Write a Classic.
A journey into your unique experience and inner world to find the story you're meant to write. The online course writers of any genre, ready for adventure.
Walk in the footsteps of Tolkien, CS Lewis and JK Rowling to discover how to write a classic for adults or children.
Perfect for novelists who are 'world-building' - Historical fiction, YA, Fantasy, Children's, Sci-Fi or writers who want to come up with a powerful idea that excites them. 45 powerful lessons online with award-winning novelist Louise Dean.
'Mind blown. On a daily basis.' Sara Bailey, author.
The Magic of Fiction.
'Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.'
J.K. Rowling.
Discover the ingredients essential to creating the experience of wonderment and adventure and learn how to use them in the right order at the right time. Plan your story step by step with 45 practical and inspiring lessons, checklists, exercises and materials. You will leave the course ready for departure with a bag packed for the adventure of a lifetime. You will have your big idea, a writing plan and material for a book that amazes you.
Longlisted for The Bath Children's Novel Award.
Susie Nott-Bower took The Classic Course and wrote her first children's novel with us and is longlisted for this wonderful award.
"I'm so thrilled, and just want to say an enormous thank you, because if it hadn't been for the Classics Course, it would never have been written. I really appreciate your support and all the inspiration that The Novelry has given me."
A two-book deal with Penguin Random House Children's imprint Puffin Books.
Rashmi Sirdeshpande took The Classic Course with The Novelry. Her children's book, How to Be Extraordinary, will be released in August 2019.
Editorial director Anna Barnes Robinson said: “She’s bursting with brilliant ideas and is a truly versatile talent ... with a sparkling humour and voice that will appeal to children everywhere.”
What Writers Say:
'45 days of mind-expanding exploration that will change how you write forever.'
"45 days of mind-expanding exploration that will change how you write forever. I have specifically written to friends and colleagues to recommend this course to them. I think it's the perfect extension of the Faber course, which I'd describe as beginner level, whereas this is more like an intensive high-level university course."
Jenni Muir
"I now have an outline and a clear idea of what I'd like to write. The experience has been positive, fulfilling and exciting."
Susie Nott-Bower
"I found 'The Classic' course the perfect balance of inspiring lessons and practical ideas to help me develop a magical world for the child in me to go off and explore."
Lorna Gill
"Life changing, and life enhancing. It's easy to get an idea for a book. What's truly exciting is growing and developing that idea in the company of others, and with such a generous and supportive guide as Louise. A wonderful analysis of what makes a classic, and what makes it so successful. And I've come away with a really interesting and engrossing idea of my own that I can't wait to pursue."
Cate Guthleben
"Taking the Classic course was not so much lighting a candle in the dark. It was more like taking a flamethrower to it. Everything I thought I knew was explained through masterful insights into the great classic writers. And everything I learned blew my mind."
Anna Pye
"Fast and intense scholarship looking at the roots and big stars of the genre. It's a stand-alone, totally original class in creating a classic fantasy. The lessons are stunning and gorgeous to look at, to read and to listen to. The ideas and revelations are so generous... igniting my own in so many ways."
Ann Hodson
"If you are serious about writing, this should be compulsory. It takes you back to the roots of why we all started writing in the first place - those books we read as children. Mind blown! On a daily basis. Louise is either a witch or a genius - the jury's out ;)"
Sara Bailey
"Provides real assistance in getting thoughts organised and sound approaches to getting the Classic structured for success."
Marie Gethins
"This course has been so enlightening! I have a goal, a road-map, the beginnings of characters I love and a magical world I want to explore and adorn. The course gives you a laser focus; a feeling that writing a book like this is actually doable - that writing from a space of humility and wonderment, I have every right to aim high; and a clear sense of direction and next steps."
Rashmi Sirdeshpande
Plan your book.
Take the course the way that works best for you. Either pace yourself with a lesson a day and two payment instalments or tuck into the entire course immediately!
The Plot Thickens.
1. Once Upon A Time
You will learn the great story structure that is the blueprint for the Classic. Get a working model to use to start planning your story immediately. Find out where ideas come from and how to develop them from something small and innocent into something exciting with commercial potential.
2. The Process
Draw upon your own experience to create the main characters of your Classic. Put 'memory' at the service of 'desire' in a combination commonly known as 'imagination'. These inspiring exercises will help you find all you need inside of you. Find a way to write your Classic within a busy working life.
3. World Building
What are the things you should include to create an experience of 'wonder' that works a powerful magic? These lessons examine the mechanics of the bestselling works of all time - the Harry Potter series, the Chronicles of Narnia, the Lord of the Rings and more and will guide you what 'set off', where.
Heroes & Villains, Readers & Authors.
4. Heroes & Villains
Drive your plot with conflict. In the 'secondary' worlds of Narnia, Middle-earth, Neverland, Wonderland and more the heroes have common characteristics. The villains exude a charisma. Learn how to pit these apparent opposites against each other for page turning excitement.
5. The Reader
Learn how to write for your reader to give them an out-of-this-world, immersive experience. When you know what they need from you as a writer and why your story could save their inner lives, you will reach more readers with a message that touches their hearts and minds.
6. The Author
Find out how the great authors told their stories, walk in their footsteps and plunder their toolkits. The sources of inspiration and the working methods are revealed. Leave the course with a big idea, new material, a plan and a plot and a thrilling confidence in the book you're about to write. The book of your life.
Louise Dean.
Award Winning Author Tutor.
Louise Dean studied history at Cambridge majoring in 19th Century Novels. Her own novels have been published internationally by Penguin, Simon & Schuster and others. Man Booker longlisted. Winner of The Society of Authors Betty Trask Prize, Winner Le Prince Maurice Prize. Nominated for The Guardian First Book Prize, the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award. An Oprah Book Club choice.
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