All Pennwriters Courses are conducted in a “live” presentation format utilizing the Zoom platform. If a conflict arises based on the required meeting times, please contact the instructor and Online Courses Coordinator to find a possible solution. ALL sessions will be recorded.
PLEASE NOTE: You should receive a confirmation email upon registering for the course from both Club Express and the Online Classes Coordinator. If you do not receive either emails, please reach out to the Online Classes Coordinator immediately so you do not miss out on information for your class.
Description: In this immersive four-week course, writers will explore the power of settings and props to enhance characterization, evoke emotion, and add depth to their stories. Through a series of interactive exercises and guided discussions, participants will learn how to create vivid, purposeful settings and symbolic props that reflect and shape their characters' inner journeys.
Throughout the course, students will explore examples from literature and film, such as James Michener's “Shogun”, Michael Connelly's “Lincoln Lawyer,” “Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake,” and Tim O'Brien's “The Things They Carried” to understand how masterful writers employ settings and props to deepen characterization and create immersive, emotionally resonant stories.
By the end of the course, students will have developed a comprehensive toolkit for crafting purposeful, evocative settings and props that elevate their storytelling and engage readers on a profound level. This course is designed to benefit fiction writers of all levels of experience and is not specific to any particular genre or medium.
Format
- 2 on-demand video lessons per week with supplemental worksheets, links, etc.
- Interactive exercises and guided discussions in weekly zoom sessions to explore different aspects of crafting affecting settings and props
- Asynchronous bonus activities to further embellish setting and prop development for each participant’s project(s).
CASE STUDIES (RECOMMENDED READING):
- Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer or The Late Show
- Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
- Alexis Hall’s Rosalind Palmer Takes the Cake
OBJECTIVES/Benefits/Takeaways:
- Understand the vital role of settings and props in storytelling across mediums
- Develop techniques for creating vivid, multi-sensory settings
- Master using props for character development and plot progression
- Learn to integrate settings and props seamlessly into narratives
- Utilize settings and props to convey subtext, mood, and themes
- Reveal character traits and backstories through settings and props
- Craft dynamic interactions between characters, settings, and props
- Learn worldbuilding techniques using environmental details and objects
- Maintain consistency in settings and prop usage throughout narratives
- Create visual mood boards to enhance setting and prop descriptions
- Develop a Character-Setting-Prop Interaction Matrix as a story tool
- Apply these techniques to elevate writing in any narrative format
Week 1: SETTINGS AS CHARACTER
Participants will learn to outline key settings in their story, including sensory details, atmosphere, and how the setting reflects or influences the characters. They’ll also identify critical props and describe their significance, appearance, and how characters interact with them.
ON-DEMAND VIDEOS:
- The Power of Place: How Setting Shapes Story
- Sensory Details: Bringing Settings to Life
In-Class Exercise: Setting Transformation
Students will take a basic setting (e.g., a kitchen) and transform it three times to reflect different characters or moods. They'll focus on using sensory details and atmosphere to convey these changes without explicitly stating them.
Week 2: THE ART OF THE PROP
Students will explore how characters' interactions with their environments and objects reveal personality, emotion, and backstory. They'll learn techniques for showing character through environmental reactions and prop usage, studying examples from literature and film. Through guided exercises, participants will practice crafting scenes that use settings and props to subtly convey character information without relying on direct exposition.
ON-DEMAND VIDEOS:
- Symbolic Props: Objects with Meaning
- Character Interaction with Props
In-Class Exercise: The signature prop
Students will create a signature prop for their protagonist, detailing its appearance, history, and significance. They'll then write a short scene showcasing how the character interacts with this prop in a revealing way.
Week 3: Characters, Settings, and Props in Action
This week, students will explore how characters actively engage with their environments and objects, creating dynamic scenes that reveal character, advance the plot, and deepen the story's themes. Participants will learn techniques for crafting interactive settings and using props as catalysts for character development and plot progression.
ON-DEMAND VIDEOS:
- Environments in Motion: Creating Interactive Settings
- Props as Storytellers: Objects That Drive Narrative
In-Class Exercise: The TRANFORMATIVE SCENE
Students will write a scene where a character undergoes a significant change or realization interaction with the setting and at least one key prop, demonstrating how their changing perspective alters their perception and use of their environment and objects.
Week 4: THE BIG PICTURE – INTEGRATING SETTINGS AND PROPS
In this final week, students will learn to holistically integrate settings and props into their overall narrative. They'll explore techniques for maintaining consistency, building a cohesive story world, and using these elements to enhance their story's themes and atmosphere.
ON-DEMAND VIDEOS:
- Environments in Motion: Creating a Visual Mood Board for Settings and Props
- Worldbuilding Through Details: Settings and Props as World Anchor
In-Class Exercise: The Setting-Prop Interaction Matrix
Students will create a comprehensive matrix for their story, mapping out how each main character interacts with key settings and props throughout the narrative. They'll then use this matrix to write a scene showing the complex interplay between character, setting, and props, showcasing how these elements work together to reveal character, advance the plot, and reinforce the story's themes.
About the Instructor: Diana Dru Botsford's fascination with storytelling has propelled her from one medium to another, as she crafts tales for novels, short stories, theater, television, web series, and film. Along with her dad, she co-wrote the fan-favorite episode "Rascals" for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Botsford authored multiple works for Stargate SG-1’s tie-in universe include the novels Four Dragons and The Drift as well as the Scribe Nominee short story "Perceptions." Her recent short story contributions include "Everything and Nothing" for the 2023 IAMTW anthology, Double Trouble, and "History is Written by the Losers" for the 2024 HERitage anthology.
Botsford created, wrote, and produced the 6-part award-winning time travel web series, Epilogue (http://epiloguetheseries.com. As a TV/Film writer, producer, and visual FX producer/director, her credits range from cult-favorite animated series such as Inspector Gadget, Spiral Zone, and Heathcliff and the feature film Pound Puppies & The Legend of Big Paw to live-action projects such as Tales from the Darkside, the CBS series Harts of the West, and Nightgames. Her Visual FX work includes films such as Nightmare on Elm Street VI, Dusk 'Til Dawn, Clifford, and Terminator 2.
Botsford has also written and directed for the historic Landers Theatre, incorporating ASL performers as main characters and offering fresh interpretations of family-oriented stories like Alice in Wonderland and Stuart Little. On the education front, she created and directed the award-winning screenwriting program at Missouri State University for nearly 20 years and has now turned her eye to teaching and coaching in the private sector while she continues her work developing three pilots currently under option at an independent studio. She’s knee-deep in writing a science fiction mystery novel, and crafting her next story for the upcoming 2025 Heritage anthology.
Email & Links:
contact email: dianabotsford@gmail.com
web page: dianabotsford.com
Instagram: @digitalred93
Facebook: http://facebook.com/diana.botsford