About This Course:

The instructor is not available for questions or feedback, nor is there an organized group story/feedback exchange included with this class.

It’s time to take your world maps, historical records, family trees, and constellations and invite readers into the world you’ve created.

This course will help organize worldbuilding notes, identify places for rich exploration, articulate specific characters, and start the story. It will address specific issues for speculative fiction writers, including technology, magical systems, political systems, and other worldbuilding elements common in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

Using examples from N. K. Jemisin, Sarah J. Maas, Nnedi Okorafor, and Caitlin Starling, your instructor will demonstrate ways to create compelling novel openings by using characterization to introduce readers to complex concepts.

Next, you'll learn to keep the novel moving with activated secondary characters, richly imagined power structures, and fully fleshed-out settings. Instead of sacrificing the complexity of your created worlds, overcome overwhelm by focusing on characters and sustaining a writing practice.

Topics Covered: 

• Strategies for organizing research
• Secondary characters
• Point of View
• Worldbuilding
• Revisions

Student Takeaways: 

• Tools to complete initial chapters
• Writing exercises
• Revision strategies
• A plan to keep momentum going!

Duration of Class

4.5 hours (approx) of recorded lecture

We suggest giving yourself ample time to work through the prompts and exercises - this was originally delivered as a weekly series.