Hey everyone!

I'm so excited to have teamed up with Wattpad and MasterClass to share some of what I learned from my MasterClass instructors on dealing with writer's block, how to tell an authentic story, where to find inspiration in my creative writing process, and so much more.

MasterClass offers an immersive online experience that allows you to take lessons from the world's best in writing, culinary, film, and more. You can learn more about MasterClass here: #Sponsored

I'm a firm believer that a writer should never stop learning. I'm always looking for ways to improve my craft and I feel I was able to do that in leaps and bounds after watching MasterClass classes with instructors Neil Gaiman, James Patterson, and Hans Zimmer.

As someone who often deals with doubt, whether it be questioning if a story I'm going to write is any good or whether I'm good enough to write it, I found it so liberating and refreshing to hear the instructors say that it was okay to make mistakes and to write messy first drafts. With a finished rough draft, you get to go back and make magic, but you can't fix a blank page. As Neil Gaiman said, writing is an explosion, and when you're done, you get to walk around and survey the damage, see who died and the shrapnel. With a finished first draft, you get to see what works and what doesn't work, and edit accordingly until the story shines.

A lot of writers I meet dread the saggy middle-the middle of a book where it feels like the plot is wandering and the characters aren't as exciting as they were in the beginning. This is usually a problem with the stakes not being high or clear enough. James Patterson states that what's at risk or to be gained needs to be so important to the character, the reader needs to feel it too. That's such a crucial piece to keep in mind while writing: remembering what's important to the character and what they stand to lose if they don't get it. And every chapter needs to work toward that. He believes we shouldn't write a chapter that doesn't propel the story forward. In turn, that will help make the plot more engaging and the characters more memorable.

Hans Zimmer, though a composer, framed it differently since he was discussing how to compose a song, but I found his class lends itself beautifully to writing. He said everything in a song should be a question and an answer. And an answer should bring about more questions until the very end. That got me thinking about plot, exposition, and what keeps a reader turning the page. In stories, we should keep answering questions but also posing new ones. I'd never heard it put this way but it's a brilliant way of keeping a plot interesting until the very end when all of the questions have been answered. Neil Gaiman echoed this as well. He recommends asking "And then what happened?" in order to keep your mind working and the story moving forward.

The middle of a story is usually where writer's block tends to rear its ugly head. James Patterson recommends writing through it until you get the story down on paper, and if something isn't working out at the moment, make a note to revisit it during the next draft and keep going. I personally do this, and I don't think I would have ever finished a book otherwise. Neil Gaiman had a slightly different approach and suggests writers step away from their stories and do something else, whether it be go for a walk, gardening, painting-anything that takes them away from the book. When you come back to the book with fresh eyes, the problem is always clear and now you can tackle it. I found it interesting that he says the issue causing the block usually happens before the part in the story you're stuck on. He suggests going a few chapters back to find where the story went astray.

World building doesn't come easy to me, especially avoiding info dumps. But after watching the classes, I feel a lot more comfortable creating my worlds and explaining it without dumping loads of information on my readers. Neil Gaiman recommends allowing your character to make mistakes and allowing them to learn about a specific world from those mistakes. Other things a writer can do to help with world building is to go on walks and study the world around them. This helps with writing realistic and vivid descriptions as well.

My biggest takeaway from the classes was the need to be honest and authentic in storytelling. There are some stories that I'm too scared to tell for a variety of reasons, but I can safely say, after taking the MasterClass classes, I'm going to give them another shot. Neil Gaiman explained when he was a young writer, he didn't want to be judged or for people reading his stories to know who he was. It wasn't until he was willing to do all of those things that he gained a wider readership and his work was felt as being true and personal.

Hans Zimmer shared a similar thought when discussing how a piano has 88 keys, but what's important is how we use those keys. The same goes for words. As a writer, I only have so many words at my disposal, but it's how I use those words and structure my sentences that creates different stories with different rhythms and emotions. And however I decide to do this, what matters is that it's my story, conveying what I have to say.

One final takeaway that probably made the biggest impression on me is tied to something Neil Gaiman mentioned about inspiration. He said whenever we're asked what our biggest inspiration is, we tend to name other writers when there are so many other things in life that inspire our writing. Music is a huge source of inspiration to me and listening to Hans Zimmer speak on his creative process only made me want to seek out other artists to see what their creative processes are like and how they approach their particular talents, whether it be cooking or fashion or screen-writing. This is definitely something I plan on doing with MasterClass.

What's one MasterClass you'd like to take and how are you hoping it helps with your writing?

Happy writing!

Monica