I Took Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass - Here's What I Learned.

Here's the best writing advice I learned from Neil Gaiman's excellent Masterclass.

⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Introduction
1:55 Truth in Fiction
5:35 Sources of Inspiration 
9:36 Finding your Voice
13:13 Developing the Story
20:07 Short Stories
22:02 Dialogue and Character
25:59 Worldbuilding
29:31 Descriptions
32:42 Genre
34:08 Writer’s Block
37:14 Editing
41:15 My biggest takeaway

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Hi! My name's Jed. I'm a fantasy author with three published novels and a bestselling video game. On this channel, I draw from my 10+ years of writing experience to help you become a better writer.

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(Note: I don't always get a chance to reply to every email. However, I do my best to read as many of them as possible, and it's my preferred method of communication.)

[sebastiansilverfox]

On that last point about the "arrogance", I once took a class where the teacher took a line of dialogue and said to cut it. I was fine with most of her advice but that phrase was, in my opinion, important and even vital to keep. That said, if she said to cut it, I knew that something about the flow in that section must be off. I altered and restructured the entire section of the page just to keep that line. When I submitted the edit, she circled it and remarked that it was "much improved". It felt extremely rewarding because I had simultaneously "won the argument" by keeping the line but also greatly improved the quality of that section of the story. The challenge of the "amicable adversary" is one that is not only good IN a story, but great for writing one too.

[bramderacourt]

"The best way to be an interesting writer is to live an interesting life "
Welp, it's over. Dream was nice while it lasted.

[Philxia]

33:50 - I'm glad he talked about subverting expectations in a positive way. So many poor examples today show that giving the audience what they don't want, in an unexpected way, is unsatisfying, almost insulting, and they almost always reject it. Giving them what they want, in an unexpected way, is satisfying. Which is probably the only way to keep them coming back for more.

And what the audience wants is that the author follow through on their promises (aka the stuff hinted at with the hook at the beginning, as well as other setup/foreshadowing, etc.). You really have to be careful now, because trust is not so readily given in this regard anymore, especially to new writers.

[Mattatronian]

Congrats on the 1, 000, 000 words! I'm on 56, 000 of my first and writing is changing my life. Your videos have been invaluable.

[jakeadlam]

I love the Snow White example that Neil Gaiman gives, purely because it reminds me of a meme I made when I was like 14, which was basically exactly this. It was a photo of the true love kiss scene from Disney's Snow White when she's lying in the coffin. The text I wrote read 'its not true love, it's necrophilia' and now Neil Gaiman has made 14 yr old me feel like a literary genius. 😅

[DrasticSkuba]

A line from my own writing that extends on messages from media I've consumed in the past: "Being brave isn't the absence of fear. Being brave is feeling fear and facing it anyway. When you love something more than you love yourself, fear is just an obstacle."

[leigh-anjohnson]

In Neil's lesson on short stories, I love the example he gave on the pirate queen Anne Bonny now hidden in polite society with her little girl Mary, and the possibility of Mary being put in danger and Anne having to become the pirate she use to be again to save her. I put that concept in my story idea binder

[blah]

i gotta say i disagree with the "you gotta find it within yourself" schitck. Its an outright disease now for readers/critics to bash writers based on something their characters did. Oh they wrote it, so this must be their opinion. which is nonsense. As writers, we need to talk about the fact that we are not our characters.

[jeffchandler]

Finally got around to watching this. Great stuff, Jed.

I really enjoyed the three foundational principles of short stories bit and the key principles in developing dialogue. Both were very intriguing and informative!

"Dialogue and character are the two legs a character needs to walk" is such a genius sentence. Neil is a treasure.

[PhoenixCrown]

Great video! I took his masterclass when I was just getting into writing a few years ago, and the ending piece of advice stuck with me as well. I love the complexity in his thought about rejection: You must both be humble and display an arrogance normally reserved for 7 year-old boys =P Love it!

[krushingproductions]

Really appreciate you giving us the summary for the Masterclass. I've always considered using it. Great advice here. Working on a script right now and I'm slowly but surely moving forward

[nolancapps]

Hi Jed--I'm a writer myself, and I've been loving your content! I agree so much about style and voice. It's not something to worry about, if you write long enough you're going to sound like yourself, and it's a waste of time to worry about your voice. Keep up the great work and great advice!

[sarahsander]

Neil is so on-point with why authors react somewhat passive-aggressive when asked where they got their ideas from (in general). The general answer is always "I don't know" and that's the whole reason I hate the question. Ask me how I got the idea to some comcrete book and I can answer that. A dream, a story of someone else that left me empty after finishing it (I think I get my best ideas from "lost potential"), an overheared conversation at the bus stop, that strange bag of bread I sometimes see hanging at a neighbours fence, an open grave, a song, a poem, the night sky ...
Thinking to say ideas come from an open mind is definitly true. An open mind and a never quiet three year old in it.
The bad thing with my mind is, that I don't ever cannot come up with new ideas. It's always working. Sometimes it gets me up in the middle of the night to jot down a fully fleshed outline, so I can go back to sleep. I envy those people who ask sometimes, because I wish I had less ideas. At least when trying to focus on something ^^'

[Daneypastry]

On the topic of writer's block, calling it a myth is probably less correct than calling it a feeling or an emotion. In a lot of cases, what people describe sounds like burn out, and that's an important issue to address. Other underlying reasons for the feeling of writer's block could be insecurity, feeling overwhelmed, a lack of energy, just being generally unwell mentally. I struggle with my health. It's genetic, there's nothing I can do about it. I have bad days and good days. So while the "writing gods" never curse me, there are days where I'm just not up for writing, and that is out of my control. What I can control, though, is not beating myself up over it, which I think is a vastly more productive stance to take that also takes into account neurodivergence, chronic illness, and disability. Plus, every person can experience mental health issues and many most likely will, whether it be the most common stress, anxiety, depression, or something else.
What I'm trying to convey with my rambling is that I think we're better off actually talking about the mechanisms behind writer's block rather than dividing into two groups who either believe it's real or don't believe in it. Because by dismissing the problem we don't solve it.

[cmfwhmo]

The analogy "one brick at a time" to build the cathedral reminds me of the concept of writing "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott.

[AnotherDuck]

One thing that struck me about the dragon/bully example was that it's something I've unconsciously written about as well. Way back in the first six grades of school there was this infamous troublemaker who started fights and randomly kicked people. Most were afraid of him when he passed by and he was difficult to speak with. But he never attacked me, and I could speak with him just fine. Despite being an introvert, I never had trouble speaking with people, regardless of what clique they belong to. And in stories when I write, I like to write characters who can speak casually with both the heroes and the villains. Didn't make the connection until now.

[transvestosaurus]

Gaiman's subverted/modernised fairy tales are similar to Angela Carter, her collection of short stories 'The Bloody Chamber' is incredibly influential, so check it out (also see Carol Anne Duffy and Shirley Jackson).

[venwarrezo]

Jed I just wanna put this here, Thank you so much you're helping us and we appreciate your efforts...Also Neil is my favourite author i love him so much he always inspires me, as he said it's kinda scary to know that we don't know where the ideas are coming from.

[htlldyl]

I saw a video with Neil Gainman and he has friends who are other famous authors .Its great to have these masterclasses with them to learn from them. Its also great that Jed and other draw upon not just their own creations but sharing their experience as a writer. I am writing a trilogy of novels, I'm looking to get published in a few years. Its interesting because iIstarted as a pantser, then writers block happened. So I put the book down for 2 years. It took me this time to have 45 ideas that plays out like a film in my head. So I became an outliner doing more research, so now I was writing again. Now I flit between the two. The research I have to look into more is world building. It a wonderful challange.When you become a writer it changes you, you become more of a philosopher and observer of life. Asking questions that only you can answer as the creator of your novels.

[rianamcgovern]

This video is so good. Neil Gaiman has such an infectious confidence and goodness about him that just makes you feel like anything is possible. Thank you for putting this together. The strange thing is, a lot of the things he said in this video, are things that I have recently sort of "fathomed out" on my own. It's as if the universe is confirming what I was already starting to believe. Like just yesterday, I told myself that I must finish my first novel, even it's my worst novel. Because like Neil, I have reams and reams of half written stories, exciting little ideas that never went beyond 5000 words. I also think that humility is an important part of being a successful writer, not setting your expectations too high but just saying "Ok, I'll be happy if I write a mediocre story as long as I finish it". Thanks!