
What is online literature and what makes it unique in the marketplace?
What are some of the features and hallmarks of online literature?
The differences between traditional vs online literature (Part 1).
The differences between traditional vs online literature (Part 2).
The process of creating online literature.
How do you become inspired? This lecture is about ways you can find inspiration for your work.
In this lesson, we’ll be working through the first four popular genres in the online literature word.
In Part 2 of popular genres, we’ll working through the last three genres that capture online audiences.
We’ll be working through how you can write a synopsis that draws an audience in.
The importance of a title—why you need one that will catch the eye of the reader.
Developing a protagonist that will inspire you and your audience takes work and a little faith. In this lesson, we’ll be working through the importance and aspects of a good protagonist.
Supporting characters are just as important as your main character, as they are integral to bringing the story to life; here we will work through how to create a character that is memorable and life-like.
As much as you need a protagonist who is well-developed and defined, your antagonist needs to be just as dynamic and engaging; here, we will cover functional and non-functional antagonists.
Every story needs a good romance to keep the hearts of the readers involved; here we’ll go over several love interest archetypes.
The importance of plot, and how you can use it to drive your story, and your characters, forward.
Let’s walk through an example of how a successful plot should be constructed and its aspects.
Let’s work through how you can arrange your characters, plot, and story so you can create a series of ups and downs that will keep your audience engaged and excited.
Let’s work through creating an outline and building a series of story arcs that use a cause, effect, climax, and ending.
Let’s do a brief review, and go over some tips and tricks that will help you create an outline that is detailed enough help you with your story but open enough to be flexible.
What is the importance of a good opening, and how can you build an opening that will gain you readership?
Making an opening that is simple and interesting will help bring in readers.
Now that you have an opening, here are some tips and tricks that you can use to analyze what you have written in order to make it outstanding.
Updates are important to keep your readers engaged, and you must be consistent. Your audience needs to know when to check back and how long they have to wait for the answers to their questions.
Let’s go over some tips and tricks other successful writers have used to format their story in a way that’s easy for their audience to read.
While variety is important, there are certain social taboos that could damage your readership and turn people off your story completely. Here, we’ll go over eight of the most common taboos.
How do you leave your readier wanting more? Here we’ll be talking about the different types of endings you can use to building reader engagement.
Let’s talk about the different aspects of a good ending. In this lesson, we’ll discuss some key features of endings that will help you create something magnificent.
Promoting your work can be scary and overwhelming. In this lesson, we’ll discuss options for posting and how you can make it work for you.
Thank you to all who have completed the course. From here, it is up to put yourself out there and write the next great online novel!
This is not your traditional writing course! Serial online literature is a new and rapidly growing publishing medium. This course explores the features of this digital fiction market, walking authors through the process of planning and writing novels specifically for this format and publishing them on online reading platforms.
We would like to invite students who complete the course to also apply for our paid author boot camp, a three-month novel-writing program in which authors submit chapters daily, receiving detailed feedback from an editor. Learning the skills you need to write a web-novel is just the beginning of a potential career in online literature!
If you are…
· A beginning writer looking for a guide to starting a novel and self-publishing online;
· An experienced author seeking new ways to publish and reach audiences around the world;
· An online fiction fan interested in learning more about the medium and how to write your own novel;
. . . Then this course is for you!
This course covers:
· The features of serial online fiction and its differences from conventional fiction and publishing;
· Starting and planning a story, including classic techniques of character, creation, plotting, worldbuilding, and outlining, with tips on how to translate them to this new medium;
· Publishing your work on an online platform and composing a novel serially through regular updates;
· A step-by-step guide for online novel creation from start to finish!
Instructor Bio
Adam R. Patterson has an undergraduate degree in communication from SUNY at Buffalo and a master’s degree in English from Roehampton University in London, England. While he has worked in film and radio, he focuses most of his time working with new writers and developing story for all mediums. He is currently an English instructor at Bryant & Stratton College, curriculum designer and literature instructor at eGlobal, and freelance editor and ghostwriter for several boutique publishing houses. Over the course of his career he has developed skill sets in story structure, monomyth, top editing, formatting for film and television, as well as education. He is a published poet, nominated BNFF Best Screenplay scriptwriter, and webnovelist.