Two-part writing workshop led by Bob Balmer on how to build character and setting, with an original scene as a final exercise.
Bob Balmer is leading a two-part writing workshop, The Devil Is in the Details, at the Thurber Center this month. The first session is Monday, October 19, from 6 to 8 PM, and the second follows on Wednesday, October 21, from 6 to 8 PM. If you can't make it in person, it's also offered virtually on Zoom.
The focus is on turning ordinary prose into a vivid, texture-rich world where every detail does heavy lifting. Balmer shows how consumer brands can offer insight into a character's life and psychology, how quirky personality traits can naturally spark plot, conflict and humor, and how to master the classic balance of showing versus telling. Beyond character anatomy, the class treats place as character, analyzing how a setting's mores, rituals and unspoken rules shape its inhabitants. The format mixes lecture, writing and discussion, with optional sharing, and participants leave having written an original scene driven by a character's eccentricities or an atmospheric setting reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery.
Balmer is a freelance writer and retired teacher whose work has appeared in Smithsonian, Golf Illustrated, ZYZZYVA, The Oregonian, The Seattle Times and Oregon Coast Magazine, and who has aired on MarketPlace, The Savvy Traveler and Oregon Public Radio.
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The workshop costs $85 for both sessions. You can find the Thurber Center at 91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215, right next door to Thurber House.
