A friend recently recommended an online course called Masterclass. I’ve only just got around to looking it up. I was a bit suspicious to be honest, the idea of a pre-recorded, virtual teacher was not exactly appealing. I tend to like real-life teachers, very much. I am lucky in that most of mine were inspiring, selfless, passionate and made a significant impact on my life.
Image courtesy of Masterclass
But I’m loving the class. It’s called ‘Storytelling’ and it’s given by Neil Gaiman. Yes, I would like it if I was sitting across from him, inside the picturesque writer’s cabin breathing in the bookish, woodland air, able to ask questions and interacting in real time, but I’m not. I’m on my daughter’s beanbag covered in dog hair with the lap top balanced on a pile of books. The thing is, it doesn’t matter as much as I thought it would. There’s real value in this for what it is. I’m still listening to him talk about the craft of writing and I’m still learning.
One of the many things I love about writing is that I’ll never know all there is to know, howsoever I try.
Masterclass link (I should add that it’s not free although for $185 you are allowed access to as many of the classes as you want for up to a year. I’m hoping to do Margaret Atwood’s on creative writing next. And then David Mamet and then Judy Blume… and then if I’m not square-eyed by the end of those, I’ll try something totally random, like French Pastry Fundamentals.)
Neil Gaiman interview in Vanity Fair: On His New Storytelling MasterClass, Good Omens, and the Upside of Twitter
An in depth review of Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass by the Write Practice