How to Develop Compelling Characters in Your Fiction - with Okechukwu Nzelu

The Writing Life

We speak to writer and teacher Okechukwu Nzelu. Why? To discuss that greatest pillar of creative writing - character.

Gill and Okechukwu discuss many aspects of character development, including those in his latest novel Here Again Now. Based in Manchecter, Okechukwu Nzelu was the recipient of a Northern Writers' Award from New Writing North in 2015. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney won a Betty Trask Award. It was also shortlisted for our very own Desmond Elliott Prize among others. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read.

His second novel, Here Again Now was published by Dialogue Books in March 2022. He is also a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University so he is perfectly positioned to help us understand how we can write compelling characters.