by Writing Workshops Staff
A week ago
Discover how to create unforgettable characters with award-winning author Karen E. Bender's exclusive online master classes, coinciding with the release of her acclaimed new collection, The Words of Dr. L & Other Stories.
Creating characters that leap off the page requires more than just physical description and dialogue; it also necessitates a nuanced understanding of their inner lives. The most memorable fictional characters reveal their inner worlds through their thoughts, perceptions, judgments, and fantasies. This exploration of a character's interior life—what we call "interiority"—is what transforms flat characters into complex, three-dimensional beings that readers genuinely care about.
National Book Award finalist Karen E. Bender, whose celebrated new collection The Words of Dr. L & Other Stories has been praised for its "beautiful writing" and ability to "describe thoughts and feelings that I've never seen described before," offers WritingWorkshops.com students a rare opportunity to learn directly from a master of character development.
Dive Deep into Character Development with Karen's Specialized Classes
WritingWorkshops.com is thrilled to present Karen E. Bender's exclusive series of online master classes focused on character interiority. These workshops are ideal for fiction writers at all levels who want to develop more compelling, psychologically complex characters.
Karen's Character Interiority Series includes three cornerstone workshops:
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Building Interiority in Characters with Fantasies and Theories - Learn how to reveal your characters' deepest desires and beliefs through their personal theories and fantasies.
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Building Interiority in Characters: Perceptions, Judgment, Envy, and Admiration - Discover techniques for showing how your characters perceive the world and judge others.
- Building Interiority in Characters: Writing Memory - Learn how to build a character’s interiority through what they choose to remember of the past, and how memories connect to action.
These workshops draw from the same techniques Karen uses in her own acclaimed fiction, where she expertly explores "the evolving dynamics of the nuclear family during adolescence, motherhood, the empty nest, and caring for an aging parent" through characters that are both relatable and revelatory.
Learn from a Literary Master at the Height of Her Powers
In her latest collection, Karen demonstrates her gift for "discovering novel metaphors and creating futuristic plots to re-examine some of life's most taken-for-granted relationships and situations," as noted in a starred Kirkus review. This ability to illuminate the ordinary through extraordinary perspectives is precisely what makes her such a valuable instructor.
Karen's credentials speak volumes:
- Finalist for the 2015 National Book Award for Fiction for her collection Refund
- Author of four acclaimed story collections and two novels
- Publications in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, Ploughshares, and more
- Winner of three Pushcart Prizes
- Recipient of grants from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts
Beyond Character Interiority: A Complete Creative Writing Curriculum
In addition to the Character Interiority Series, Karen offers a comprehensive suite of creative writing master classes through WritingWorkshops.com:
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Exploring Strategies for Story Beginnings - Learn techniques for crafting openings that hook readers instantly.
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Deep Dive into Dialogue - Master the art of what people say and how they say it.
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Show and Tell: Using Summary in a Narrative - Learn when to summarize and when to dramatize.
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Show and Tell: Mastering the Art of Scene - Discover how to craft vivid, impactful scenes.
The Words of Dr. L & Other Stories: A Masterclass in Character Development
Karen's newest collection demonstrates her mastery of character interiority through speculative and realist tales that explore complex relationships. The collection features characters navigating challenging circumstances—from a "young woman who seeks to learn the magical words that can terminate her unwanted pregnancy" to "a couple separated from their son and encased in globes orbiting the Earth."
These stories "honor the emotional force" of each situation by exploring themes of "freedom, self-definition, youth, aging, control, and power"—precisely the elements of character interiority that Karen teaches in her workshops.
Praise for The Words of Dr. L & Other Stories:
"A collection of stories that artfully reframe issues including parenting, aging, illness, and life during the Covid-19 pandemic . . . As if turning a shirt inside-out and finding a beautiful new pattern, Bender [...] does a brilliant job of discovering novel metaphors and creating futuristic plots to re-examine some of life’s most taken-for-granted relationships and situations . . . Highly original stories that speak to the challenges of being human in the 21st century." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Meticulously crafted . . . Despite a premonition of disaster in many of Bender's riveting selections, an atmosphere of gentleness envelops her characters . . . In Bender's investigation of isolation and community, parents and children, friends and seeming enemies, these twelve stories allow readers a wide lens through which to both contemplate world events and what may lay ahead—and to consider the vital role of compassion when weighing one's choices . . . [B]eautifully crafted." —Jennifer M. Brown, Shelf Awareness
"Bender’s impressive latest explores relationships between friends and family with a mix of speculative and realist tales . . . Bender’s more fantastical stories recall the work of Isaac Asimov, while her realist takes offer insight into the complex lives of characters navigating loss and disappointment. It’s an accomplished collection from a seasoned storyteller." —Publishers Weekly
"From National Book Award finalist Karen Bender comes The Words of Dr. L, a delightfully strange short story collection about the varieties of dystopias on our doorstep and horizon. A couple is separated from their son and encased in globes orbiting the Earth. Society makes a plan to leave their burning planet for a life on Mars. Bender perfectly narrows the gap between the speculative and the frighteningly real, drawing on the connection between parents and their children to craft stories that ache with familial love. If you didn’t already know that Karen Bender was one of our greatest short story writers working today, let The Words of Dr. L make it perfectly clear." -Chicago Review of Books
"Bend it like Bender and you get stories that are straight out of Black Mirror--sci-fi that's immediately relevant--yet unlike that bleak series, Bender's work always includes timeless empathy for characters, especially those struggling with invisibility. From families in quarantine during the global pandemic to a kidnapped therapist, her characters combine the familiar with the strange in fresh ways." -Los Angeles Times
Why Character Interiority Matters
Strong character interiority:
- Creates reader empathy and emotional investment
- Adds psychological depth and authenticity to your fiction
- Reveals character motivation and drives plot
- Exposes thematic content organically
- Distinguishes literary fiction from genre fiction
Register Today
Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of America's most celebrated fiction writers. Karen's workshops offer practical techniques you can immediately apply to your own writing, helping you create characters that readers will remember long after they've finished your story.
Browse all of Karen E. Bender's master classes at WritingWorkshops.com
Limited spaces available—register now to secure your spot!
About Karen E. Bender
Karen E. Bender is the author of the story collections The Words of Dr. L & Other Stories, The New Order, and Refund, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. She is also the author of the novels Like Normal People and A Town of Empty Rooms. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, Ploughshares, Story, Harvard Review, The Yale Review, The Iowa Review, and other magazines. Her stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, and New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, and have won three Pushcart prizes. She has won grants from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has taught for numerous MFA programs and is currently a visiting writer for the Stony Brook University MFA in creative writing and on the core faculty for the Alma College MFA program.
