Interesting People At Parties: Creating Rich Characters with Bahar Momeni
May 3 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm CDT
Join us for a hands-on workshop dedicated to breathing life into your fictional personas by drawing inspiration from the wide variety of everyday interactions. This session goes beyond technique—it invites you to experience character creation as a mindful practice, where observing both the world and yourself becomes key to crafting unforgettable personalities.
In this immersive session, you will:
“Observe and Capture Real-Life Nuances”
Learn to attentively observe the subtleties of human behavior, speech patterns, and body language, transforming these observations into authentic character traits.
Look Within as Well as Around:
Explore your own emotions, memories, and physical responses to enrich your characters with depth and authenticity. By connecting with your inner self, you’ll discover how personal experience becomes a powerful creative tool.
Blend Reality with Creativity:
Discover techniques to combine traits from real-life individuals, crafting unique and compelling characters that resonate with readers.
Engage in Interactive Exercises:
Participate in activities designed to refine your ability to depict diverse personalities, ensuring your characters are as dynamic and multifaceted as those you encounter in real life.
This workshop offers more than just character design—it is a reflective and creative journey. By observing both the world and yourself, you’ll craft characters that don’t just exist on the page—they come alive.
Bahar Momeni, born in Iran, is an award-winning writer, poet, and human rights activist. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in literature at UT Dallas, where she teaches literature and creative writing. Bahar‘s work, published in Farsi and English globally, addresses women’s resilience and everyday resistance themes. She received several awards, including the “Outstanding Emerging BIPOC Creator Award” in 2023 and the “Future Art Writers Award” in 2024. Bahar is currently focused on her PhD dissertation on Diaspora Literature and debut semi-autobiographical graphic novel, The Trees We Carry, exploring identity, displacement, and resistance.