ONLINE Start With Scars: Build Your Character's Backstory Without the Backstory
One-Day Workshop | Monday, September 22, 2026
9am-12pm PT | 10am-1pm MT | 11am-2pm CT | 12pm-3pm ET | 1pm-4pm AT
Instructor: Marion Lougheed
MEMBER PRICE: $75.00
NON-MEMBER PRICE: $100.00
A scar always has a backstory. How did it get there? Is it shameful or embarrassing, funny, beautiful, or unsightly? Was it intentional or accidental? Does the character make up a different story about the scar every time someone asks? Or maybe it's hidden on a part of their body that most people don't see. In this workshop, we'll look at examples of how authors have used scars in their stories (it's not just Harry Potter, I promise). Then you'll get to try your hand at using scars to create and develop compelling characters from Page 1, without having to pause the narrative for exposition and backstory.
This class takes place online using the Zoom.
Marion Lougheed is a writer, editor and anthropologist. Her poem "Pavane for a Dead Letter" was featured in the LCP's 2021 Poem In Your Pocket Day series, and "Rooftops" won the Prime 53 Poem Summer Challenge (Press 53). Marion runs Off Topic Publishing and ML Edits. Her flash fiction has appeared in This Will Only Take A Minute: 100 Canadian Flashes (Guernica Editions, 2022), Reflex Press and The Arcanist, among others, and was shortlisted for the Sunlight Press Flash Fiction Contest. She holds a diploma in professional writing from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she worked for five years as a peer writing tutor.
~~~
We are a community that thrives on support and encouragement. Based on the philosophy of "no writer left behind", the J. Michael Fay Subsidy Program is available to anyone who finds themselves in financial need but really wants or needs to participate in one our programs are classes. Click link above for more details and to apply
