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“What Is the Why?
Building a Backstory for Nuanced Characters and Authentic Conflict”

So, your characters, like every other human being, have “baggage.” Heavy unresolved worries, fears that range from mild uneasiness to crippling paranoia or anger that simmers and boils over into rage. Maybe garden-variety regrets that cause guilt, grief, and trust issues. Baggage as backstory that makes your characters unique and memorable, drive your plot forward and illustrate intercharacter (character/character) and intrapersonal (character/world) conflicts is the subject of Karen Odden’s workshop.

Participants will develop the “baggage” for their characters in a work-in-progress to bring the reader to the inciting incident that begins the story, then examine how the “baggage” you choose creates their backstory, supports a compelling plot arc and meaningful arcs for the protagonist and important secondary characters.

Karen Odden has a PhD in literature from New York University and taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is described as “…the best presenter I have heard in a long time.” Her first novel, A Lady in the Smoke, is a USA Today best seller; A Dangerous Duet and A Trace of Deceit have won awards for historical mystery and historical fiction; Under a Veiled Moon, the sequel to Down a Dark River, was nominated for a Lefty Award. She lives in Arizona with her family and loves to hike in the desert.