: 8-10pm ET
Session 3: Monday, May 19: 8-10pm ET
No class Monday, May 26
Session 4: Monday, June 2: 8-10pm ET
FAQ
When can I register for this class?
Registration will open soon and close when the class reaches its cap.
Will class sessions be recorded?
Class sessions will not be recorded. If you need to miss a class, the instructor can provide notes on the content that you miss.
How does the class work?
This class meets weekly for live Zoom discussions for the duration of the course. Reading and writing assignments will be distributed in Thinkific, our online learning platform. That is also where students will share responses to the assignments for feedback from their fellow students. The instructor will provide feedback on one assignment over the course of the class.
Is participation on the discussion board required?
We encourage all students to share work and to participate in discussions to get the most out of the experience.
Is there homework?
The class will include reading assignments, writing exercises, and discussion questions.
How much time will the class take?
Live lessons run for two hours. Plan to spend about 2 hours a week on reading and writing assignments, plus however long you decide to spend on the discussion boards.
How many students are in the class?
This class is capped at 25 students.
Can I take the class on my phone?
Yes, the class can be taken on a phone, but we recommend a computer or tablet to get the most out of the experience.
Do you offer financial aid or scholarships for this class?
Yes, we will be offering a limited number of partial scholarships for this class (50% off), which will be selected by lottery. The deadline to request a scholarship is Monday, April 14. If you are interested in entering, you can do so using this form.
Discounts & Policies
Our online classes are designed to be safe spaces for all who participate. One Story will not tolerate hate speech, bullying, or harassment directed toward instructors or fellow students, and reserves the right to remove participants who engage in such behavior from our classes.
Patron Discount: In order to qualify for our patron discount, you must be a member of our patron circle at the time of registration. Patrons commit to annual donations and receive benefits that allow them to participate in our non-profit organization in more meaningful ways. Not all One Story subscribers or supporters are patrons. If you’d like to find out more about becoming a patron, you can do so here.
Refund Policy: Students can receive full refunds prior to one week before the class start date, and 50% refunds from in the week leading up to the class. Class payment is non-refundable on or after the class’s start date. For questions about the refund policy, or if you are unable to take the class after you have registered, please contact maribeth@one-story.com.
If you have any questions, please contact edu.support@one-story.com.
