Psychology of Characters in Stories
A course by Cecilia Magaña Chávez
, Writer
Learn to bring fictional characters to life with psychological writing resources and tell stories in the media of your choice
- Best seller Spanish with subtitles in English
- 100% positive reviews (349)
- 9350 students
Learn to bring fictional characters to life with psychological writing resources and tell stories in the media of your choice
- 100% positive reviews (349)
- 9350 students
- 17 lessons (3h 23m)
- 38 additional resources (16 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Spanish
- Spanish, English, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to walk a mile in one of your character's shoes? Writer and teacher Cecilia Magaña takes this walk often by using her education in psychology to craft more realistic protagonists and tell fictional stories. For her, these individuals are the key to engaging readers and viewers and the cornerstone of any good story.
In this course, Cecilia teaches you how to bring complex fictional characters to life using psychological writing and self-discovery techniques. Learn how to create memorable characters and understand their development through past, present, and future.

What will you learn in this online course?
Course table of contents
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U1U1. Introduction
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U2U2. The basic elements
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U3U3. Give depth to your character
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U4U4. The character and his story
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FPFP Final project
As a forward to the course, Cecilia Magaña tells you a bit about who she is, what she does, and the stories and authors that have influenced her creative process. She also explains how she builds characters for her fiction stories.
In the next chapter, identify some of the features that give a character substance by observing your surroundings and what comes from within you. Start outlining a character that you can use to approach a topic you want to discuss and define their personal tone to elicit certain emotions.
Then, add depth by using autobiographical resources and what you uncover through research. Answer a set of questions to establish their age, physical appearance, and surrounding context. Explore their inner self to determine what drives them and analyze their relationships with the other characters present in their life.
As a final step, complete your character profile by adding a synopsis of your work–the foundation of your story. To wrap everything up, Cecilia explains how to present your character and their story in different mediums other than literature and encourages you to customize and share your final project.
What is this course's project?
Create a character profile that contains all the aspects that give them substance and make them unique, as well as an outline of their story that you can use for a future project if you'd like.

Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in creating literary characters or character concepts for a range of mediums, from picturebooks, comic strips, and graphic novels to audiovisual projects. This course is also great for actors who want to use this approach to add depth to the roles they're currently playing or hope to work on.
Requirements and materials
No experience in character creation is necessary as this course is an introduction to the art, but you do need to be familiar with online music sharing apps like Spotify and other similar platforms.
As for materials, all you need is a notebook and a pen or a computer with a word processor and basic online search tools.

Reviews

A course by Cecilia Magaña Chávez
With an avid reader for a father and a compelling storyteller for a mother, Cecilia Magaña's family played a major role in her decision to become a writer. She draws on her education in psychology to craft her own characters and shares this knowledge in her classes on character creation and analysis for audiovisual producers at the CAAV Universidad de Medios Audiovisuales, where she also assists students with their scripts. Seven years ago, she began teaching workshops aimed at shaping a new generation of storytellers and novelists.
Cecilia has published three storybooks and two novels and has participated in several anthologies; she has also won two national literature awards, one in the short stories category and another in the novel category. Several years ago, she teamed up with Ada Cabrales and founded a small independent publishing company named Atípica Editorial. Similarly, she collaborates with visual artist Diana Martín and several other creative minds on Juego de Pomos, a video podcast devoted to analyzing and critiquing TV shows and movies.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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Presentation
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Influences
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U2
The basic elements
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The character's profile
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How character 1 is born
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How character 2 is born
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Character, theme and emotions 1
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Character, theme and emotions 2
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U3
Give depth to your character
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Autobiographical resources and research
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The outer life of character 1
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The outer life of character 2
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The inner life of character 1
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The inner life of the character 2
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The character and his dynamics with other 1
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The character and his dynamics with 2 others
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U4
The character and his story
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The character is the story
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Capture the character and his story
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How to publish your story?
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FP
Final project
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Psychology of characters in stories
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus or PRO member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
hypnos98
muy bueno
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niccolo_sovrano
Ottimo
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romacolores
Por ahora me ha encantado
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marifashi
¡Extraordinario! este curso me hizo correr a mi cuaderno diariamente y divertirme como una adolescente al reencontrarme con mi pasión por escribir. Finalmente pude crear un personaje del cual estoy enamorada. Gracias Cecilia, eres una mujer y profesional inspiradora. Lo recomiendo 10000%
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barbara_garrettt
O curso cumpre o que promete. Didático, de fácil compreensão e é bem tranquilo de estudar. As atividades práticas são um show à parte, em que conseguimos realizar e aprender ao mesmo tempo. Recomendadíssimo!
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