If you are an aspiring writer, you need to check out Holly Lisle's new writing course, How To Think Sideways: Career Survival School for Writers. It is a six-month class offered entirely online, and it covers an immense range of material. One of the students even referred to it as "grad school for writers", and I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment. The course is perfect not just for novelists but for screenwriters as well.
I can't recommend this course highly enough. There is nothing else out there like it. It will change the way you think about writing, and it will change how you think about yourself as a writer. It is incredibly motivating. The lessons are interesting and thought-provoking, and the techniques are practical and useful no matter your writing style. There's something for everyone. The sheer volume of information offered in this class could fill a library of how-to books about writing, publishing, and marketing.
Here are a few of the things you'll learn in the course:
- How to come up with great ideas on a deadline
- How to develop rich, detailed plots
- How to create realistic characters with layered personalities
- How to dig deep into your own psyche to add depth to your stories
- How to maintain the discipline to write regularly
- How to query agents, write a book proposal, and get your books published
- How to write and get published in multiple genres
- How to make a living as an author regardless of whether you make the bestseller list
And that's just a small sample of what is covered in How To Think Sideways. Each week, you'll learn new techniques, and every technique is accompanied by examples to demonstrate how you can use those techniques in your own writing.
Along with the weekly lessons (which, on their own, are worth far more than the fee for the class), you'll also get access to the online discussion forum where you can interact with other students, discuss the lessons, share your experiences, and get tips and recommendations. Students even have the option to participate in smaller workgroups to critique each other's writing.
How To Think Sideways is offered over six months for a fee of $47 per month. Students have the option to cancel at any time if they feel like they're not getting what they expected from the course. Having experienced the course myself, I can't imagine any writer not benefiting from all the terrific material. When you consider a Creative Writing college course lasting a single semester can cost upwards of $200 and covers only a fraction of the material included in the How To Think Sideways course, $47 per month is quite a bargain.
And how about this for flexibility: If $47 per month is beyond your budget, or if you're too busy to devote time each week to a new lesson, there's also a $25 per month option to spread the course out over twelve months instead of paying $47 per month for the six-month version. In the twelve-month course, you'll receive a new lesson every two weeks instead of every week.
Each course is limited to a certain number of students. The last time it was offered, the course filled up in less than 24 hours. The next course begins soon and enrollment is open from September 1st through the 8th, but I recommend signing up right away because there's a good chance the new class will fill up as quickly as the last class did.
If you'd like to learn more about the course, please visit the How To Think Sideways web site.
