How To Create Great Characters For Your Novel or Screenplay

Novel Lab co-founders and critically-acclaimed authors and book coaches, Ayn & Sam Gailey, take you through ten inspiring lectures to guide you toward the goal of creating memorable commercial characters. Using the same advice they give to their New York Times best-selling clients, they will teach you how to craft characters that will become the heart of your story. You will also gain an understanding of how your characters integrate with plot to create a powerful story. Perfect for beginner writers or experienced writers who want to create more original and moving characters.

Instructors will use the following books to illustrate character development: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; Deep Winter by Samuel W. Gailey; Harry Potter... by J.K. Rowling; The Girl On A Train by Paula Hawkins; The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins; To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee; Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding, and others. 

TESTIMONIALS:

Ayn & Sam helped me find the heart of my story and guided me through the writing, editing and publishing process with expertise, passion and a lot of patience. Without them, my book would not have made it onto the New York Times Bestseller list. 

— Lenny Dykstra, Lenny Dykstra: Memoir of Life on the Edge (Harper Collins 2016)

Ayn & Sam are unique and rare. They can write their own riveting books while also helping other writers create and complete their own stories, no matter how complex. They are also a pleasure to work with. 

— Amy Schiffman, literary manager/partner, IPG (Dennis Lehane, Don Delillo, James Ellroy, Michael Connelly, Richard Russo, James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton)

Gailey’s “Deep Winter” is enthralling and suspenseful, like a Michael Connelly or Lee Child crime novel, but more elegantly written.

— Esquire Magazine

Thanks to the guidance I received, I was able to hone the concept for my book and sign with a top book agent. Ayn & Sam know how to make the process inspiring and fun. 

— Shannon Bindler, Life Coach, Celebrity Stylist, Blogger

"Deep Winter” by Samuel W. Gailey is beautifully written... 

— The New York Times


Gailey’s work is…so brilliantly done, so artfully underwritten with not a word wasted… 

— Booklist

Skillfully blending memoir and investigative journalism, Ayn Gailey tells a story with hilarious, self-deprecating wit and extreme honesty... 

— Library Journal


Tough, straight, upsetting, and strangely beautiful. One of the best sports autobiographies I’ve ever read. It comes from the heart. 

— Author Stephen King on "Memoir of Life On The Edge"