Best Free Creative Writing Course [Start Now]Learn how to turn your idea for a book or movie into a full-length novel or screenplay with the below video lessons of my free creative writing course. I'm also giving you a free outlining guide, which will help you apply the course lessons to your own story. What topics does my free creative course cover?My course is focused on fiction and narrative non-fiction. It doesn't address poetry, which varies quite a bit from the other two forms. However, if you're looking for a course on that subject, plenty exist. If your goal is to write a book or screenplay, the best free online writing class out there is the one I'm offering you. My course focuses on four major aspects of creative writing:
Not only do I provide in-depth video lessons, but a blueprint document you can follow to outline your story. My free creative writing class is for new writers, however, more experienced writers are likely to pick up some tips from it as well. Below, I go over the material the course addresses, plus provide clips of the video lessons for you to watch now. Topic #1 - Character developmentCharacter development is the technique of humanizing a fictional character. The more human a character feels, the more effective the character development. The process doesn't call for one type of humanity over any other. You may develop a character who's a righteous freedom fighter and another who's a serial killer. As long as they both feel human, you've done well as a writer. How to write a protagonistHow to write an antagonistTopic #2 - The plot of a storyThe plot of a story is the sequence of events its characters are involved in. The plot should build in a dramatic way toward the answer to this question: will the main character - ie, protagonist - achieve their central goal? This goal should be set fairly early in the story, after an event - known as the inciting incident - disturbs the hero's world and forces them to want something they lack. For instance, in a thriller story, the inciting incident could be a bank robbery that results in the death of a civilian. The crime causes the protagonist - an FBI agent - to want something: to catch the robber. The story would then follow the FBI agent as he pursued the antagonist criminal through a series of obstacles. It would build to a final showdown between the hero and villain, when the audience finally gets to know if the robber is caught or escapes. How to write a story plotTopic #3 - The theme of a storyThe theme of a story is the commentary about the world the story is making. For instance, in the story discussed above - about an FBI agent pursuing a murderous criminal - if the events end in justice, ie the criminal getting caught, the story would be making a different statement about society than if it ended in injustice, ie the criminal getting away. In the justice variation, the theme might be something like, "The world may be dark at times, but ultimately justice is served." In the injustice variation, the theme might be something like, "Despite the efforts of good people, some violent ones never pay for their crimes." How to write a story themeTopic #4 - Emotional impact in storytellingEmotional impact in storytelling is how frequently and strongly a story makes its audience feel emotion. As a writer, you need to create an emotional connection between your audience and characters with good characterization. If your characters feel like real humans, the humans in the audience will relate to them. Once you accomplish this, when your characters confront obstacles and go through ups and downs, your audience will have an emotional reaction, essentially going on the ride with them. This emotional ride is what a typical audience member is signing up for when they sit down to read a novel or watch a film. If you ask someone what their favorite book or movie is, the answer you get tends to be based on the person's emotional experience. For more on emotional impact in storytelling, watch this video clip from my writing course... The importance of emotional impact in storytellingFull free creative writing courseYou can watch the complete free creative course (over 30 minutes of video lessons) here: What genres is the free online writing course for?The course is aimed at fiction and narrative non-fiction writers. The lessons are applicable to all genres within those two categories, such as:
Download the accompanying outlining guideWhether you're a beginner looking to finish a first book or screenplay, or an experienced writer hoping to pick up a few new skills, be sure to download the story-outlining guide that accompanies the video lessons of the creative writing course. Additional writing coursesHere's a list of some other writing classes you may be interested in, too.
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Narrative Writing: Types and TechniquesFind out what narrative writing is and learn how to make yours excellent with these 10 tips. Writing a book or screenplay? Download my FREE story-outlining guide. What is narrative writing?Narrative writing is the process of telling a story via written words. Two major categories of narrative writing exist: fiction and narrative non-fiction. Fiction is the telling of stories that didn't actually happen in real life, while narrative non-fiction is the telling of stories that did. At a basic level, a story is a communicated group of events that centers around at least one subject character and builds to a conclusion about those events. The subject character is typically a person, but can be an animal, mythological figure, or any other type of entity with the capacity to think (whether real or not). You can't write a story about a rock in the dirt. At least one character needs to be conscious. Technically, for a story to meet the definition of narrative writing, it should be written down. However, spoken stories follow a similar flow. When you were a kid, did something wild ever happen to you and a couple friends, then you told a bunch of your classmates at school the next day? If so, you've already done something that's almost identical to narrative writing - all that was missing was writing the story on paper, typing it on a computer, etc. What are examples of fiction writing?Fiction writing mainly covers novels, short stories, comic books, plays, screenplays (the written basis of a movie), and teleplays (the written basis of a television show), though does span other formats. As long as the events in the story aren't a direct retelling of actual ones, the story is considered fictional. Often, fictional stories are inspired by real incidents, though aren't a direct account of them. For example, in real life, a screenwriter may have witnessed a person rescuing somebody from a burning car. After the writer got home, he was motivated to write a story that opens with someone pulling somebody else out of a vehicle in flames. However, since the writer invents the characters in the story, and places them into various invented situations after the rescue, this story would be considered fictional. What are examples of narrative non-fiction writing?As mentioned, non-fiction writing involves stories that directly chronicle real events. However, not all non-fiction writing is considered narrative. For writing to be considered narrative non-fiction, it needs to unfold like a story. Again, that means it unfolds as a communicated group of events that centers around at least one subject character and build to a conclusion about the events. For instance, chronicling the rise of a real musician from unknown performer to world-famous singer would be considered narrative non-fiction. It centers around a subject character (the singer) and events that build to a conclusion (the gaining of notoriety as a musician). Books like biographies and memoirs are considered narrative non-fiction, as are journalism articles that tell real stories about real people. A news article about the weather, for example, would not be considered narrative non-fiction - though the article is covering a real topic, it lacks a subject character. On the other hand, a magazine or newspaper article on a real person wouldn't be considered narrative if it only listed highlights from the person's career (ex, a profile) or briefly reported on some event the person was involved in (ex, mentioning the person won a local pie-eating contest). However, if an article went into depth about challenges a person went through and how those challenges shaped the person's life, the article would be considered narrative. 10 tips for narrative writing
Fiction vs. non-fictionFiction writers have more flexibility than non-fiction writers when implementing these tips. Since fiction writers are making up a story, they're not confined by the limits of real-life events. Non-fiction writers, on the other hand, need to stay true - at least to some degree - to the real-life material their writing project is based on. Non-fiction writers should look for angles in the material that lend themselves to the storytelling techniques described above. For example, if you're writing a story about a historical figure, you can cover the person's childhood, adolescence, or adulthood. Further, you can write about specific eras within each of those periods, or even narrower, specific years, weeks, or days. My advice is to first seek out a worthy antagonist in the person's life. Possibly, as a child, the historical figure had some struggles, but they weren't in relation to another person in particular. However, while an adult, the historical figure had a strong political rival. You can build a dramatic story around this clash. Sure, your story can cover all aspects of the subject character's life, however, I'd spend much more page space on the dramatic conflict between hero and villain during this particular stage of adulthood. Want more writing tips?Be sure to download my FREE outlining guide. It applies to fiction and narrative non-fiction, across all genres, such as:
You might also like my post on how to market a book online.
Character Development: 5 Tips for a Great AntagonistCheck out these 5 character development tips for an unforgettable antagonist. Want even more advice? Download my FREE story-outlining guide What's an antagonist?Any character who tries to prevent your protagonist - ie, the hero - from achieving their goal in the story. For instance, in the film Rocky, hero Rocky has a goal to win a championship boxing match. The opposing fighter, Apollo, is an antagonist since he's trying to win the match instead of Rocky. Stories can have more than one villain, however, I'd recommend choosing a single main antagonist who'll be responsible for most of the obstacles preventing your hero from achieving their goal. How do you write a great antagonist?No one way exists for creating a great villain in storytelling. However, certain antagonists have had more resonance with audiences than others over the thousands of years people have been telling stories, and commonalities have been found among them. Here are five useful character development tips for your main antagonist... Character Development Tip #1: Give your villain an understandable reason for bad actionsEmpathy is critical in character development. Your audience should understand the decisions your characters make, even if it doesn't agree with those decisions. A villain who does horrible things for no apparent reason could be an intimidating obstacle in your story, however, the character would lack humanity. Real people tend to do things - both good and bad - for a reason. For your characters to feel authentic, they should behave like real people (even if they happen to be supernatural). Here are a pair of recommended techniques for making your antagonist's dark decisions understandable:
Character Development Tip #2: Make your antagonist more imposing than your protagonistAt the start of your story, the odds of winning should be stacked against your hero. Your main antagonist should seem to have the advantage in traits that tend to determine the winner of the climactic confrontation your story is building toward. For example, if you're telling a crime story, your protagonist detective may be the sharpest cop in their town, however, the thief they're going up against is considered the best in the country, a clear favorite in a battle of intelligence. If you're telling a science-fiction story, your main character may be a great soldier, but only human, while the central antagonist is a robot five times stronger and faster than any person. This imbalance of power makes your protagonist an underdog, and the audience likes rooting for an underdog. Plus, the imbalance gives your main character room to grow through the story. If your hero can't beat the central villain based on conventional traits, the hero will have to get creative, learning new skills or trying novel approaches. This requirement to grow makes for good drama. Character Development Tip #3: Create at least 3 opponents for your heroAs mentioned, your story should have one main villain, however, you'll have more potential for conflict if more than one character opposes your protagonist's pursuit of their goal. Aim for at least two opponents in addition to the central one. These additional opponents shouldn't simply be others in the main villain's circle. For example, if you're telling a crime story and your central antagonist is a kingpin gangster, his right-hand man wouldn't qualify as a distinct opponent - he'd essentially be an extension of the kingpin. However, if your protagonist were a detective, his risk-averse, politically motivated captain in the police department could qualify as a distinct opponent. The captain could be applying pressure on the detective in a different way than the gangsters. Instead of trying to kill the detective with a machine gun, the captain could hold him back with stringent department regulations and the threat of job loss. Character Development Tip #4: Make at least one opponent a surpriseAudiences love twists. And a great twist is the reveal of an opponent late in a story. For example, your detective protagonist has been battling to solve a case. However, a key piece of evidence goes missing. The detective, who thinks a certain cop with a history of taking bribes was responsible, shows up at his buddy's house late at night to discuss the theory. While in the house, the detective stumbles on the piece of evidence in a closet. He then notices his friend enter the room pointing a gun at him. A good surprise-opponent reveal should not only characterize the opponent in a powerful way, but impact the plot, ideally making your hero's path to their goal even harder. Character Development Tip #5: Emotionally tie your antagonist to your protagonistYour protagonist should see a trait of theirs in the main antagonist that the protagonist doesn't like. I call this tactic a "dark mirror." For example, your main antagonist may be a serial killer, while the protagonist is a detective who catches killers. However, earlier in their career, the detective killed an innocent person by mistake, firing at a suspect in a crowd, missing, and hitting a young mother. The incident has saddled your hero with guilt for well over a decade. The hero's link to the villain - they're both killers, just different kinds - can force your hero to more clearly see and confront their own internal darkness through the story. Want more writing tips? Check out my posts on character development for a protagonist and story plot tips. Character Development: 5 Tips for a Great ProtagonistDon't miss these 5 character development tips for an unforgettable protagonist. Want to write an awesome story? Download my FREE outlining guide. What's a protagonist?The main character of your story. They should want something - ex, to solve a crime, win a championship, find love, etc - and the audience should follow them as they pursue this goal. An example of a protagonist in a book would be Jack Reacher, while an example in film would be Rocky. Most, but not all, stories have a protagonist. Certain stories follow a group of characters as they go after a goal - either their own or a shared one - giving each of the characters equal weight across scenes. How do you write a great protagonist?Like anything in writing, there is no single "correct" way to do something. However, since storytelling has been around for thousands of years, characteristics have emerged that certain well-received protagonists share. Here are five helpful character development tips for your story's lead... Character Development Tip #1: Give your protagonist a want and a needAs mentioned, a protagonist has a want: a desire to go out into the world and accomplish some goal. However, great protagonists often have something else too, known as a need. The need is an emotional problem that requires fixing in order for the main character to lead a better, fuller life. Toward the beginning of a story, a protagonist is often well aware of their want, however, may not yet acknowledge their need since it's been psychologically repressed. For an example, let's look at a detective story. Two teenagers in a small town go missing. The main character, Detective Smith, has a clear want early on: he wants to find out who's responsible for the disappearance. Years earlier, Detective Smith's wife passed away. He's tried to move on, but the loss has left him emotionally scarred: he sabotages his relationships with women before they get too close so he can avoid the pain of another potential loss. Yet, Detective Smith isn't even aware he does this. His want vs. need entails two distinct challenges for him. However, a recommended technique is to form a link between the want and need. For instance, as Detective Smith searches for the criminal behind the disappearance (the want), he meets one of the missing teen's mothers, who also lost a spouse a few years back. This woman recognizes Detective Smith's repressed pain, helps him come to grips with it, and eventually overcome it by the end of the story (the need). When creating your want and your need, empathy is critical. The audience should understand why your protagonist wants what they do out in the world and why the protagonist needs what they do internally. Your main character doesn't necessarily have to be "likable" as long as the audience understands how they tick. For instance, a woman may want to rob a beloved local business, but if the audience learns she plans to use the money to help her sick daughter, it'll still identify with her. A guy may act like a jerk to everyone at his high school, but if the audience finds out his father just abandoned his family, it'll still identify with him. Character Development Tip #2: Choose the right type of protagonist for your genre and storyCertain genres call for certain types of main characters. The three general types:
Make sure you're familiar with the genre you're writing in and the types of main characters that tend to appear. For instance, comedies typically feature leads the audience looks down on, goofs that are laughed at. Horror stories tend to have main characters the audience sees eye to eye with, which allows it to easily identify with the character and imagine the terror they're going through. Action stories are usually led by a person the audience aspires to be like, a capable, courageous hero. If you'd like, you can flip these conventions on their head. However, if you do, be certain the entire tone of your story matches this flip. For instance, if you are telling a gritty detective story about missing teenagers and your main character is a goofball who barely knows how to hold a gun, you'd run into a clash in tone. However, a story about a bumbling detective could work if you stripped out the gritty elements and fully committed to a comedic angle. Character Development Tip #3: Give your protagonist a skillA skill will instantly make your main character more interesting. As discussed with tip #2 - matching your protagonist with your genre/story - certain genres call for certain skills. Ex, an action hero is usually good at fighting and staying cool under pressure. However, regardless of your genre, your main character should be good at something, even if they're the doofus lead in a comedy. A skill indicates the character has potential, even if they seem hopeless at the beginning of the story. Remember, you need the audience to become emotionally invested in whether this characters achieves their want. If your protagonist lacks skills, they can be viewed as a lost case - the audience may feel they'd only accomplish anything through luck, which doesn't make for a dramatic plot. For example, though your comedic lead may be a clumsy drunk at the beginning of the story, he might be good at darts, which he plays at a local bar while drinking nightly. Through the story, he learns how to channel the focus he applies to darts to other aspects of his life. Character Development Tip #4: Give your protagonist a secretLike a skill, a secret instantly makes a character more interesting. A recommended technique is to establish that your protagonist has a secret fairly early in your story, without yet revealing the details of the secret (which you'd do later). For instance, let's say you're writing a psychological thriller about a suburban woman, Jennifer. On the surface, she may seem like many other women in her quaint town. Then, one day while Jennifer is on a business trip in a different city, a strange man comes up to her and calls her by a different name. Antsy, she tells the guy - plus her coworkers - that he's mistaken. However, the man doesn't accept her explanation. He insists she's in a lot of trouble, then hurries off. Clearly, Jennifer is keeping a secret from her coworkers, and even her husband and kids back at home. And the secret is so significant she decided to change her name to escape from some aspect of her past. The audience doesn't yet know what happened earlier in Jennifer's life, but it'll surely find her a lot more interesting and anticipate the reveal of her backstory. Character Development Tip #5: Emotionally tie your protagonist to your antagonistYour central antagonist is the character most responsible for blocking your protagonist from achieving their goal. The antagonist should not just challenge your main character with obstacles out in the world, but challenge them emotionally, forcing them to confront the pain of their need. A recommended technique is to give your hero and villain a trait in common, specifically something the hero doesn't like about themself. I refer to this tactic as a "dark mirror." When the hero recognizes this shared trait in the villain, and sees the negativity stemming from it, the hero is forced to look inward, confronting their own flaws and striving to do better than the villain. This introspection may help the hero finally address their need. Want more writing advice? Check out my posts on the difference between a protagonist and antagonist, character development for an antagonist, and story plot tips. Download my FREE story-outlining guide: How to Write a Book: 5 Steps for BeginnersInterested in writing your first book? Below are 5 key steps on how to write a book for beginners. To outline an awesome story, download my FREE guide How do you write a book with no experience?If you have no storytelling experience, that's okay. Since you have an interest in writing a book, chances are you enjoy reading. And reading makes for a great starting point... How To Write a Book Step #1: Tap into what you like to readDo you like reading crime thrillers? Maybe sci-fi? Romance? If you want to write a book, tapping into your interests as a reader is a great first step. Chances are you've read at least a handful of books in your favorite genre and have a sense for the types of characters and conflicts that make for its best stories. You should set out to tell the type of story you'd be a potential reader of. When the time comes to write it, you'll have an intuitive feel for what's working and what isn't. You just imagine you're a reader and ask yourself if you'd keep turning the pages. How To Write a Book Step #2: Put your personal stamp on the genreOnce you've picked your genre, your story should stay true to the expectations readers of the genre have. For instance, in a mystery novel, some crime should happen toward the beginning that your main character must solve. Though you want your story to keep within the traditions of your genre, you also want it to be unique. There's only one of you. So, for your story to be unique, simply look at what you find intriguing about the world. Two helpful categories to think about are people and situations, since these can be naturally shaped into characters and plot. What's a type of person that interests you? Maybe people who explore caves have always fascinated you. Your mystery novel could open up with your main character climbing through a cave with a couple friends and coming across a dead body. What's a situation that interests you? Maybe you've always wondered what would happen if someone stole a famous painting from a museum. Sounds like a solid premise for a thriller. How To Write a Book Step #3: Learn the elements of storytellingOnce you identify your favorite genre and some people and a situation that you find intriguing, your foundation will be set. However, that's not enough to put together a captivating story with a beginning, middle, and end. Fortunately, doing that can be straightforward if you have insight into the four key elements of storytelling:
How To Write a Book Step #4: Outline your storyOnce you have an understanding of characters, plot, theme, and emotion, you should be ready to outline your story. An outline is a document that captures the major events in your novel from the beginning, through the middle, through the end. In my How To Write Gripping Stories online course, I provide a blueprint guide that makes outlining your novel simple. Some questions your outline should answer:
How To Write a Book Step #5: Write your chaptersOnce you've got your book outlined, your next step is to start writing your chapters. The minimum length for a novel is considered to be 60,000 words. I realize that may sound like a lot, however, if you break the process into smaller steps, it'll seem manageable. Writing 500 words a day is a great goal. That's two pages, double-spaced. Pretty doable, even for a beginner. Let's say you get into a good, consistent routine and you're knocking out your 500 daily words. In only 120 days - just 4 months - you'll have the first draft of your book completed. Let's say you miss a day here and there, but still stay pretty consistent, you're looking at maybe 5 months till a first draft. Not too long, and not too much required of you per day. Once you finish the first draft, start at the top, read through it, and edit things that seem off. On this second draft, make sure your characters and conflicts are interesting and your sequence of events makes sense, ex fix any plot holes you may notice. I'd recommend a third draft, where your focus can get a bit narrower. Tighten up your dialogue and descriptions, removing any sentences that aren't necessary for characterization or plot development. You can also keep your eye out for issues with spelling and grammar. Learning how to write a book entails a lot more education than reading one article. Various guides are dedicated to scene structure, dialogue, editing, and any other writing topic out there - I'd suggest you start checking them out. This post focuses on writing a novel, however, narrative non-fiction books follow many of the same principles. You might want to have a look at my article on the types of narrative writing. If you're new to writing, you also should learn how to market a book online and how to write a short story. Download my FREE story-outlining guide: |