A Class by Brandon Sanderson

Hidden away at in the middle of a blog post by Brandon Sanderson, he said that the lectures from his creative writing class were all online.

Say what?

So, I went to check them out. And sure enough, there they were. Each lecture is broken into multiple videos separated more-or-less by topic. Many of the videos also have the notes for the class. In a word, it's awesome! (Thanks to WriteAboutDragons for doing all the hard work.)

Want to know how Brandon plots his books? Go here.

How about advice on participating in a writers group? Got that.

Creating sympathetic characters. Meeting agents. World building. Fight scenes. And more and more. In fact, there are over 15 hours of lectures all online for your learning pleasure.

And if you're like me and don't want to click the next lecture each time, I've got you covered.

I created one, massive playlist that will start at the beginning and play all the way through to the end. Of course, you can start anywhere in the playlist and it will happily load the next video and the next. So you can  sit back and enjoy for as long as you want.

You can find the playlist here.

Personally, I'm going through the lectures as I prepare for Nano next month. I'm just past the class where he talks about creating characters and I'm going through the exercises. If your a video learner, and like Brandon's style of writing, you might like his classes, too.

Go ahead and give them a try. It's free.

* They say a picture is worth a thousand words--this picture surely is. It's titled Secrets by Sarah Horrigan. I got sucked into all the wonderful images on her photo stream, it's well worth your time. In fact, I may contact her and see if she'll let me do a whole blog post on her work. It's great.

"All of Me" by Jon Schmidt (Video)

What makes great art? What makes a great artist?

I've been looping this video for several days now. I think I'm personally responsible for at least 50 views. It inspires me, excites me, energizes me. 

Isn't that what our favorite art does? It lifts us up for a brief moment. It fills us until we are forced to expand ourselves or let some of the essence overflow.

And like any great artist, Jon Schmidt makes it look easy. It's like the music is flowing directly from him. When I hear this, I don't hear the years of practice or the fingering techniques. I hear MUSIC. No, I hear more than music. Don't you?

This is why, as a writer, you need to read. Read great stories by great authors. They will teach you. They will entertain you. But most of all, they will inspire you. 

I recently heard a successful writer say than any time he experienced writers block it was a sign that he wasn't reading enough.

Thanks Piano Guys for a wonderful and inspiring YouTube channel. Thanks Jon Schmidt for sharing your inspiration and the fruits of your hard-won talent with us.

Now, I feel like writing.