Research suggests that talented writers engage in a qualitatively different process than do their more typical age peers. Talented writers tend to view writing as problem solving, requiring them to continually generate, solve, and integrate several problems at once. In this workshop participants see a review of the research defining expert and beginning writers. Evaluate a complete character-driven writing project--including student samples--that implements the expert model. The focus is on drama and character development to teach expert strategies. Participants also see how to integrate the model into their classroom instruction.