In this lecture we’ll start the story-creation process by unpacking the basic mechanics of storytelling. You’ll see how stories are created from just a few basic elements and you’ll experiment with possible story ideas to work on as you progress with the course.

How to define your story idea in a short statement that describes the character, the situation they're in and the conflict they face.

An exercise to help you brainstorm story ideas and to find the idea behind any story you are already working on.

Build the story idea from the last lecture into a full story premise. A good premise is the foundation of a well-structured and publishable story. Your premise should make you feel excited about writing the story and should make the reader feel excited about the adventure you’ve promised them.

Find out how to adapt the general premise formula to short stories, memoir and narrative nonfiction.

Readers, agents and publishers are looking for dynamic characters who struggle and who are vulnerable, who triumph but also fail. They want characters with depth and purpose. This lecture explains exactly how to create multilayered characters who engage reader attention and drive the story forward.   

Now it's your turn - fill in this character worksheet and start building one of your main characters.

The source of your story is the space beyond your thinking mind. This meditation takes you through two portals ever deeper into your creative mind where you step into the world of your story and are swept away in the unfolding events. Then the meditation brings you back to waking awareness but still in creative trance so you can continue writing while tapped directly into source energy.

In this lecture we explore 5 key principles that will help you write dynamic, realistic dialogue that drives your story forward and keeps readers engaged.

Written dialogue consists of three parts - the words spoken, the attribution tags, and the action beats. Find out how to combine these elements in realistic dialogue that gives your characters their unique voice.

You’ve written some sparkling dialogue, so now it’s time to punctuate it. This article explains some of the main rules of dialogue formatting and punctuation. Print it out as a handy desk reference.

Two exercises to get the dialogue flowing and build your story or story sketches.

Should you tell your story in the grammatical past, present or future tense? This lecture shares the principles of choosing a tense and outlines some current trends in various genres.

Point of view (along with tense) is another decision you’ll need to take in the early stages of writing any story. This lecture introduces your options - first-person, second-person and third-person narration. It also introduces the concept of the narrator and the point of view character. 

Learn about the pros and cons of using a first-person 'I' narrator.

Explore third-person narration (he/she) and its two main forms - omniscient and limited. By the end of this lecture you will have a good sense of the most popular points of view in fiction and you will feel more confident in choosing points of view for your own writing.

Begin mastering the essential art of showing vs telling. This lecture outlines the difference between showing and telling and explains you how to use both to best effect.

In this lecture we’ll get practical and look at six specific things you can do to write lively, engaging narrative that shows rather than tells.

Practise your knowledge of showing vs telling by reworking a sample passage and by editing one of your own scenes.

Good description evokes vivid pictures in the reader’s imagination, drawing them in and making them participants in the creation of every scene. But many authors add too little description or go overboard and write too much. How much is just enough? And what do contemporary readers expect from descriptive text? Find out as you learn about the 5 principles of great descriptive writing.

See how the 5 principles of great description are put to work in describing characters and settings.

Write a descriptive passage for your story.

Understand scenes as the basic building block of story structure and see how to develop your writing sketches and ideas into fully developed scenes.

Learn how to structure your scenes using alternating active and reactive passages.

In the previous lecture, you were introduced to scenes as the basic building block of story structure. Now we’ll take it further and explore how those building blocks fit together into an overarching structure for your whole story.

See how to adapt the fiction premise formula for memoir and narrative nonficiton.

See how to flesh out a complete story beginning with just a premise or a key scene. Let the structure generate the content.

Apply the Story Generator to your work-in-progress and map out the scenes and passages that still need to be written. This is where you'll finally see your story coming together.

Your story needs to start strong and hook readers from the first page. In this lecture you will learn how to choose the right scene to open the story.

Four tried-and-tested ways to create a dramatic beginning and hook your readers so they can't put your story down.

A worked example that takes a boring opening paragraph for a memoir and gives it a dramatic hook that makes it compelling reading. Also applicable to fiction.

How to get further coaching and writing support.