Writing, Arts & Entertainment
Introduction
Lesson time 03:09 min
Your instructor, James Patterson—currently the best-selling author in the world—lets you know what he has planned for your class and what you'll need to learn to start writing your own best-sellers.
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Topics include: Welcome to MasterClass
Preview
Hi, I'm Stephen King. Well, actually I'm not Stephen King, but the purpose of my saying that is that's the first line in our story. And first lines are hugely important. And what I do in those four words is I'm letting you know that this is going to be irreverent, and fun, and it's going to be a little jokey at times, and I know who writers like Stephen King are. I hope that people who take this course or listen to me will pick up a lot of tricks of the trade. And I think it's a couple levels. I think one are people that want to write books or think they want to write books, and it can help them to make that decision about whether they're actually good at investing time or not. And I'll give them a lot of tips in terms of how to invest that time well. I'm very, very efficient, and I'll take a lot of the time wasting things out of the process if you'll listen. But also people who like to read books-- like to read mystery, suspense, even kids books-- I think they'll find it very, very interesting. I think it'll be very cool. I don't think they'll read books the same way again after listening to this. One I'm going to try to do what the class is go right from the beginning-- from the raw ideas for books, character, how to build a character, how to create a scene. We'll deal with how to make a chapter work. We'll deal with outlines. Outlines are huge. We might do a couple of chapters on outlines. We'll talk about marketing it at some point, which is more of a curiosity, I think, for most of you. Because you shouldn't worry too much about marketing. I think a lot of people who watch this, it's going to turn them on. It can be very stimulating. And I think along the way, I had a couple of people. I had a professor at Vanderbilt, and he did get me excited about one, just the process of writing the book and two, my own talent. And just a lot of things that he said clicked with me. And so when I left his class, I had to write a book. By the way, that book didn't get published, but it was part of the process. Because I've been there. Starting out, you just you don't know if you're any good. You don't know if you're ever going to get published. It's a very difficult-- it's a daunting thing to sit down and start a book. Because at the end of the trail can be embarrassment, or heartbreak, or all sorts of things. So we're going to get over that-- no heartbreak, no embarrassment. We're going to have the tools to do this, and I think that's very exciting. And it's exciting to me to stimulate people to go out there and write not just great mysteries but whatever kind of book you want to write.
About the Instructor
Since its 2017 debut, Ken Burns’s The Vietnam War has enthralled over 39 million viewers by painting an intimate and revealing portrait of history. In this online film class, learn how Ken captivates audiences with his ability to distill vast research and complex truths into compelling narratives. From first treatment to final edit, Ken teaches his documentary filmmaking techniques that “wake the dead” to bring their stories to life.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Ken Burns
The 5-time Emmy Award winner teaches how he navigates research and uses audio and visual storytelling methods to bring history to life.
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