Great job pointing out that Brandon Sanderson and Neil both said "Characters get what they need, not what they want." That really stood out. The whole idea of using mutually exclusive wants as a way to drive the story is extremely useful
I did that (to the best of my ability) in my most recent book. It really helped the conflict feel real and natural because the two people falling in love want opposing things.
"You have a million bad drawings in your pencil, and your work as an artist is to get the bad ones out so you can make way for the good ones." I love that so much
....except for the fact that isn't an original quote and is also a misquote as the REAL quote is 10,000, not 1 million. In fact, Chuck Jones's art teacher used to tell him this.
That kind of explains why Chuck Jones' cartoons before 1948 (barring some exceptions, like The Dover Boys, Tom Thumb in Trouble, and The Draft Horse) aren't considered his best work.
This was such a gooooood review. ABSOLUTELY love the "compost heap" idea. Such an encouraging sentiment. "You cannot fix a blank piece of paper ... you need to be brave ... I need to have faith in the process." Love this!
Watching this made me take out a Masterclass subscription. I like the slow speech from Niel, he’s telling a story there’s space for thought and it allows the information to sink in
Hey Sara, thanks for this. Loved it, just got me inspired to sit down and write. Any chance of a video on R.L. Stines Masterclass? That should be awesome!
I am not a fan of public transportation. However, I got a lot more stories because of my travels ... including my near incarnation at grand central; good thing I had street smarts.
Regarding the idea of giving characters distinct voices and characteristics, so you remember the character. This is completely subjective. In "The Great Gatsby", Fitzgerald goes to town in doing this. But he does this, in-part, because he wants you to SEE the characters in a very specific way. He wants you to visualize them in your mind the way HE wants you to see them. But the problem that presents is that his characters almost become cartoonish. Steinbeck does this in The Grapes of Wrath. And, again, in a way his characters can seem cartoonish. So they become very vivid, you see them clearly the way Steinbeck wants you to, but they seem cartoonish. By contrast, some authors give more abstract treatment to their characters, providing very little description or thin detail. And what happens is your mind fills in the visual details. Same with voice or speaking characteristics. If you don't remember these characters by the detail the author provides about their manner of speech, or their appearance, then you remember them from their actions and thoughts. Which is fine. A good example again is Steinbeck --- his "To A God Unknown" is more abstract than "Grapes", it's more of a mythical treatment, and it works very well to provide more abstract characters. Although, I must say, the brothers are a bit hard to distinguish and remember in that story, so he would have benefitted not necessarily from physical descriptions or voices, but simply from elaborating on the brothers more, giving us more experience with each. If you have a small number of characters then it's obviously far less important to distinguish them in those ways.
'school play, dramas and boredom' an exercise I picked up from YT about desensitizing your brain to modern technology, TV, social media, smart phone, algorithms etc. Is to get a chair, place in front of a wall in your home about a metre away, so long as you cannot see anything around you other than this wall, for 60 minutes. Allegedly for the first 30mins your brain can go ABIT crazy desperate to make you give it something to work on, so visual, it doesn't give in by looking around, if you do and see anything other than the wall you need to start over. After the first 30mins and because you give it no stimulation, it starts to entertain itself and can come up with all sorts of ideas and creativity, day dreams etc. Once the exercise is complete your brain should be primed to be super focused on the next (following) task you give it. This may be like the school play bordum idea. If 60mins isn't long enough, try longer.
I wrote a lot of poetry when I was young. I finished poems and published them and got praise for it. I've always wanted to also write good prose, too. But I had a feeling, I had no story to tell, because I could not see the end to an initial idea. With a poem you have one idea, a feeling you want to explore and you have the whole thing already in view. Because it's small, it unfolds like a ball and you know the structure before you start writing the first verse and perfecting your lines. With a story, that's not the case. You don't know the characters or the plot, before you write it. And that's basically what has always kept me from trying prose. So my bighest take away from your video or rather an interview with Gaiman I've heard before: Writing a story is like driving through the fog, you don't see very far. Have faith in the process, the story will write itself! And now that I've learned, that it's okay to not know what the end will be when starting to write in prose, I think, I will just start doing it. Thanks!
You're probably a panster or a gardener (or the other many terms) as opposed to a plotter. Stephen King is also a panster. George R. R. Martin is a panster - in fact, the GoT books started because he only thought of a cool chapter one, and nothing else. He wrote that chapter one in three days, with no greater plans for the whole book. In comparison, Brandon Sanderson is a plotter. He already knows the ending and has many plans laid out. Suzanne Collins is a structured plotter - you'll notice the Hunger Game books all have 27 chapters, with similarities of structure. Of course, it's a spectrum for writers.
Hi again. Just finished listening to this vlog, I loved it from beginning to end. It is so interesting and insightful on your input from each time you do a vlog about the master class you took and talk about the authors writing process. If there was this type of info 20 years ago when I was starting out as a writer, who knows how many side projects of book I might have already - unfortunately, you can change the past, so I will just say that I still have my main (first) fantasy book, my first kids book and now my werewolf story. Werewolf project is my main focus now in my current plan, hoping to get 3 chapters down within 3 weeks. Depending if I don't fall asleep since I woke up early today from my low back pain. All in all, busy sorting out my March word count book until a date, then going to start with my new character. For now, I have it as 'Unknown'. And just wondering, would you do a master class from authors like Teas Gerritson or J.D. Robb? Can't remember if you did a Master Class vlog about Stephen king. Since I don't know where to look, not going to Google search because I end up with hopeless info that I am not interested in. Thanks again for every hard work vlog that you do. Even if you do take a long break from UA-cam, then go for it, because you have to look over your health and mind. Take care and be safe and keep well.
They're pretty good but they definitely seem geared towards newer writers and not writers that have been writing for a while. Some good insights and different ways of looking at things though
Chuck Jones did NOT say you have a million drawings in you.... First off, he said 10,000. Second, that didn't come directly from him, he was telling people what one of his teachers told him. ...and D- that isn't even the full quote. The full thing is something like: my teacher told me everyone had at least 10,000 drawings in them that need to first come out and I thought that' good cuz I already drew that much on paper my dad gave me. ( His dad gave him and his siblings paper that he brought home from work.)
He clearly doesn't understand the idea of "show don't tell". He doesn't get it. It's not a random decision, and the approach shouldn't be that "you are God" and YOU decide based upon your whim or feeling. The decision on whether to show or tell is dependent upon whether the action or characteristic that you are presenting is a sufficiently important part of the plot, or the development of the character, or whether it is a foundational event. So, here's an example. In a story I'm writing I have a young couple who live together. In chapter 2 is the first time they are together interacting. This is an important chapter that is establishing the basic areas of conflict between them. In one scene in this chapter they are eating dinner in the kitchen, and then they are going to move to the living room and have a fire and eat dessert and coffee while they chat. I had this whole sequence of dialogue where they discuss cleaning up the dinner plates, getting the fire going, getting the ice cream plated and making the coffee, and moving to the living room. So I was SHOWING all this through chronologically walking through the dialogue and each action. But in the end it took up too much space to SHOW this, so I canned all that showing and just told the reader "once we finished eating dinner we took dessert and coffee into the living room and sat with out legs entwined on the sofa in front of the fire." In the same story the male character becomes really taken by a painting in a traveling exhibit at the art museum, and he goes to see it three days in a row during his lunch break. This is a critical part of the story, and I need to ground the reader deeply into the fact that he's taken with the painting, the secret reason he's taken with the painting, and I need to show what his obsession is like. I don't want to TELL the reader this --- I don't want to just say he became obsessed with the painting. I want to SHOW this through his actions, and his recounting of his feelings, and through the dialogue he has with several other people about it. It's not some RANDOM decision, and I don't just decide "I'm god and my whim determines whether I show or tell". I have utilitarian reasons for choosing one or the other.
Me reading what I wrote after a month or more have passed: I wrote this? I write like this? That's me? And funny enough, most of the time I'm actually pleased about it. Not because there's nothing to fix but because most of the time it's good and fixable. And when it's bad, I have the same questions just a different intonation ahhahaha It's extra special when I read and just think "this is perfect." But I've never finished a novel. Only short stories.
"You learn more from finishing a failure than writing something great and not finishing it." This is full of so many great quotes. Sorry, I'm just commenting as I listen, and it's exciting
@@MrParkerman6 This is kinda like an oxymoron no? An incomplete work is incomplete, how can one judge if it's a masterpiece, just doesn't make sense. That's like saying you'll be the greatest basketball player, when didn't even attempt a shot.
@@playmakersmusic You can tell if something is written at a high level or not by reading the first page or 2. By your rule, a basketball player must play for all 48 minutes without subbing to qualify as great. In reality, you can't call an unfinished narrative a masterpiece, but you can call it an almost-masterpiece.
It's hard to succeed in this field without knowing why you succeeded, but it's notoriously difficult to understand why you fail. So I would strongly disagree with that quote.
I love Neil's MasterClass, I listened to it more than other's. James Cameron, however, has an amazing MasterClass on filmmaking and I highly recommend it for writer's. There's knowledge there to be had for filmmakers AND novel writers.
Look up Richard Walter's UA-cam comments on screenwriting and writing. Very interesting as well. There's also a one hour-ish thing on UA-cam called "Don't Get it Right; Get it Written"....Interesting comments on writing.
Giving yourself license to tell instead of only showing is super important. That's one of the key things Sanderson said about my writing... that it was almost 100% shown, and the reader really needs a break at times, or they'll become overwhelmed from the cognitive demand of constantly having to deduce what's happening from the shown details.
The medium of comics needs more telling because the continuities are so all over the place.that readers need you to tell them.what is going on more often.
You have to judge in-the-moment, for each individual scene, and decide for that scene whether it will be more effective to show or tell, or, how to balance the two.
When I started writing my first book, I was afraid to write my truth. I was afraid of how people would react to my stories including main characters who weren't white. I don't see a lot of Chinese-American male sci-fi & fantasy authors like me. I'm about to finish my second book and I'm not as afraid to write my truth anymore.
" I don't see a lot of Chinese-American male sci-fi & fantasy authors like me. " A verygood reason to be one. Be a voice. I think writers have a task to do. They need to be a voice. They need to reflect and shape our culture(s).
A good editing tip: read your manuscript backwards. Paragraph by paragraph, read it backwards so the plot doesn’t get in the way. That way you can see if a paragraph is a hot mess or not. Do not edit for content while doing this, because that will be really really bad.
This is going in my 'Writing Advice' Playlist for regular reference. I'm very picky about what I put in this list. As of this time there are only 5 videos in it. This one is extra valuable as it is, essentially, a two-for-one special. So much good material. Not just from Neil, of course, but your interpretations add a whole new layer.
This was a great video! My main take away is his advice on just finishing it. So many decide to give up on their book/dreams. I have been so low on motivation when it comes to continuing on my new writing journey, but this really got me motivated. Less nintendo switch & netflixing and more writing & nature (easier typed than done)!
I feel like the key to showing vs telling is developing the ability to recognize when you are doing each. Once you can do that, you can make the decision as to which feels right for the given situation. The problem with beginning writers, such as myself, is that we haven't yet developed that ability. So then we tend to lean too heavily on telling (because it's the easiest). Anyway, just my opinion. Awesome video! Thanks for sharing.
Yes exactly! And once we learn that pure telling isn't very captivating, we run too far into the other direction and start over-describing every single minute detail haha.
If you don’t make the thing, if you don’t write that first novel, then, you can’t get better. Writing is iterative. One has to rewrite one’s brain to become good, to become efficient, to become productive, and with each successive iteration, one becomes better. To become clever.
Hey Sara! I just watched your video and actually liked it based on the advice, plus I agree on the things Neil had said about storytelling which is as similar as an artist or animator creating storyboards. And to be honest with you, even though I've not read any of your books or drafts, but just by how passionate you are to tell your story for others to see and read, tells me that you are a focused, incredible, talented, honest, strong, inspired, worthy, and a great writer. "You're on the road to greatness!" And as an artist and animator myself, there are ideas all around you. "Just open your mind, look outside the box and take a peek." Have a wonderful day, thanks for the video and hope to see more videos from you.
Once in a blue moon I experience something that literally changes me life, and makes me rethink everything in a far more positive way. I was having a weird thing today where I was projecting my current struggles onto some of my characters. I was like "how do I make these people interesting despite the fact that they have found peace in their trauma?" Then I looked at myself and realized I was actually asking that question about myself. I have experienced a lot of pain and found a way to cope with it, but that doesn't mean I have nothing left to discover. It means I'm finally equipped to experience more, and there's so much out there that I deserve to discover. This is a lesson that not only my characters need to learn, but I as well. Anyways, it was great timing that I found this video, because it felt like it was saying to me "these things are some of what you can pursue now that you've conquered so much." So I'm going to put into practice the advice from this video now that I feel like I'm strong enough to put them into practice.
7:26 You get ideas from two things coming together. In 60 years of writing I find that so true. I'll have one good idea but it's not story material until the second idea occurs to me, often separated by weeks or months. Then I sit down at my keyboard and it's party time!
I really enjoyed this - thank you very much. One piece of (hopefully constructive) criticism would be to work on however you are porting the sound in from external sources. In my car, there was a really bassy thrum or hum during Gaiman's audio. It was unrelated to his voice and was there during silences and pauses. Less noticeable on less bassy sound systems like my earbuds or phone speakers, but very noticeable on a decent sound system. Worth noting that my car's audio is stock - I haven't chucked a bunch of subwoofers in it or anything 😂. I'd watched another booktuber do a breakdown on this class, also using the audio, and it wasn't present in that - so I just thought i'd mention it in case you were unaware 🙂. While on that point, yourself and the other booktuber had a little overlap, but a lot that didn't overlap too. It was well worth watching yours, even after watching his - so thank you once again.
Good to see you again, Sara. I am currently finding success imitating Agatha Christie but my current project, Ghost of the Ripper, might be my most "me" sounding project. I am going on a journey with a modern detective named Casper Nottingham as he reconstructs (partly fictionally) the many murders in Whitechapel in order to prove or disprove his theory about who Jack the Ripper was as well as solving a modern case that seems to be a copycat Ripper.
@@SaraLubratt writing in my own style is really weird. I couldn't even tell you what my own voice is yet, but given that I'm not writing like Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle, I feel like it's helping. Also, the sheer amount of research material in the Whitechapel murder files helps fill out a longer story. I have written over 4000 words in a span of 2 weeks. That's unheard of for me when I try to imitate one of my fave authors. It usually takes me months to get to 4000 words. I'm on FIAAAHHH! (That's fire btw) the closest author I can think of to compare to my writing style for my current book is Dean Koontz, and specifically a book called What the Darkness Knows, which was a supernatural mystery. But I still see enough of a difference to not feel like I am imitating Dean Koontz.
Ridiculously inspiring. You chose some amazing moments. I'm very grateful you shared them. When he points out that you will need every single person you ever met and everything you experienced. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he's also good at talking.
Oh my gosh that thing about forcing your mind to go somewhere else is so true! For me, that's what happens when I have to drive all day. After a few hours, I always have some kind of mental breakthrough about something I didn't even realize was on my mind. Thank you so much for finding this valuable information and sharing it! Your channel is awesome
He does talk very slowly now that you mentioned it - I always fell asleep in the middle of his lessons on MC and now that you mentioned it, I know why. Thanks for the synopsis of notes - this one and the Brandon Sanderson classes notes were very helpful! Long cross-continental flights are great places for writing (or reading boring technical manuals LOL) especially when you are stuck in cheap coach and it's too uncomfortable to sleep and you've already watched 3 movies and there's 10 more hours to go. To look at it from a cup half full, "luckily" I have two flights over 15 hours long (that would be around 60+ hours of flying per round trips) just in November during NaNoWriMo so hoping to make use of those times for writing sprints.
😂 right? I even tried to cut out some of his longer pauses without making it seem to choppy but that was really hard to do... that's why the video was an hour lol
Regarding description, there is no need to twist a description just a little to make it memorable. It all depends upon what your goal is. I was in a writer's group, and people in the group had this half-baked idea that you had to physically describe every room. It was their weird, simple-minded rule that they reflexively applied to everything. And it was WRONG. You have to figure out what your goal is, and use description to serve your goal. In Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye", when Holden goes to visit the teacher in the beginning to tell him he's leaving the school, Salinger doesn't describe anything at all about the teacher's house, because it's irrelevant. So you, the reader, fill in the detail automatically and unconsciously. Which is fine --- the focus is on the ACTION and DIALOGUE. In Steinbeck's "To A God Unknown", Steinbeck provides elaborate descriptions of the physical landscape, and of the actions of the animals in this rural and farm setting, and the animal's actions as a reaction to the changing seasons. It's not just because he's setting a visual scene --- it's because he wants to first ground the reader in nearly every chapter in NATURE --- he is establishing the patterns of NATURE in each season, because the actions of his characters are being DRIVEN by nature, they are part of nature. He's making the reader feel and sense and experience the actions of the humans as being inextricably tied to, and the product, of physical nature and the seasons, JUST LIKE THE ANIMALS. So he sets out what season it is, describes what's going on in that season, and then describes what the farm animals are doing in reaction to that particular season --- the animal's actions are driven by whatever season it is. THEN he talks about the human characters in relation to all of what's going on with the farm. It's not just some random act of "describing the setting". Hearing this guy spew this BS is helping me to realize the best way to learn to write is to reason everything through on your own, and to never listen to these ridiculous rules of thumb.
His “live life” advice is so interesting (and common, Hemingway said something similar) not only because he’s saying “go get ideas for stories, characters, etc from your life” but on a deep level he’s saying “find a reason to write.” Find something you care about so much that you have to write about it. You look at Hemingway or Thomas Pynchon or even Gaiman himself, their various stories are so different from one another yet each has some basic themes that they touch on in everything. Hemingway’s protagonists have issues balancing outward stoic masculinity with inward sensitivity and insecurity, Pynchon has a severe distrust of authority. These are themes that are so deeply baked into their authors that they come peeking out of the stories even when the surface level plot has nothing to do with it. You don’t have to know anything about Hemingway’s depression or Pynchon’s early life working for the military-industrial complex to find these things, but they’re themes ripped right out of the author’s lives and they can’t help writing about them.
Thank you Sara, this is an amazing video! You found the perfect balance between commenting on Neil Gaiman's words, summarizing them, and letting us hear them directly from him! This masterclass helped me realize I had quite a few misconceptions about writing and I found it so helpful. Thank you again!
My apologies for my previous comment. I've deleted it. It's an important lesson for me about subtext. I didn't think about the different interpretations. My intentions were innocent and I'm sorry.
This man's comments seem to be coming from someone who feels like he's a fraud, and doesn't really know what he's talking about. it's difficult to listen to.
I have rarely left a comment on youtube videos, and I've watched a couple of yours now. Your comments on Brandon Sanderson's lectures led me to watch his entire lecture series, and start consuming authorship content for the last few weeks, and even inspired to try some writing exercises myself, which has been an interesting journey, leading me to flirt with the idea of creating my own novel. I'm glad that I've found your videos, and wish you continued luck and prosperity.
As an older man, starting down a pah I started 25 years ago and then life got in the way... I have still had a career based enirely on how creative I am and whether other people are willing to pay me for that creativity (I draw comics). So I am, at this later point, starting back on a path I left behind so long ago. No surprise, if I am watching this video, thats writing, not just drawing. One of the most important take aways here is the concept of rejection. The simple truth about rejection is this, no matter how many times a piece of work is rejected, it just hasn't reached the right person, it's not that it is "bad". Because technically bad is real, universally bad is not. this is why technically bad books, comics, films, tv shows can go on to be cult level masterpieces. Because in reaching the right audience, the technically bad piece of work is loved. My own career highlights this very very clearly. This is where the strength of self publishing, in any medium, si one of the greatest things we as creators have at our disposal today. The ability to get our work in to the hands of an audience that may in fact love your technically bad work. Work that may have been turned down by publishers who, rightly so, have specific standards they look for within the idea you are presenting them. This is a really good video, as many of your videos are... that I am currently binge watching. Really inspiring stuff. Thank you. Edit: I thinkits also worth noting, this ability to self publish is huge for new creators. Because it means you can still reach an audience while your craft grows. Once you are seasoned, facing the rejection of a publisher, and putting away the story is fine. I think it is extremely important for younger creators (in the way Neil describes younger here) to still find even a small audience as tha is hugely inspiring in the attempt to keep going in the vace of rejection. Okay, publishers doesn't want this, i shall self pulish it, see what happens and like Neil (Gaiman) says, move on to the next thing. I really do think it helps people keep going. Which for me, is the most important part.
I know this is a year old and you probably won't be monitoring your email for comments. However, at 6:17 you mentioned looking at classic ideas (stories) and looking at them from a different angle. Someone who is amazing at doing this is Marissa Meyer. She's wonderful at taking kids stories and making them something entirely different without repeating anything that is out there and if you have time I would completely recommend her Lunar Chronicles series. She basically Takes Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Rapunzel's stories and made them into a series. I realize it is a YA book, but it is delightful to read. If you get to read this, I highly recommend you check her out as an example of what Neil is talking about.
Real question... I been watching this video for the last 4 days on your page, Would you say it's worth buying the $120 price tag or will you continue to do recap videos?
It’s 120 for a year long membership and I think half for a singular class. Filming these recaps take a lot of time but I would like to cover a few more
As someone who's never taken a Masterclass, these videos are SO valuable and insightful. Really appreciate the work you put into sharing these inspiring snippets of wisdom. Loved the Brian Sanderson one too. Please keep them coming!
Go see a kids movie. I watched the minions with my son and zoned out the entire time thinking about my characters. I came too in the last couple minutes.
At first I thought the thumbnail said 'I took Neil Gaiman's glasses' and I thought 'Why?!' Then I realized Neil Gaiman doesn't actually HAVE glasses lol
funny you talking of 4 or 5 drafts when listening to Lee Child saying he never makes any drafts, he just starts writing, makes it up as he goes along and it is what it is. finished done no edits no changes.
I wrote in my query, the one I’m about to send out, “it’s funny how writing makes the ideas flow.” So writing what you want to write, is the most important thing to practice.
You're so welcome! I have a few other writing masterclasses on my channel as well if you’d like to check them out ua-cam.com/play/PL9eD840O9y74_BhkRjvqJZFZJxpm__75E.html
I think you should check out Joana Penn's course on writing a novel. I think her website is The Creative Penn. She has a podcast and UA-cam channel and I think over a dozen published books.
James Cameron has a great MasterClass. If you haven't yet, definitely watch Sara Blakely. Though she doesn't talk about writing, she talks about business and creating a great idea and turning it into something huge. It more than applies to writing!
Sounds like a combination of Neil Gaiman's course and Alan Moore's will give you the majority of what you need to get any good story off the ground. Dip into other writers you love to round it off! I'm finally buckling down to get the first third of my new story into shape tomorrow morning. Or tonight if I can't wait.
Awesome video! I really needed this! Thank you! Cannot wait to take Neil Gaiman's Master Class myself. I'm 7.000 words away from finishing the first draft of my second novel which on the last pages is really tough. But I feel super excited and inspired now :D
My biggest problem is finishing things. I have a number of rough drafts that I've been working on for the past three years. I just can't find the drive to move forward to the revision phase. Having dyslexia has made things difficult. I love writing, but I struggle with it. Perhaps, this master class might help me. Any thoughts?
Living is integral to a writers, that’s how you find truth and even sharpen your voice. And in a world of deadlines and endless routines, it’s so easy to just “exist.”
Thank you so much I always wanted take master class but couldn’t Cause of my budget I’m a new writer trying to write my first comic thank again for this just subscribe to you 😃
One of the greatest writers I've ever encountered straight clown-dunking on middle school theater is the laugh I needed this week. Neil rules, always has. 🤡 🏀 🎭
The method of going to a school play to force yourself to come up with something interesting to think about suddenly reminded me of a 10-day silent retreat with no cell phones I went on a few years ago. Around day 4 or 5, maybe, I started to let myself think outside of meditation, although that wasn't part of the plan. I started to develop a re-telling of the Rapunzel fairy tale in my head. It sort of goes back to the idea of making writing a discipline to which you are faithful and don't allow distractions. But in this method, you are 'forced" to get into the frame of mind where you can do what you really want to do anyway, which is to create a story, a world.
“Show don’t tell” came out of the Iowa Writers Conference and was supported by the CIA to discourage writers from naming and explaining systems of power. The podcast “citations needed” did an episode on it.
I'm so sorry that you feel like that sometimes. I'm grateful for youtube and social media because it makes the creative process feel a little less lonely ❤️
right at the very end all i could think were these famous words said by the legendary, wise and genius Kendall Jenner “I think you should experience it. You always say you want to experience things but I don’t think you actually want to experience things because you would experience it if you wanted to experience things” so true, so right 🤭
The final-ish thoughts on experiencing life is spot-on. Over half of my characters and plot are inspired from people and events I've seen, watched, heard about or known.
I absolutely love these videos! Thank you for taking the time to film them for us. It's been truly inspirational and informative. I can't wait to take the masterclass myself!
Hey, thank you for making this video. I haven't finished it, but the taste you present is well... incredible. Also listening to this in the background: The Cinematic Orchestra Arrival of the Birds & Transformation, was worth it. The best thing I've ever done for writers block was to write a description and anything, even it is incredibly boring.
Great job pointing out that Brandon Sanderson and Neil both said "Characters get what they need, not what they want." That really stood out. The whole idea of using mutually exclusive wants as a way to drive the story is extremely useful
Absolutely!
It's also discussed really well in the Save the Cat books (I've only read the novel specific one though- so worth a read!)
I did that (to the best of my ability) in my most recent book. It really helped the conflict feel real and natural because the two people falling in love want opposing things.
"You have a million bad drawings in your pencil, and your work as an artist is to get the bad ones out so you can make way for the good ones." I love that so much
Yes!
....except for the fact that isn't an original quote and is also a misquote as the REAL quote is 10,000, not 1 million.
In fact, Chuck Jones's art teacher used to tell him this.
@@MrParkerman6 Doesn't matter if people pass it around.
My graphic design professor whose HUGE on having great communication/writing skills always talks about how healthy that idea is for creatives.
That kind of explains why Chuck Jones' cartoons before 1948 (barring some exceptions, like The Dover Boys, Tom Thumb in Trouble, and The Draft Horse) aren't considered his best work.
This was such a gooooood review.
ABSOLUTELY love the "compost heap" idea. Such an encouraging sentiment.
"You cannot fix a blank piece of paper ... you need to be brave ... I need to have faith in the process." Love this!
Thanks for watching!
It's simple, not EASY!
Yes!
Watching this made me take out a Masterclass subscription.
I like the slow speech from Niel, he’s telling a story there’s space for thought and it allows the information to sink in
:)
Hey Sara, thanks for this. Loved it, just got me inspired to sit down and write. Any chance of a video on R.L. Stines Masterclass? That should be awesome!
I'll look into it!
@@SaraLubratt Thanks, Sara. That'll be great. Can't afford MasterClass at the moment, so it'll really be helpful.
One of the best videos of storytelling (not Gaiman's, yours!) I have seen around here. Congrats 👏
Glad you enjoyed it!
I am not a fan of public transportation. However, I got a lot more stories because of my travels ... including my near incarnation at grand central; good thing I had street smarts.
Regarding the idea of giving characters distinct voices and characteristics, so you remember the character. This is completely subjective. In "The Great Gatsby", Fitzgerald goes to town in doing this. But he does this, in-part, because he wants you to SEE the characters in a very specific way. He wants you to visualize them in your mind the way HE wants you to see them. But the problem that presents is that his characters almost become cartoonish. Steinbeck does this in The Grapes of Wrath. And, again, in a way his characters can seem cartoonish. So they become very vivid, you see them clearly the way Steinbeck wants you to, but they seem cartoonish.
By contrast, some authors give more abstract treatment to their characters, providing very little description or thin detail. And what happens is your mind fills in the visual details. Same with voice or speaking characteristics. If you don't remember these characters by the detail the author provides about their manner of speech, or their appearance, then you remember them from their actions and thoughts. Which is fine. A good example again is Steinbeck --- his "To A God Unknown" is more abstract than "Grapes", it's more of a mythical treatment, and it works very well to provide more abstract characters. Although, I must say, the brothers are a bit hard to distinguish and remember in that story, so he would have benefitted not necessarily from physical descriptions or voices, but simply from elaborating on the brothers more, giving us more experience with each.
If you have a small number of characters then it's obviously far less important to distinguish them in those ways.
'school play, dramas and boredom' an exercise I picked up from YT about desensitizing your brain to modern technology, TV, social media, smart phone, algorithms etc. Is to get a chair, place in front of a wall in your home about a metre away, so long as you cannot see anything around you other than this wall, for 60 minutes. Allegedly for the first 30mins your brain can go ABIT crazy desperate to make you give it something to work on, so visual, it doesn't give in by looking around, if you do and see anything other than the wall you need to start over. After the first 30mins and because you give it no stimulation, it starts to entertain itself and can come up with all sorts of ideas and creativity, day dreams etc. Once the exercise is complete your brain should be primed to be super focused on the next (following) task you give it. This may be like the school play bordum idea. If 60mins isn't long enough, try longer.
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I am very glad to have this summary available.
Thanks for watching!
Great vid and discussion. And as well, perfect physical example of Worldbuilding during Worldbuilding section at 28:57!
Thank you!
This was a really, really helpful video. Thanks for making this.
You're very welcome!
Thank you for doing this video! Definitely what I needed to hear right now. Want to go write now 🤣
I wrote a lot of poetry when I was young. I finished poems and published them and got praise for it. I've always wanted to also write good prose, too. But I had a feeling, I had no story to tell, because I could not see the end to an initial idea. With a poem you have one idea, a feeling you want to explore and you have the whole thing already in view. Because it's small, it unfolds like a ball and you know the structure before you start writing the first verse and perfecting your lines. With a story, that's not the case. You don't know the characters or the plot, before you write it. And that's basically what has always kept me from trying prose. So my bighest take away from your video or rather an interview with Gaiman I've heard before: Writing a story is like driving through the fog, you don't see very far. Have faith in the process, the story will write itself! And now that I've learned, that it's okay to not know what the end will be when starting to write in prose, I think, I will just start doing it. Thanks!
You're probably a panster or a gardener (or the other many terms) as opposed to a plotter. Stephen King is also a panster. George R. R. Martin is a panster - in fact, the GoT books started because he only thought of a cool chapter one, and nothing else. He wrote that chapter one in three days, with no greater plans for the whole book. In comparison, Brandon Sanderson is a plotter. He already knows the ending and has many plans laid out. Suzanne Collins is a structured plotter - you'll notice the Hunger Game books all have 27 chapters, with similarities of structure. Of course, it's a spectrum for writers.
So relatable my friend; it’s frustrating to lack this multifaceted vision.
*looks at my list of unfinished projects* well... here we go I guess...
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Hi again. Just finished listening to this vlog, I loved it from beginning to end. It is so interesting and insightful on your input from each time you do a vlog about the master class you took and talk about the authors writing process.
If there was this type of info 20 years ago when I was starting out as a writer, who knows how many side projects of book I might have already - unfortunately, you can change the past, so I will just say that I still have my main (first) fantasy book, my first kids book and now my werewolf story.
Werewolf project is my main focus now in my current plan, hoping to get 3 chapters down within 3 weeks. Depending if I don't fall asleep since I woke up early today from my low back pain.
All in all, busy sorting out my March word count book until a date, then going to start with my new character. For now, I have it as 'Unknown'.
And just wondering, would you do a master class from authors like Teas Gerritson or J.D. Robb?
Can't remember if you did a Master Class vlog about Stephen king.
Since I don't know where to look, not going to Google search because I end up with hopeless info that I am not interested in.
Thanks again for every hard work vlog that you do. Even if you do take a long break from UA-cam, then go for it, because you have to look over your health and mind. Take care and be safe and keep well.
Man, you were right. Slowwwwww speaker. lol
Glad his information is beneficial at least. I've never known if masterclasses were trustworthy.
They're pretty good but they definitely seem geared towards newer writers and not writers that have been writing for a while. Some good insights and different ways of looking at things though
Chuck Jones did NOT say you have a million drawings in you.... First off, he said 10,000.
Second, that didn't come directly from him, he was telling people what one of his teachers told him.
...and D- that isn't even the full quote. The full thing is something like: my teacher told me everyone had at least 10,000 drawings in them that need to first come out and I thought that' good cuz I already drew that much on paper my dad gave me.
( His dad gave him and his siblings paper that he brought home from work.)
He clearly doesn't understand the idea of "show don't tell". He doesn't get it. It's not a random decision, and the approach shouldn't be that "you are God" and YOU decide based upon your whim or feeling. The decision on whether to show or tell is dependent upon whether the action or characteristic that you are presenting is a sufficiently important part of the plot, or the development of the character, or whether it is a foundational event.
So, here's an example.
In a story I'm writing I have a young couple who live together. In chapter 2 is the first time they are together interacting. This is an important chapter that is establishing the basic areas of conflict between them. In one scene in this chapter they are eating dinner in the kitchen, and then they are going to move to the living room and have a fire and eat dessert and coffee while they chat.
I had this whole sequence of dialogue where they discuss cleaning up the dinner plates, getting the fire going, getting the ice cream plated and making the coffee, and moving to the living room. So I was SHOWING all this through chronologically walking through the dialogue and each action. But in the end it took up too much space to SHOW this, so I canned all that showing and just told the reader "once we finished eating dinner we took dessert and coffee into the living room and sat with out legs entwined on the sofa in front of the fire."
In the same story the male character becomes really taken by a painting in a traveling exhibit at the art museum, and he goes to see it three days in a row during his lunch break. This is a critical part of the story, and I need to ground the reader deeply into the fact that he's taken with the painting, the secret reason he's taken with the painting, and I need to show what his obsession is like. I don't want to TELL the reader this --- I don't want to just say he became obsessed with the painting. I want to SHOW this through his actions, and his recounting of his feelings, and through the dialogue he has with several other people about it. It's not some RANDOM decision, and I don't just decide "I'm god and my whim determines whether I show or tell". I have utilitarian reasons for choosing one or the other.
You should try Nora Robertsx writing routine!
Me reading what I wrote after a month or more have passed: I wrote this? I write like this? That's me?
And funny enough, most of the time I'm actually pleased about it. Not because there's nothing to fix but because most of the time it's good and fixable. And when it's bad, I have the same questions just a different intonation ahhahaha It's extra special when I read and just think "this is perfect." But I've never finished a novel. Only short stories.
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"There is no reason not to tell." Yepper, Neil.
❤️
Sara gets access. She’s hired.
:)
:)
How much is the class? thanks for sharing.
$90 for the class, $180 for a year membership to Masterclass, link in description if you choose to check it out :)
@@SaraLubratt Thanks
"You learn more from finishing a failure than writing something great and not finishing it." This is full of so many great quotes. Sorry, I'm just commenting as I listen, and it's exciting
I love commenting as I watch videos, it's fun you did that too!
I completely disagree with that.
I'd rather have a incomplete masterpiece than a finished piece of crap.
@@MrParkerman6 This is kinda like an oxymoron no? An incomplete work is incomplete, how can one judge if it's a masterpiece, just doesn't make sense. That's like saying you'll be the greatest basketball player, when didn't even attempt a shot.
@@playmakersmusic You can tell if something is written at a high level or not by reading the first page or 2. By your rule, a basketball player must play for all 48 minutes without subbing to qualify as great. In reality, you can't call an unfinished narrative a masterpiece, but you can call it an almost-masterpiece.
It's hard to succeed in this field without knowing why you succeeded, but it's notoriously difficult to understand why you fail. So I would strongly disagree with that quote.
I love Neil's MasterClass, I listened to it more than other's. James Cameron, however, has an amazing MasterClass on filmmaking and I highly recommend it for writer's. There's knowledge there to be had for filmmakers AND novel writers.
Oh good to know! Maybe I'll take that one next!
is it good for screenwriters?
Look up Richard Walter's UA-cam comments on screenwriting and writing. Very interesting as well. There's also a one hour-ish thing on UA-cam called "Don't Get it Right; Get it Written"....Interesting comments on writing.
Yes@@butterflymoon6368
Giving yourself license to tell instead of only showing is super important. That's one of the key things Sanderson said about my writing... that it was almost 100% shown, and the reader really needs a break at times, or they'll become overwhelmed from the cognitive demand of constantly having to deduce what's happening from the shown details.
The medium of comics needs more telling because the continuities are so all over the place.that readers need you to tell them.what is going on more often.
You have to judge in-the-moment, for each individual scene, and decide for that scene whether it will be more effective to show or tell, or, how to balance the two.
When I started writing my first book, I was afraid to write my truth. I was afraid of how people would react to my stories including main characters who weren't white.
I don't see a lot of Chinese-American male sci-fi & fantasy authors like me.
I'm about to finish my second book and I'm not as afraid to write my truth anymore.
Sending you a digital high five from across the web! Have a wonderful day, and good luck with your book ^^
What is your book called?
I want to read these stories. The white guy default is boring.
"
I don't see a lot of Chinese-American male sci-fi & fantasy authors like me.
"
A verygood reason to be one. Be a voice.
I think writers have a task to do. They need to be a voice. They need to reflect and shape our culture(s).
I would like to read your books.
A good editing tip: read your manuscript backwards. Paragraph by paragraph, read it backwards so the plot doesn’t get in the way. That way you can see if a paragraph is a hot mess or not. Do not edit for content while doing this, because that will be really really bad.
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This is a brilliant line editing tip actually, wow! I wouldn't use it for developmental edits, but definitely for the prose side of things later.
This is going in my 'Writing Advice' Playlist for regular reference. I'm very picky about what I put in this list. As of this time there are only 5 videos in it. This one is extra valuable as it is, essentially, a two-for-one special. So much good material. Not just from Neil, of course, but your interpretations add a whole new layer.
I feel so honored! Glad you found the video helpful!!
Just out of curiosity: Would you mind sharing which other videos are on your playlist? It sounds interesting!
@@lukaschrist2816I want to know too!
Must be secret
This was a great video! My main take away is his advice on just finishing it. So many decide to give up on their book/dreams. I have been so low on motivation when it comes to continuing on my new writing journey, but this really got me motivated. Less nintendo switch & netflixing and more writing & nature (easier typed than done)!
I feel like the key to showing vs telling is developing the ability to recognize when you are doing each. Once you can do that, you can make the decision as to which feels right for the given situation. The problem with beginning writers, such as myself, is that we haven't yet developed that ability. So then we tend to lean too heavily on telling (because it's the easiest). Anyway, just my opinion. Awesome video! Thanks for sharing.
Yes exactly! And once we learn that pure telling isn't very captivating, we run too far into the other direction and start over-describing every single minute detail haha.
Describe don’t explain is a better wording for show don’t tell
I like it!
If you don’t make the thing, if you don’t write that first novel, then, you can’t get better. Writing is iterative. One has to rewrite one’s brain to become good, to become efficient, to become productive, and with each successive iteration, one becomes better. To become clever.
Absolutely!
Hey Sara! I just watched your video and actually liked it based on the advice, plus I agree on the things Neil had said about storytelling which is as similar as an artist or animator creating storyboards. And to be honest with you, even though I've not read any of your books or drafts, but just by how passionate you are to tell your story for others to see and read, tells me that you are a focused, incredible, talented, honest, strong, inspired, worthy, and a great writer. "You're on the road to greatness!" And as an artist and animator myself, there are ideas all around you. "Just open your mind, look outside the box and take a peek." Have a wonderful day, thanks for the video and hope to see more videos from you.
Once in a blue moon I experience something that literally changes me life, and makes me rethink everything in a far more positive way. I was having a weird thing today where I was projecting my current struggles onto some of my characters. I was like "how do I make these people interesting despite the fact that they have found peace in their trauma?" Then I looked at myself and realized I was actually asking that question about myself.
I have experienced a lot of pain and found a way to cope with it, but that doesn't mean I have nothing left to discover. It means I'm finally equipped to experience more, and there's so much out there that I deserve to discover. This is a lesson that not only my characters need to learn, but I as well.
Anyways, it was great timing that I found this video, because it felt like it was saying to me "these things are some of what you can pursue now that you've conquered so much." So I'm going to put into practice the advice from this video now that I feel like I'm strong enough to put them into practice.
7:26 You get ideas from two things coming together. In 60 years of writing I find that so true. I'll have one good idea but it's not story
material until the second idea occurs to me, often separated by weeks or months. Then I sit down at my keyboard and it's party time!
I really enjoyed this - thank you very much.
One piece of (hopefully constructive) criticism would be to work on however you are porting the sound in from external sources. In my car, there was a really bassy thrum or hum during Gaiman's audio. It was unrelated to his voice and was there during silences and pauses. Less noticeable on less bassy sound systems like my earbuds or phone speakers, but very noticeable on a decent sound system. Worth noting that my car's audio is stock - I haven't chucked a bunch of subwoofers in it or anything 😂.
I'd watched another booktuber do a breakdown on this class, also using the audio, and it wasn't present in that - so I just thought i'd mention it in case you were unaware 🙂.
While on that point, yourself and the other booktuber had a little overlap, but a lot that didn't overlap too. It was well worth watching yours, even after watching his - so thank you once again.
Good to see you again, Sara. I am currently finding success imitating Agatha Christie but my current project, Ghost of the Ripper, might be my most "me" sounding project. I am going on a journey with a modern detective named Casper Nottingham as he reconstructs (partly fictionally) the many murders in Whitechapel in order to prove or disprove his theory about who Jack the Ripper was as well as solving a modern case that seems to be a copycat Ripper.
I'm glad to be back :) That's awesome!!
@@SaraLubratt happy writing
@@SaraLubratt writing in my own style is really weird. I couldn't even tell you what my own voice is yet, but given that I'm not writing like Agatha Christie or Arthur Conan Doyle, I feel like it's helping. Also, the sheer amount of research material in the Whitechapel murder files helps fill out a longer story. I have written over 4000 words in a span of 2 weeks. That's unheard of for me when I try to imitate one of my fave authors. It usually takes me months to get to 4000 words. I'm on FIAAAHHH! (That's fire btw) the closest author I can think of to compare to my writing style for my current book is Dean Koontz, and specifically a book called What the Darkness Knows, which was a supernatural mystery. But I still see enough of a difference to not feel like I am imitating Dean Koontz.
Ridiculously inspiring. You chose some amazing moments. I'm very grateful you shared them. When he points out that you will need every single person you ever met and everything you experienced. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he's also good at talking.
Oh my gosh that thing about forcing your mind to go somewhere else is so true! For me, that's what happens when I have to drive all day. After a few hours, I always have some kind of mental breakthrough about something I didn't even realize was on my mind. Thank you so much for finding this valuable information and sharing it! Your channel is awesome
Thanks for covering this one! I wasn't sure if I should renew my masterclasses membership for this course. Seems like it's worth it.
It was pretty good!
He does talk very slowly now that you mentioned it - I always fell asleep in the middle of his lessons on MC and now that you mentioned it, I know why. Thanks for the synopsis of notes - this one and the Brandon Sanderson classes notes were very helpful! Long cross-continental flights are great places for writing (or reading boring technical manuals LOL) especially when you are stuck in cheap coach and it's too uncomfortable to sleep and you've already watched 3 movies and there's 10 more hours to go. To look at it from a cup half full, "luckily" I have two flights over 15 hours long (that would be around 60+ hours of flying per round trips) just in November during NaNoWriMo so hoping to make use of those times for writing sprints.
He really DOES talk slow omg hahahaha even watching his clips here seemed like it was taking too long. I've only ever read his written responses lmao
😂 right? I even tried to cut out some of his longer pauses without making it seem to choppy but that was really hard to do... that's why the video was an hour lol
OMG THE Neil Gaiman?! He’s my favorite author!
That's the one!
I never thought to hear compost heap so many times in a UA-cam video
😂
Regarding description, there is no need to twist a description just a little to make it memorable. It all depends upon what your goal is.
I was in a writer's group, and people in the group had this half-baked idea that you had to physically describe every room. It was their weird, simple-minded rule that they reflexively applied to everything. And it was WRONG.
You have to figure out what your goal is, and use description to serve your goal.
In Salinger's "Catcher In The Rye", when Holden goes to visit the teacher in the beginning to tell him he's leaving the school, Salinger doesn't describe anything at all about the teacher's house, because it's irrelevant. So you, the reader, fill in the detail automatically and unconsciously. Which is fine --- the focus is on the ACTION and DIALOGUE.
In Steinbeck's "To A God Unknown", Steinbeck provides elaborate descriptions of the physical landscape, and of the actions of the animals in this rural and farm setting, and the animal's actions as a reaction to the changing seasons. It's not just because he's setting a visual scene --- it's because he wants to first ground the reader in nearly every chapter in NATURE --- he is establishing the patterns of NATURE in each season, because the actions of his characters are being DRIVEN by nature, they are part of nature. He's making the reader feel and sense and experience the actions of the humans as being inextricably tied to, and the product, of physical nature and the seasons, JUST LIKE THE ANIMALS. So he sets out what season it is, describes what's going on in that season, and then describes what the farm animals are doing in reaction to that particular season --- the animal's actions are driven by whatever season it is. THEN he talks about the human characters in relation to all of what's going on with the farm. It's not just some random act of "describing the setting".
Hearing this guy spew this BS is helping me to realize the best way to learn to write is to reason everything through on your own, and to never listen to these ridiculous rules of thumb.
His “live life” advice is so interesting (and common, Hemingway said something similar) not only because he’s saying “go get ideas for stories, characters, etc from your life” but on a deep level he’s saying “find a reason to write.” Find something you care about so much that you have to write about it.
You look at Hemingway or Thomas Pynchon or even Gaiman himself, their various stories are so different from one another yet each has some basic themes that they touch on in everything. Hemingway’s protagonists have issues balancing outward stoic masculinity with inward sensitivity and insecurity, Pynchon has a severe distrust of authority. These are themes that are so deeply baked into their authors that they come peeking out of the stories even when the surface level plot has nothing to do with it. You don’t have to know anything about Hemingway’s depression or Pynchon’s early life working for the military-industrial complex to find these things, but they’re themes ripped right out of the author’s lives and they can’t help writing about them.
Thank you Sara, this is an amazing video! You found the perfect balance between commenting on Neil Gaiman's words, summarizing them, and letting us hear them directly from him! This masterclass helped me realize I had quite a few misconceptions about writing and I found it so helpful. Thank you again!
So glad! I should be putting up another writing class review next week!
My apologies for my previous comment. I've deleted it. It's an important lesson for me about subtext. I didn't think about the different interpretations. My intentions were innocent and I'm sorry.
Wow, I was already watching this video at 1.25 speed but NG's parts were so slow. I like what he has to say but yeah... very very slow speaker.
Yeah I agree
This man's comments seem to be coming from someone who feels like he's a fraud, and doesn't really know what he's talking about. it's difficult to listen to.
I have rarely left a comment on youtube videos, and I've watched a couple of yours now. Your comments on Brandon Sanderson's lectures led me to watch his entire lecture series, and start consuming authorship content for the last few weeks, and even inspired to try some writing exercises myself, which has been an interesting journey, leading me to flirt with the idea of creating my own novel. I'm glad that I've found your videos, and wish you continued luck and prosperity.
Neil is the best author on the subject of writing I love his positivity!
He is very positive and calm!
@@SaraLubratt plus you are fantastic too keep up the good work with all of your dreams
Sometimes, wants and needs are two different things. A character changing their trajectory from one to the other is what gives them a character arc.
❤
How dare you x1.5 this man's caramel voice! 😂
😂 The voice I didn't want to speed up, but the spaces between his words I did
Amazing thanks for sharing. I learned from you, learning from him
:)
As an older man, starting down a pah I started 25 years ago and then life got in the way... I have still had a career based enirely on how creative I am and whether other people are willing to pay me for that creativity (I draw comics). So I am, at this later point, starting back on a path I left behind so long ago.
No surprise, if I am watching this video, thats writing, not just drawing. One of the most important take aways here is the concept of rejection. The simple truth about rejection is this, no matter how many times a piece of work is rejected, it just hasn't reached the right person, it's not that it is "bad". Because technically bad is real, universally bad is not.
this is why technically bad books, comics, films, tv shows can go on to be cult level masterpieces. Because in reaching the right audience, the technically bad piece of work is loved.
My own career highlights this very very clearly.
This is where the strength of self publishing, in any medium, si one of the greatest things we as creators have at our disposal today. The ability to get our work in to the hands of an audience that may in fact love your technically bad work. Work that may have been turned down by publishers who, rightly so, have specific standards they look for within the idea you are presenting them.
This is a really good video, as many of your videos are... that I am currently binge watching. Really inspiring stuff. Thank you.
Edit: I thinkits also worth noting, this ability to self publish is huge for new creators. Because it means you can still reach an audience while your craft grows. Once you are seasoned, facing the rejection of a publisher, and putting away the story is fine. I think it is extremely important for younger creators (in the way Neil describes younger here) to still find even a small audience as tha is hugely inspiring in the attempt to keep going in the vace of rejection.
Okay, publishers doesn't want this, i shall self pulish it, see what happens and like Neil (Gaiman) says, move on to the next thing.
I really do think it helps people keep going. Which for me, is the most important part.
I know this is a year old and you probably won't be monitoring your email for comments. However, at 6:17 you mentioned looking at classic ideas (stories) and looking at them from a different angle. Someone who is amazing at doing this is Marissa Meyer. She's wonderful at taking kids stories and making them something entirely different without repeating anything that is out there and if you have time I would completely recommend her Lunar Chronicles series. She basically Takes Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Rapunzel's stories and made them into a series. I realize it is a YA book, but it is delightful to read. If you get to read this, I highly recommend you check her out as an example of what Neil is talking about.
I love the lunar chronicles!
Sara Lubratt, at 1.5 you miss the point. Its not JUST the information. HINT cliff notes VS the actual text. The quiet man VS Batman forever.
Interesting point
Real question... I been watching this video for the last 4 days on your page,
Would you say it's worth buying the $120 price tag or will you continue to do recap videos?
It’s 120 for a year long membership and I think half for a singular class. Filming these recaps take a lot of time but I would like to cover a few more
As someone who's never taken a Masterclass, these videos are SO valuable and insightful. Really appreciate the work you put into sharing these inspiring snippets of wisdom. Loved the Brian Sanderson one too. Please keep them coming!
Everyone’s favorite tumblr man speaks his words- I am struck to tears
😂
Did you ever see Roald Dahl's writing space? It was a 100 year old gypsy caravan, magical.
I’ll have to look it up!
Go see a kids movie. I watched the minions with my son and zoned out the entire time thinking about my characters. I came too in the last couple minutes.
😂
At first I thought the thumbnail said 'I took Neil Gaiman's glasses' and I thought 'Why?!'
Then I realized Neil Gaiman doesn't actually HAVE glasses lol
😂
Very good video. Thanks! Your other videos look interesting and I plan to check them out.
Thanks! I have a new Masterclass video coming out soon, enjoy!
funny you talking of 4 or 5 drafts when listening to Lee Child saying he never makes any drafts, he just starts writing, makes it up as he goes along and it is what it is. finished done no edits no changes.
That’s wild to me, my books would be terrible if I didn’t let myself edit
Write, finish, read more variety, and have experiences
:) definitely
I wrote in my query, the one I’m about to send out, “it’s funny how writing makes the ideas flow.” So writing what you want to write, is the most important thing to practice.
I always wanted to take this masterclass but it is so expensive in my country. Thank you so much for this review, I feel really inspired right now
You're so welcome! I have a few other writing masterclasses on my channel as well if you’d like to check them out ua-cam.com/play/PL9eD840O9y74_BhkRjvqJZFZJxpm__75E.html
Thank you for sharing this!! So helpful and inspiring
Thanks for watching!
Writing or Authoring is being a God. Not only do you create people. You get to F with them and save them.
😂 true!
Nine minutes in - force yourself into a state of boredom, that your mind needs to escape into fantasy. Me - advantage introvert
😂
Thanks for watching! Whose class should I take next?
I think you should check out Joana Penn's course on writing a novel. I think her website is The Creative Penn. She has a podcast and UA-cam channel and I think over a dozen published books.
James Cameron has a great MasterClass. If you haven't yet, definitely watch Sara Blakely. Though she doesn't talk about writing, she talks about business and creating a great idea and turning it into something huge. It more than applies to writing!
@@hammysmyths Love both of those concepts! Thank you!
@@MichaelJaymesAuthor Ok I'll have to check it out!
You should def check out Robert McKee’s youtube and webinar!!!
Sounds like a combination of Neil Gaiman's course and Alan Moore's will give you the majority of what you need to get any good story off the ground. Dip into other writers you love to round it off! I'm finally buckling down to get the first third of my new story into shape tomorrow morning. Or tonight if I can't wait.
Awesome video! I really needed this! Thank you! Cannot wait to take Neil Gaiman's Master Class myself. I'm 7.000 words away from finishing the first draft of my second novel which on the last pages is really tough. But I feel super excited and inspired now :D
"I see time as a funnel, the good ideas stay, the bad one's pass through the net."
:)
Imagine a school play audience full of aspiring writers
😂🙌
My biggest problem is finishing things. I have a number of rough drafts that I've been working on for the past three years. I just can't find the drive to move forward to the revision phase. Having dyslexia has made things difficult. I love writing, but I struggle with it. Perhaps, this master class might help me. Any thoughts?
Gotta finish something to make something man
Gracias. Thanks for this. I am from Argentina and I cant pay this Masterclass.
Thanks for watching!
I watched your video in 2.0 speed it was great
:)
Living is integral to a writers, that’s how you find truth and even sharpen your voice. And in a world of deadlines and endless routines, it’s so easy to just “exist.”
yes!
Actually if you played the guitar "perfect" then there WOULD be a style! THAT would be your style...
That you play guitar perfectly!
😂 hot take
Thank you so much I always wanted take master class but couldn’t Cause of my budget I’m a new writer trying to write my first comic thank again for this just subscribe to you 😃
No problem! I love making these masterclass videos
@@SaraLubratt it really help me a lot
One of the greatest writers I've ever encountered straight clown-dunking on middle school theater is the laugh I needed this week. Neil rules, always has. 🤡 🏀 🎭
Yes he does!
The method of going to a school play to force yourself to come up with something interesting to think about suddenly reminded me of a 10-day silent retreat with no cell phones I went on a few years ago. Around day 4 or 5, maybe, I started to let myself think outside of meditation, although that wasn't part of the plan. I started to develop a re-telling of the Rapunzel fairy tale in my head. It sort of goes back to the idea of making writing a discipline to which you are faithful and don't allow distractions. But in this method, you are 'forced" to get into the frame of mind where you can do what you really want to do anyway, which is to create a story, a world.
Oh that's so interesting!! That sounds awesome!
“Show don’t tell” came out of the Iowa Writers Conference and was supported by the CIA to discourage writers from naming and explaining systems of power. The podcast “citations needed” did an episode on it.
I love, love this. Thank you for taking the lonely feeling away that chasing my dreams can make me feel sometimes.
I'm so sorry that you feel like that sometimes. I'm grateful for youtube and social media because it makes the creative process feel a little less lonely ❤️
right at the very end all i could think were these famous words said by the legendary, wise and genius Kendall Jenner “I think you should experience it. You always say you want to experience things but I don’t think you actually want to experience things because you would experience it if you wanted to experience things” so true, so right 🤭
The final-ish thoughts on experiencing life is spot-on. Over half of my characters and plot are inspired from people and events I've seen, watched, heard about or known.
Thanks for watching!
I absolutely love these videos! Thank you for taking the time to film them for us. It's been truly inspirational and informative. I can't wait to take the masterclass myself!
So glad! Thanks for watching!
Read. Write. Live. Repeat. Like! Like! Like!
Yes!!
Hey, thank you for making this video. I haven't finished it, but the taste you present is well... incredible. Also listening to this in the background: The Cinematic Orchestra Arrival of the Birds & Transformation, was worth it. The best thing I've ever done for writers block was to write a description and anything, even it is incredibly boring.
Is just me or there is a buzzing sound in Gaiman's audio?
It's recording from my computer which captures apartment noises so it's not perfect
@@SaraLubratt I was hearing it too, but that makes sense lolol
Sounds like the Masterclass is worth it. Thanks for sharing!
I recommand reading 'Art matters'. It's also beautifully illustrated by Chris Riddell :)
The best story come from a real place. Not a literal real place but something real too you emotionally