Writing Excuses

19.27: A Close Reading on Character: An Overview and Why We Chose C.L. Clark's Stories

Jul 7, 2024

This podcast delves into character development in C.L. Clark's short stories, highlighting the depth of emotional arcs and unique storytelling style. They discuss strategic world-building, tools for character development, and analyze the power dynamics and relationships in Clark's works. The episode also encourages writers to explore character depth through creative exercises.

23:45

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Quick takeaways

C.L. Clark's short stories showcase emotional depth in characters within compressed spaces.

Compact storytelling focuses on character interactions and minimalistic world-building for engaging narratives.

Deep dives

Exploring Emotional Depth in Short Stories by C.L. Clark

C.L. Clark's short stories, including 'You Perfect Broken Thing,' 'The Cook,' and 'Your Eyes, My Beacon,' published in Uncanny magazine, showcase emotional depth in characters within a compressed space. The stories evoke deep emotional responses and feature clear character arcs, highlighting the author's ability to convey distinct emotional states through precise writing styles. The character-driven narratives lead to unexpected choices and nuanced character developments, engaging readers with relatable yet surprising character behaviors.

Intro

2min

Character-Driven Short Stories by C.L. Clark

9min

Strategic World-building and Narrative Flow

2min

Exploring Character Development Tools

3min

Analyzing Character Development in C.L. Clark's Works

8min

Exploring Character Depth and Creativity Support

3min

Today we introduce our next close reading series—we’re focusing on character through the lens of three of C.L. Clark’s short stories: “You Perfect, Broken Thing,” “The Cook,” and “Your Eyes, My Beacon: Being an Account of Several Misadventures and How I Found My Way Home”. They are all hyperlinked above and available online for free through Uncanny Magazine.

We are so excited to shift our focus to short stories! We love the compressed form, and C.L. Clark’s stories exemplify the freedom that exists within the genre itself. They masterfully combine light world-building with deep character development. We’re excited to dive into each story over the next five episodes, ending with an interview with C.L. Clark!

We recommend reading these short stories ahead of time, but this episode is fine to listen to as a primer for why you should read them!

Thing of the Week: Monster of the Week (a tabletop role-playing game) AND Sandra Tayler's new book, Structuring Life To Support Creativity. Preorder your copy today at sandratayler.com.

Homework: Write the sentence "[Character] is someone who...." with different endings for an entire page. Read them over and pick one that surprises or intrigues you, then write a short scene showcasing that trait.

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Credits: Your hosts for this episode were DongWon Song and Erin Roberts. Our guest was Arkady Martine. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.

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