Are your scenes blah instead of blockbuster? Do they lag in the middle, or fall flat at the end? In this month-long intensive online class, you’ll learn how to: In this interactive class, you'll learn how to edit your own scenes and take them from okay to amazing. In-depth analysis of scenes that work will […]

This course is for fiction authors who want to find the true purpose of their story and write a compelling novel every time, so they can avoid getting lost in a plot-hole wilderness. But it is so much more than a plotting class. There are hundreds of plot maps in cyberspace and having one doesn’t […]

Castles cover the landscape of Europe. Many have lasted because they are built ofstone, but it takes some imagination to see how they looked when they were thehomes of the wealthy and powerful. Wherefore this course. A castle was a fortified structure, the home and admirative center of a magnate(great man) or king, and the […]

What is Surfing through Story Structure and Character Development? Beautiful words and exciting scenes aren't enough to propel the reader through a novel. Stories need a plan, a focus, a solid story structure and character development that's well-developed from beginning to end. In this intro class, you’ll learn how to analyze examples from bestselling novels, […]

World Anvil organizes research, outlines, character questionnaires, and more. Imagine having all your writing and your research available to you at any given moment. In addition, it can also build an interactive website that will allow your fans to experience your story world in new and creative ways!

Writers have the capacity to create the type of world we want to live in.  Sometimes, this requires a bravery and vulnerability that feels incredibly uncomfortable.  How can an author include characters that are different from themselves without being offensive?  How does an author find the bravery to write authentically about the world they are […]

Follow the lead of writing rockstars like J.K. Rowling, E.L. Stein, and John Grisham as bestselling author, Julie Anne Lindsey, walks you through the creation of an outline that will move your story from concept to completion in 28 days flat.   What You Will Learn: Maximize your writing time Avoiding plot holes & other pitfalls Work […]

Ever heard that expression ‘beyond the pale’? Someone behaves dreadfully and someone else says, ‘tsk, tsk, that’s beyond the pale’. The English administration in Ireland coined that phrase about the ‘wild’ Irish. Wild? Why and what was the Pale?  Ireland has clans too, not just Scotland. Clan comes from clann, the Gaelic word for children […]

‘From the fury of the northmen, Oh Lord, deliver us.’ The vikings (aka northmen) burst on the scene in Britain in the late 8th century. In 793 the ‘heathen destroyed God's church on Lindisfarne by rapine and slaughter’. In that year ‘immense whirlwinds and flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the […]

Castles cover the landscape of Europe. Many have lasted because they are built of stone, but it takes some imagination to see how they looked when they were the homes of the wealthy and powerful. Wherefore this course. A castle was a fortified structure, the home and administrative centre of a magnate (great man) or […]

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In England, before the Norman Conquest of 1066, fairies were called elves. Fairy is a word borrowed from French. Walt Disney would have you believe that fairies are sweet little creatures with wings and wands, helpful entities like Tinkerbell and the Tooth Fairy. Walt was wrong. In many lands people believe it's not wise to […]

Do you want a structured overview of the writing craft(s)? Are you interested in learning the psychology of storytelling? What about getting a storytelling edge by learning the secrets of reader engagement? The Writing Jungle Jane is an aspiring writer, who, like everyone else before her, parachutes straight into the writing jungle. And, like everybody […]

Lackluster, one-size-fits-all characters aren’t enough to keep readers turning those pages and anticipating future books. You need a well-rounded cast of complex, riveting characters to inhabit your story—a constellation of supporting characters to showcase the protagonist Star. In this month-long class, the Constellation lessons will guide you through: To create dimensional characters, we will use […]

Don't settle for nice! Don't settle for anything less than Wow!

Self-editing is hard, even on a good day when you have all your spoons and are ready to jump into your manuscript with a handful of highlighters and a prayer. Using some Author Alchemy you can make the tools you use every single day work for you. Macros, or written command built into Word to […]

Have you ever imagined how history could have turned out differently? What would the world have looked like if the Nazis had won the Second World War, the South had won the American Civil War, or the US had lost the Cold War? Alternate histories challenge and inspire us to think about what might have […]

Characters are like people. Each of us has "good" traits, like courage and resilience and intelligence, but we also have traits that get us into trouble like foolhardiness, stubbornness, and too smart for our own good. Same with our characters. We create strong traits, on both sides of the spectrum, and watch as our characters […]

Where is the road to a New York Times bestseller? Let me point you in the right direction—write a fantasy! Different sources of fantasy have inspired a torrent of novels and films. I’m sure you’re familiar with Rowling’s Harry Potter novels or G.R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. Or perhaps you’ve read Guy Gavriel Kay’s The […]

Everyone says, "write to trope," or "put tropes in your book," but what does that even mean? In this two-week tropes masterclass, Becca Syme (MATL) will teach the psychology of tropes, the way to deconstruct and construct them, and the way to include (or enhance) them in your fiction. This masterclass includes written lectures, writing […]