Neil Gaiman MasterClass Review:
Can It Help You to Start Writing Fiction?

Neil Gaiman MasterClass Review: Content and Structure

Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass consists of 19 video lessons, which add up to four hours and 49 minutes. Each video lesson is, on average, fifteen minutes long, with the longest taking 27 minutes.

You could get through every video lesson in a day or two, but as with all writing courses, the most time-consuming part is homework assignments. The writing exercises will require you to create short stories or one fantasy novel throughout Neil Gaiman’s course. If you are searching for a more direct approach to writing, I recommend checking out the James Patterson MasterClass course for more straightforward approach.

I was able to finish all the writing exercises in a week and a half. But course completion might vary on how well-read you are too. There are a few reading exercises and numerous references to books by other writers, which I’m still reading months after the course completion.

Finding your voice

2-4 Lessons Summary

After the short introductory lesson, Gaiman talks about how writers must use the “lies” of a fictional world to tell the truth about the real one. The first video lessons center around this idea of honesty, giving the student motivation and writing advice.

In the third lesson, Gaiman suggests the metaphor of the “compost heap.” It refers to the practice of collecting seemingly unrelated ideas and combining them to create new ones. It is a way for fiction writers to find inspiration from observing everyday life in their own way.

It naturally leads to the topic of the fourth lesson – finding your own voice. The key idea that Neil teaches is simply to write and embrace the process. Although he always recommends finishing your projects. I found the writing exercises for this part to be really practical.

Developing the story

5-10 Lessons Summary

In these video lessons, Neil Gaiman explains the very beginning of the writing process – how you go from an idea to a story. The fifth lesson sets the ground by asking what these stories and ideas are.

After showing how big ideas can be communicated through character motivations in “The Graveyard Book,” Neil talks about short fiction. They are excellent places to start for a young writer as it is easy to take risks, and the story can start at any point in the narrative.

But fiction writers must remember that writing is still a craft. Even the most magical work, such as Neil’s “March Tale,” is fueled by crafting good protagonists. I found the protagonist worksheet exercise extremely helpful for my writing in the eighth Neil Gaiman’s class.

Next, Gaiman argues that dialogue and character are two legs of the same thing. His writing class suggests starting character development by figuring out how people speak. In the case study of the “October Tale,” Neil suggests using indirect characterization instead of describing characters directly.

Worldbuilding

11-13 Lessons Summary

Next, Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass delves into world-building. Out of all writing classes, these ones are the most oriented to a young writer, as it is where most of us fail at the beginning.

Every fictional world must be grounded in reality, so you should avoid creating fan fiction of other writers and instead take notes from the world outside. Such is Neil Gaiman’s advice to create a “real” yet fictional world.

But an aspiring writer often mistakes descriptions for world-building and makes them sound boring. I found the advice about withholding information and humor in these video lessons extremely valuable for my short stories.

Genre

14-15 Lessons Summary

This section of Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass deals with the genre. But it isn’t just textbook definitions of literary styles. Instead, Neil teaches us to use genres as a framework and subvert the reader’s expectations. The class guide is very useful here as it provides key points about genres from Gaiman’s MasterClass.

A great example of how Gaiman subverts the genre expectations himself is in his graphic novels. The case study of the Sandman shows the nuts and bolts of how he scripted and plotted this masterpiece. Gaiman discusses how his graphic novel series combine pictures and words to push the genre of comic books to its limits.

The Writer’s Responsibilities

16-19 Lessons Summary

Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass closes with four video lessons covering common problems all fiction writers face. Dealing with writer’s block is the most pervasive one, and all popular writing courses touch on this topic.

Neil Gaiman’s advice is not to think of it as a pain bestowed upon you by the gods. You must try to find out what may have caused it. The Class guide of Gaiman’s MasterClass even provides a couple of good books on the topic.

These problems are related to the importance of the editing process and learning to look into your short stories from a new angle. Ultimately, it all rests on the correct balance between humility and confidence, which are the basis of rules for writers proposed by Gaiman.

This balance is crucial for sending a true and honest message through your work as a fiction writer. Only then you can fulfill the writer’s responsibilities and do justice to every point of view in your work.

Fast-Track Lesson Plan

Finish Neil Gaiman MasterClass in 2 hours, 30 minutes, and 15 seconds.

Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass: Student Engagement and Retention

As with most courses in Masterclass, Neil Gaiman’s class is visually stunning, with high-quality videos and audio. Although throughout most of the course, Gaiman is simply speaking in front of the camera, similar to writer Margaret Atwood, storytelling. The experience is engaging and left me wanting more. A lot has to do with how personally Neil teaches and how soothing his voice is.

Neil’s videos involve most of what you would expect from a writing course. He introduces engaging metaphors, such as the compost heap, and reads excerpts from his books. All these provide a new light to his books and made me appreciate his graphic novels more.

However, the homework assignments in the class guide motivated me the most to continue. It really feels that they are thought-out and resonated well with Neil’s videos. I do not think that any other MasterClass course on writing is better in quality.