Archetypes and Rebels: Building Characters Who Break the Mold with Alan Carter

The outsider is the classic hero/heroine in storytelling. They don’t belong, they have something extra to prove, they see things differently, and they tend not to play by the rules. What makes a good outsider and how do you make yours work for the story? Get the inside gen on writing the outsider.


You will learn: 

· How to create a convincing and compelling outsider hero/heroine: The character and their backstory.
· How to give voice to your outsider: dialogue and perspective.
· How to use ‘outsiderdom’ in plotting.
· Bringing your outlier in from the cold: the serial outsider.

Alan Carter is the Ned Kelly Award-winning author of the Western Australia-set Cato Kwong crime series, which includes Prime Cut, Getting Warmer, Bad Seed, Heaven Sent, and Crocodile Tears. The series has been translated into French, German, and Spanish.

His standalone novel Marlborough Man won the Ngaio Marsh Award in New Zealand in 2018, followed by sequels Doom Creek (2020) and Franz Josef (2025). His Tasmania-set standalone, Prize Catch, was released in 2024.