I enjoy watching Great Courses lectures. The quality is usually quite good. Lately though, I’ve been watching one of their “Great Tours” series on Iceland. The professor (an American) is actually an animal behaviorist and ecologist. Not surprisingly, many of the lectures focus on Iceland’s plant and animal life. That’s not a problem.
Unfortunately, as soon as she started talking about history, it became clear to me that her grasp of history (including regarding Vikings) is pretty tenuous. “Okay, fine,” I thought. “I’ll just take everything she says about that with a large grain of salt.” Then, tonight, I tried to watch the lecture on Icelandic literature. I groaned when she stated that Snorri “treated the pagan stories with great respect” (just before she went on to talk about how he invented an entire backstory for the Aesir to give them a human origin, no less).
That wasn’t what prompted me to turn it off, though.
She then started talking about “Jormungandr, also known as Midgard”, and then proceeded to refer to Jormungandr as “Midgard” from then on. I couldn’t take it anymore and turned off the TV.
Look, I get that nobody is an expert on everything, but I would expect a college professor with no knowledge of history or mythology to at least have one or two of their peers fact-check them before they record something like this, and I’m disappointed with Great Courses / The Teaching Company for the complete lack of QA on this.
Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Today, The Great Courses Plus, a NaNoWriMo 2019 sponsor, is here with some tips to help guide you through the novel-writing process in November:
Just like the novel itself, the process of writing a novel always has a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion. And The Great Courses Plus is here to help with every stage of novel writing you take on.
In the Beginning…
We need ideas and inspiration. We have to invent our characters, plot out how we think the story will unfold, and entertain no less than 50,000 potential plot twists—because at the beginning, anything can happen.
Once we have those ideas, getting them all together and organized into a readable story structure is as big of a challenge as putting together the right words to craft that ever-vital first sentence.
James Scott Bell is an award-winning novelist and writing instructor and he thinks you have a bestseller in you. With our course How to Write Best-Selling Fiction, you get an intimate introduction into the fundamentals of how to write your bestseller, given from a best-selling author who has mastered the secrets to success.
We all have creativity in us, but sometimes we need help getting in touch with it. Mr. Bell gets you started by offering several fun, challenging, and mind-expanding exercises that help you flex and develop your creative muscle.
Once you have a few (thousand) great ideas, Mr. Bell provides a writing method called “LOCK” that will help you structure your story in a way that develops into an engaging page-turner. He also breaks down techniques that other best-selling authors have implemented. With these methods and explanations, Mr. Bell provides inspiration and demonstrates what works, so that you will have a plethora of tools to improve your writing and your chances of success.
How to Write Best-Selling Fiction is jam-packed with techniques to help you bring power to your plot, charisma to your characters, drama to your dialogue, and vitality to your voice.
In the beginning, you can also consider other Great Courses as resources for inspiration and development:
The Creative Thinkers Toolkit
Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writers Craft
Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques
Becoming a Great Essayist
Building a Better Vocabulary
In the Middle….
We might wonder if this was such a good idea.
The middle is where 50,000 words suddenly seems like a massively overwhelming and unobtainable concept. This is where nothing works. This is where we are convinced we’ll never get done. This is where our characters are already boring us. This is where we’re staying up all night trying to just make what we already wrote sound better instead of plowing on and moving forward.
And this is where we step away for an hour. Or a night. Or a day.
We promise. It’s a good thing.
Mindful thinking tells us that changing your environment helps you take a different viewpoint. And Dr. Peter M. Vishton, a neuroscientist and professor of psychology, tells us that the best way to deal with the writer’s block, frustration, or the procrastination that affects us all is to attack it at its source.
In our course Outsmart Yourself: Brain-Based Strategies to a Better You, you’ll get tips for monotasking to make you more efficient at whatever it is you are concentrating on. You’ll learn how practicing meditation regularly can help inspire you. You’ll discover the importance of a good night’s sleep. And he’ll provide you with a toolbox full of several practical, easy-to-implement strategies for finding more creative solutions, solving puzzles, and enhancing your mental prowess.
So, go feed your mind with a brain snack, listen to a new song, or take a break and meditate for a bit. Your novel will be there when you come back; and with these tips, you’ll return with a renewed vigor and enthusiasm for your project.
In the middle, you can also consider these Great Courses as resources for meditation, changing your mindset, and finding motivation:
Practicing Mindfulness: An Introduction to Meditation
Masters of Mindfulness: Transforming Your Mind and Body
Your Best Brain
The Psychology of Performance: How to Be Your Best in Life
Scientific Secrets for Self-Control
In Conclusion…
We are so glad to be marching towards those two most important words in a writer’s vocabulary (“The End”) that we don’t have a thought to spare when it comes to the next two most important words in a writer’s vocabulary, which are: “Now what?”
Jane Friedman, publishing industry expert and educator, provides you with sought-after secrets of the publishing process that will help you navigate this difficult progression, bypass pitfalls that many novice authors get hung up on, and improve your chances of being considered for publication. In our course How to Publish Your Book, she acts as your personal guide though the entire process from finalizing your manuscript, to writing the perfect pitch, to reviewing contracts and marketing your book.
You’ll get the candid scoop on what you need to do in order to increase your chances of being considered. The knowledge you’ll gain by having an inside expert teaching you how to position your book for publication gives you a unique advantage and drastically increases your chances of getting noticed in this increasingly competitive industry.
In conclusion, you can also consider these Great Courses as resources for editing, negotiating, marketing, and celebrating:
English Grammar Bootcamp
Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write about Anything
Negotiating the Best Deal
How Ideas Spread
The Everyday Guide to Wine
All these courses, and more, are available to you through The Great Courses Plus. You can also find genre-specific courses such as science fiction, mysteries and suspense, or literatures most fantastic works.
Enjoy the process. We’re rooting for you.
Top photo modified from original by AbsolutVision on Unsplash.
