Writing Your Masterpiece (Fiction, Memoir and Novel Writing) (Udemy.com)

I've been writing a book for a few years now, its been a very enjoyable process however I knew for a certainty I was missing some key elements, but was not sure how to fix them. This course helped me to identify what was wrong, missing or needed tweaking. The Section on Voice and Characters shadow self was really insightful. Lessons are both practical and engaging and the editing monster is finally deleted. Revising is no longer the big headache it was, now a journey and an opportunity. Many Thanks

I cannot find any reference to any fiction that instructor Julie Tyler has published. If she is not a published author, this explains why her class is not any better. This is an “okay” class with some big disappointments. So much important information is just missing. For example, plotting is crucial and yet she bypasses this. The course starts with her so-called “core training” in which she presents a half-dozen writing prompts which are possible themes. She asks you to answer a lot of questions about these prompts. At no time does she define or really talk about theme, why it is important, how to use it, how to discover it, etc. I was not at all interested in any of the themes she presented, so I skipped this. Next is to decide on your character's “Signature Voice,” which includes "tone, style, vocabulary, patterns of silence and speech" and does not give us the first tiny hint how to go about that. I messaged her and she immediately replied, but her explanation was about a sentence. In other words, I had to look it up on other sources. She gets into "Crafting Unforgettable Characters," but really presents no examples to illustrate what she is talking about. Major flaw of her lectures, too few examples. This whole section was gone through entirely too quickly. Would be so much better if she provided examples from published works, or even movies based on books. In the lecture “Unleash Your Story’s Voice” she does have examples, but they are silly and useless. She claims she will “inspire” us by providing pictures. For "person with bad breath" there is a close-up of a mouth. For a homeless person, here is a picture of a homeless person. She has almost no information about plotting. She is unable or unwilling to explain the 3-Act structure. She advises us to decide how much time passes in each act yet gives not a clue how we are to decide on this. Decide based on what? Near the end of the course, she expects us to have lots of scenes written and placed in different subfolders. Only then does she say “decide where to put what scenes” and does not give us a clue as to how we accomplish that. Worst flaw of the class is lack of information about plotting. It is like she does not think we should have an outline or any plotting done in advance. Just write a bunch of scenes and hope for the best, I suppose. For Choosing a Narrator, she asks: what is the frame of reference? What does that mean? Of course she does not explain, but goes right on with "where are we in this story's geography at any given moment"? What does that mean? The story's plot? The character transforming? The journey? She does have some good basic information and insights, and asks many questions in an effort to get students thinking seriously about their writing. She covers the very basics of conflict, inciting incident, character’s journey or mission, etc., but repeats them way too many times, while other important information is just ignored. If you take this class, be prepared to do your own research into what is missing.

Very thorough and well-versed! Great for beginners to get started and advanced to fill in gaps and revisit the fundamentals. This course doesn't spend time on grammar and sentence structure, dedicating it all to breaking down the larger process.

I enjoyed the structure and clear steps; questions to ask myself in the process got me thinking. And writing. Unfortunately I had a technical issue with accessing the resources. My phone would not open the downloaded file. Couldn't access any support. Q and A went round in circles. Was not prompted to ask my new question and send to the instructor. Troubleshooting didn't answer my question. Otherwise a worthwhile course.

I liked her class. I think the section on plot was the best part of the course for me followed by how real life can inspire writing. It will serve to inspire me since it has a lot of writing exercises. I never could determine how to create a desire before. I enjoyed the course and I felt I got my money's worth. I learned many things. I have probably four pages of notes. I used to be a subscriber to Master Class which I consider to be not useful. Take her class. You won't regret it. It's better than the previous classes I had. I was ready to give up on creative writing classes. I am saying this sincerely as someone who would also buy a lot of craft books.

Julie offers a thorough, comprehensive and organised course about writing a book, with further tips too about what to do after you have written your book. A highly recommend course for those seriously in the pursuit of reaching their writing dreams.

I started the course when I was farther along in my book. However, I do find it very helpful so far.

It is really good at the start and there were gems throughout that I found really helpful. In particular I found the practical advice to be helpful and I like the structure to building character, plot etc. As the course continues it seems really repetitive, the same call to action, the same challenge. The sound quality dips in some videos and others are cropped weirdly. There is a lot of reading other people's work and having it explaining back (boarders on patronising). Julie describes herself as an author but I can't find any of her work online. I would be really keen to see what she has had written and published with success. It would be a living testament to the usefulness of this course

Obviously I’m not through the entire course yet so the point could be irrelevant by the end but the instructor mentioned joining writing communities, access or information about such communities would be helpful, or a small guide on how to find them. That being said I’m only through (4/65) lectures so there could be more helpful content later on.

I have been told for years that I need to share my story with the world but I need help in doing so. I signed up for this hoping this will be what opens the door to that adventure. I have an amazing life story that expands over 35 years of the 50 years I have been on this planet.