If you’ve ever wished you could write a book that would be received as well by adults as it would by children, or if you’ve ever dreamed of achieving even a tenth of the success of JK Rowling or other hugely successful authors (and I don’t mean just in monetary terms), then The Novelry’s How To Write A Classic course could be for you.
Last year, I wrote a first draft of my first ever full-length novel in just 56 days, thanks to The Novelry’s Novel in 90 course. The Novelry is headed by multi-award-winning and Man Booker long-listed author, Louise Dean, and in the past 12 months she’s helped tens of other authors do the same. So when she announced she was digging even deeper into what it really takes to write a ‘classic’, I knew it was one not to miss.
How To Write A Classic is a 45-day course, which you can either be drip-fed at the rate of one lesson per day, or you can have access to the whole course in one go. Whichever way you choose, the material will have you thinking deeply and ideas will start ruminating, so you probably won’t want to speed through it too hastily in any case.
With each lesson, there is usually a video to watch and always a section of text to read, which Louise divulges her findings into how many of the existing bestsellers were written. At the end of the lesson, Louise leaves you with things to think about, ideas to work on or suggestions on how to start organising your ideas into some sort of structure. Often there are downloads too, such as the text of classic works of fiction and diagrams showing story structure. There are even music tracks to download! Every lesson is unique and fascinating and there is no doubt the course is well worth the price (see here for current pricing for all courses).
I’ve spent my first week on the course, and on day 4, one of the exercises is to dig deep into your own past and revisit some (potentially uncomfortable) memories from childhood that will give you some ideas to work with in your very own classic tale. Don’t get me wrong, the book you will write on this course is not about you, but in so many ways it inevitably will be. They say you should write what you know, which is why you start with something familiar, but once you have an inkling of an idea that gets your juices flowing, you will invent a whole new world for that idea to live in, and what develops thereafter will be so far removed from that original idea you came up with on day 4, you may not even recognise it yourself.
The course is split into several parts, which you can see below. Each phase lasts a few days and as you progress, you will build up a wealth of ideas and research that you will then use to start writing your very own Classic.
Throughout the course, Louise asks you to keep in mind her “Five F’s of storytelling”, which gives you the confidence to build a story that fits into that classic structure. I’m hoping my classic will eventually become a true classic too!
One other thing I will say before wrapping up my glowing review, is that when you join The Novelry, you aren’t simply joining a course to help you get your novel written, you’re joining a community of other lovely writers who all support each other, sharing work for comment and giving each other a kick up the backside when needed. And Louise Dean…well she will become your friend for life.
This course is an opportunity not to be missed if you want to write a book that could also become one of the classics of all time.
Learn more about The Novelry and the How To Write A Classic course by clicking here.
Happy writing!
Janice
