Bernardine Evaristo: on character
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An RSL/Booker Prize Foundation Masterclass with Bernardine Evaristo, who gave a class on writing strong characters as a part of The Literary Consultancy’s 2014 digital conference.
Top Tips
- Your characters need to be believable, that is, as psychologically complex and flawed as we members of the human race.
- A happy life is great to lead but not so great to read about; it’s your job to create problems for your characters.
- It sometimes helps to base your characters on people you know, but be warned, there are sometimes consequences…
- When writing in the first person, your character might just start writing herself. Go with the flow.
- There are no rules only tools – hoover up the advice of writers but only take what works for you.
Reading List
Ten novels with strong characters
| Junot Diaz | The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao |
| Stephen King | Misery |
| Catherine Johnson | Hero |
| Kazuo Ishiguro | Remains of the Day |
| Sapphire | Push |
| Hollis Hampton Jones | Comes the Night |
| Matthew Kneale | English Passengers |
| John Grisham | Runaway Jury |
| Maggie Gee | My Cleaner |
| Lola Shoneyin | The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives |
Recorded on: June 15, 2014
Recorded at: The Free Word Centre
Sponsored by: Booker Prize Foundation
