Act II Lazer Lessons — Block 2: Characters


Block 2: Crafting Memorable Characters 

The Strategy: Depth over Decoration. Move past generic profiles. Learn to build a living, breathing cast with enough psychological depth and agency to drive your plot forward.

  • Week 1: Behavioral Architecture (The Hero & The Antagonist) Go past what they do to who they are at a cellular level. Design unique physical tics, tactical communication styles, and raw personality blueprints for your main characters before they ever cross paths.

  • Week 2: The Core Support System (The Guardian & The Sidekick) Build an authentic foundation. Explore how The Guardian provides a necessary moral baseline and tests the hero, while The Sidekick serves as a loyal peer-level sounding board to showcase your hero's growth.

  • Week 3: The Emotional Catalyst (The Love Interest & The Emotion/Reason Character) Break your protagonist’s psychological comfort zone. Use The Love Interest to force the hero to confront their inner flaws, paired with The Emotion/Reason Character to challenge their entire worldview (logic vs. heart).

  • Week 4: The Friction Engine (The Contagonist & The Skeptic) Inject organic tension into the ranks. Discover how The Skeptic provides a vital reality check of pessimism, while The Contagonist creates constant logistical nightmares, delays, and temptations to push your hero's buttons.

  • Week 5: The Structural Contrast (The Foil & The Extras) Magnify your protagonist's unique traits in sharp relief. Master The Foil to highlight your hero's values through direct personality contrast, and learn to design The Extras to populate a living, breathing environment.

  • Week 6: The Synergy Matrix & The Climax Collision Watch the entire machine move. Map how stress, fatigue, and high stakes decay or evolve your relationships, forcing individual character trajectories to collide and push the protagonist into the final showdown.

2026 Dates at a Glance

If you're keen to get your writing calendar in shape this year, 
here's a snapshot of what to pencil in to work out your story ideas.
Click on each title for details. 
Sessions take place at Studio 14 in Huntington Beach unless otherwise noted

Act I - Sunday March 29, 10am-3pm
This session prepares you to hit the ground running as a writer

Act II - ONLINE in 6-week blocks, beginning April 2026
Thursdays at 7pm
(dates to be juggled based on participants's schedules)
These sessions cover best practices, rules, and techniques
Block 1: Foundations & Fundamentals
Block 2: Crafting Memorable Characters
Block 3: Building Your World Your Way
Block 4: The Art of Plotting
Block 5: Mastering the Narrative Voice
Block 6: The Writer's Toolkit
Block 7: The Journey of the First Draft
Block 8: Revision and Beyond

Red Penning - Sunday, May 31, 1-4pm
This half-day session includes insight from a working editor

Act III - Sunday, August 2, 10am-3pm
This session prepares you to push through all obstacles, both within and without, to make it to the finish line (i.e. The End)

Left Brain - Sunday, September 27, 10am-3pm
This session is all about the "business" of books

Book Bash - Sunday, November 8, 1-4pm
It's a launch party!





Meet your Editor

The Author's Journey is thrilled to announce the addition of Patricia Miller to our ranks as a copyeditor and proofreader. Owing to her background editing books and plays, along with being published in various anthologies and currently working on a novel of her own, Patricia is uniquely qualified to bring your story to life in the cleanest way possible, making both it and you shine!

Her writing talents and creativity also extend to musical theater where she has directed and performed in dozens of productions and will soon produce her first original musical which Whimsicalitea is thrilled to back.

Trish's kindness, enthusiasm, and good humor make her an absolute joy to work with. Look forward to a wonderful and collaborative journey with Trish as you inch toward those two words authors value most: The End.