Peering Through Johari's Window at your Characters with Terri Main

One of the critical aspects of writing is creating three-dimensional, believable characters. Many times, though, writers are careful about hair color, height, weight, clothing, tone of voice, and many other external aspects of a character, but find it more difficult to deal with the inner person.

Almost 60 years ago, Joesph Luft and Harrison Ingham created a model called "The Johari" window. It was intended to be used as a tool for studying the psychology of interactions, but it is also a great way to approach developing well-rounded characters.

In this course, we will look at the four "selves" of the Johari window and apply it to character development. Over the period of this course, you will create a character grid for at least two characters either for a work in progress or a planned work.
Topics Covered:

Growing Characters from the Inside Out

• The Open Self - Those things known both to the person and others
• The Blind Self - Those things others know or observe that the character is oblivious to
• The Hidden Self - Those things the character knows that others do not
• The Unknown Self - Those things unknown to both the character and others with whom that character interacts.