Bringing Character to Your Characters: portraying mental illness in fiction and memoir

Name: Bringing Character to Your Characters: portraying mental illness in fiction and memoir
Start: 2026-05-23T13:30:00-07:00
End: 2026-05-23T15:30:00-07:00
Location: Lynn Valley Library

May 23 at 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm

Join Bill Koch in creating compelling characters with mental health challenges. So much about great writing is the description of character: its beginnings, transformation, and impact.
Resonating characters are often more memorable than thrilling plots. Think of Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, or Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the
Lambs. At least 20 percent of adults suffer from mental health conditions affecting their lives. This two-hour workshop will introduce writers to the merger of mental health with literary character
development.

NSWA President Bill Kock is a Clinical Professor Emeritus at UBC Psychiatry and author of Psychological Injuries: Forensic Assessment, Treatment and Law (2006). He’s also the author of fiction, Hired Gun: Uncovering Buried Secrets (2025).

Lynn Valley Library Program Room May 23, 1:30-3:30. Max. 30 participants. For NSWA members, $15/adult, $5/youth, 25 and under. First-come, first-served. Email [email protected] to register and payment instructions will follow.