Overview
As a writer, you want to improve your storytelling skills and learn from one of the world's most successful and well-respected writers.
Writing a good story can be difficult, especially if you don't know how to start or execute your ideas. It can be frustrating to work on a story, only to find that it falls flat or lacks the impact that you were hoping for.
Take the Neil Gaiman – The Art of Storytelling course on MasterClass. In this course, Neil Gaiman, a renowned writer, provides valuable insights and tips on how to write a story from idea to execution. You'll learn how to subvert the familiar, develop memorable characters, and create conflict that will drive your story forward. With Gaiman's guidance, you'll be able to tell more honest, memorable, and impactful stories that your readers will love.
Who is Neil Gaiman?
Neil Gaiman is an English author of novels, short stories, comics, and graphic novels. He's the writer behind such works as American Gods (which was adapted into a TV show on Starz), The Sandman series, and Coraline. His most recent novel Norse Mythology was released in 2017 to critical acclaim. He's won numerous Hugo Awards and Nebula Awards for his stories.
Neil Gaiman MasterClass Summary and Contents
Neil Gaiman teaches everything from character development and plot structure to editing your work in this MasterClass course. All lessons are taught by Neil himself so you'll be able to hear him explain his writing process directly from his own mouth!
Neil Gaiman's class goes over some valuable lessons such as:
- Sources of Inspiration
- Finding Your Voice
- Short Fiction
- Dialogue and Character
- Worldbuilding
- Comic Books
- Dealing With Writer’s Block
- Editing
A couple of the video lessons are case studies of his own work–March Tale and October Tale. These are extremely insightful and interesting to watch.
Contents of the Course
- 18 Video Lessons (19 if you count the intro video)
- A 94 page PDF workbook of the whole course to refer back to with extra info and helpful writing exercises.
FAQ
How many hours is Neil Gaiman's MasterClass?
The Neil Gaiman MasterClass clocks in at about 290 minutes (almost 5 hours!) of video lessons. Each lesson can range from 8 to 27 minutes long, so depending on how much time you have to watch a lesson, plan accordingly. I suggest not watching the full 5 hours in one go.
How much does it cost?
Neil Gaiman's Masterclass course comes included with MasterClass's basic plan. MasterClass advertises a $15/month cost for this plan, but it's an annual subscription that you have to pay all upfront for $180. Once you pay for that yearly cost, you get access to their entire library of courses from masters of so many disciplines, including a lot more writers.
Review
Is this Neil Gaiman MasterClass for you?
This masterclass is for anyone who wants to learn from one of the best writers in the world. Even though Neil Gaiman mostly writes fantastical stories, the lessons in his MasterClass course are pretty relevant to any kind of genre in fiction. Neil Gaiman's writing is also heavily influenced by mythology and folklore, so if you're interested in that kind of thing, this class is definitely for you.
My experience from Neil Gaiman's MasterClass on Storytelling
Video Lessons
While taking the Neil Gaiman MasterClass, I found it to be a very high-level overview in each lesson. I took notes for myself while watching these video lessons and after finishing the course I found my notes to be mostly quotes and small snippets of writing advice.
Workbook PDF
The workbook PDF that you get from the course is a really valuable companion. I realized that I got this workbook after I took my own notes watching the video lessons.
This workbook goes through everything Neil talks about in the class with extra writing exercises and helpful tips. If you're someone who likes to take a little more time digesting information, then this will be a great resource for you.
Takeaways
This is a highly motivating course, and it gave me a strong confidence boost in pursuing my passion as a writer. Although it doesn't go into very gritty detail about different aspects of writing, I did find value from it helping my mindset on writing in general. Each lesson is more of a re-alignment of your way of thinking on each subject rather than giving step-by-step instructions.
Hearing Neil talk about his past and struggles early in his career really helps put in perspective any writer's career path. A lot of moments in this course are really inspirational and invigorated me to start writing more consistently and even try out writing short stories to build up my writing muscle.
Some of my favorite pieces of advice from this course:
- "You learn more from finishing a failure than beginning something that's fantastic but stops"
- "Characters always, for good or for evil, get what they need. They do not get what they want."
- "If you're going to write, you have to be willing to be the equivalent of walking down the street naked."
Is Neil Gaiman's MasterClass worth it?
Yes. The $180 you pay for an annual MasterClass subscription for Neil Gaiman's course and access to all the other MasterClass courses is worth the money. Spending your time listening and learning from Neil is worth it as well. The workbook PDF alone is worth getting your hands on if you don't want to take the time to watch the videos.
It's always extremely valuable to get this kind of experience from the actual masters of writing. This whole package of course and workbook is a lot of bang for your buck. If you're looking to write a novel or a short story, this course is definitely worth a look. Check out the course here.
