Teaches Creative Writing

Margaret Atwood

Meet your new instructor: Man Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood. In your first lesson, Margaret shares her perspective on the art of writing and who ultimately gives your book its meaning.

Introduction

Margaret encourages you to find your own path, overcome obstacles like fear, and start writing by sharing her own writer’s story and creative process.

Getting Started as a Writer

Learn what makes a strong plot. Margaret advises you to study myths, fairy tales, and other historical works of literature so that you can use them as building blocks for your stories.

Story and Plot

Margaret illustrates the myriad ways you can structure your story and create a multi-layered narrative, using the classic tales Little Red Riding Hood, Arabian Nights, and her own novel The Blind Assassin as examples.

Structuring Your Novel: Layered Narratives and Other Variations

Choosing the right point of view to tell your story from involves a lot of trial and error. Margaret explains the impact this decision has on your story, and offers an exercise to help you explore the effects of various points of view.

Who Tells the Story: Narrative Point of View

In this chapter, Margaret discusses her use of multiple points of view in Alias Grace, and why she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale from the first person point of view.

Point of View Case Studies

Actions and reactions reveal character, but so do details the writer thoughtfully weaves into the story. Margaret offers concrete tools to help you create nuanced, well-developed characters you know by heart.

Bringing Characters to Life Through Detail

Margaret teaches why the most compelling characters are often not very likeable, and delves into how gender plays into our expectations about character.

Creating Compelling Characters

Learn Margaret’s advice for overcoming challenges such as constant interruption, writer’s block, or a narrative problem you can’t figure out how to solve.

Writing Through Roadblocks

Margaret teaches how to use dialogue to reveal character and story, and discusses the importance of making your dialogue authentic to the time and place in which your narrative transpires.

Crafting Dialogue

The more specific your details, the more engaged your readers. Learn how Margaret uses The Handmaid’s Tale to illustrate her approach to imagery.

Revealing the World Through Sensory Imagery

Learn the difference between style and description as Margaret illustrates two different prose style extremes—baroque and plainsong.

Prose Style and Texture

Margaret explains the significance of time in fiction, and offers advice on keeping readers oriented without compromising your story structure.

Working With Time in Fiction

From Melville to Dickens, Margaret shares some of her favorite opening lines and underscores the value of making your first five pages utterly compelling.

The Door to Your Book: The Importance of the First Five Pages

Margaret teaches her approach to keeping readers engaged through the middle of your book and discusses the merits of closed and open endings to your story.

Writing the Middle and Ending

For Margaret, revision is an opportunity to take a fresh look at your book and consider new possibilities. Learn the value of soliciting feedback from select readers, and the importance of a good line editor.

Revision: Seeing Your Work Anew

Margaret discusses the evolution of the novel and asserts that the writer’s objective should be to stay true to the foundational elements of storytelling, regardless of genre.

The Novel and the Shifting Sands of Genre

Learn Margaret's approach to writing speculative fiction and her advice on how to generate ideas and build your world in this genre.

Speculative Fiction

Margaret reveals the ideas and research that inspired The Handmaid’s Tale, offering a first-hand look at some of these materials.

Speculative Fiction Case Study: The Handmaid’s Tale

Getting details right is critical in historical fiction and can lend believability to any story. Margaret emphasizes this point but also shows how to avoid letting research slow you down.

Research and Historical Accuracy

Margaret reveals the one book she recommends to all writers, and shares inspirational stories from writers past and present to encourage you to persevere despite the obstacles you may confront.

The Writer’s Path

From finding an agent, to getting published, and dealing with negative reviews, Margaret offers her perspective on the business of being a writer.

The Business of Being a Writer

Margaret bids her students farewell, sharing her desire to pass on her wisdom to the next generation of writers.

Parting Words

Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing

Craft Suspenseful, Twisting Plots

Craft Gripping Narratives

Elevate Stories With Vivid Language

Deepen Your Character's Story

Blend Science With Fiction Creatively

Craft Seamless Story Transitions

Writing

Craft Compelling Stories

Teaches Dramatic Writing

David Mamet

David Mamet Teaches Dramatic Writing

Michael Lewis

Tell a Great Story

Guided by Leading Experts

Achieve More With GenAI

Teaches Fiction and Storytelling

Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley Teaches Fiction and Storytelling

Teach Developing an Original TV Series

The Duffer Brothers

The Duffer Brothers Teach Developing an Original TV Series

Lessons from Influential Black Voices

Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love

Teaches Purposeful Communication

George Stephanopoulos

George Stephanopoulos Teaches Purposeful Communication

Teaches Mystery and Thriller Writing

David Baldacci

David Baldacci Teaches Mystery and Thriller Writing

Teaches Writing

James Patterson

James Patterson Teaches Writing

Teaches Poetic Thinking

Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo Teaches Poetic Thinking

Teaches the Power of Storytelling

LeVar Burton

Teaches the Power of Storytelling 

LeVar Burton Teaches the Power of Storytelling

Teaches Writing for Television

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes Teaches Writing for Television

Teaches Storytelling and Humor

David Sedaris

David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor

Teaches Documentary Filmmaking

Ken Burns

Ken Burns Teaches Documentary Filmmaking

Teaches Investigative Journalism

Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward Teaches Investigative Journalism

Teaches Screenwriting

Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin Teaches Screenwriting

Teaches Reading and Writing Poetry

Billy Collins

Billy Collins Teaches Reading and Writing Poetry

Teaches Writing and Performing Poetry

Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman Teaches Writing and Performing Poetry

Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing

Teaches the Art of the Short Story

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates Teaches the Art of the Short Story

Teaches Game Design and Theory

Will Wright

Will Wright Teaches Game Design and Theory

Teaches Storytelling and Writing

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie Teaches Storytelling and Writing

Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing

N. K. Jemisin

N. K. Jemisin Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing

Judy Blume

Judy Blume Teaches Writing

Teaches Fiction, Memory, and Imagination

Amy Tan

Amy Tan Teaches Fiction, Memory, and Imagination

Teaches the Art of Storytelling

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman Teaches the Art of Storytelling

Teaches Writing Thrillers

Dan Brown

Dan Brown Teaches Writing Thrillers

Teaches Creating Outside the Lines

Issa Rae

Issa Rae Teaches Creating Outside the Lines

Teaches Writing for Young Audiences

R.L. Stine

R.L. Stine Teaches Writing for Young Audiences

Teaches Writing for Social Change

Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay Teaches Writing for Social Change

Teaches Creativity and Film

David Lynch

David Lynch Teaches Creativity and Film

Reframe Your Thinking

Ava DuVernay

Teaches Effective and Authentic Communication

Robin Roberts

Robin Roberts Teaches Effective and Authentic Communication

Icons and Their Influences

Talking Shop