Based on the recommendations of Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells from Writing Excuses, I decided to take an online workshop with science fiction and fantasy great, David Farland. He runs several online and live workshops through his website at MyStoryDoctor .
As a newbie, Dave recommended I begin with his beginner level course "Story Puzzle."
The course is amazing. There are a dozen or so videos for each section of the course in which Dave discusses theory and story structure. He then assigns you homework. You complete the homework, email it directly to him, and he will critique and return your homework with notes. This is hands on stuff here.
Additionally, Dave hosts a conference call twice a week for students to log in and ask questions directly to Dave. He answers as many as he can within the hour time slot. Most of the questions, from the calls I have been on, are more related to the business of writing and very little personal assignment questions are asked. It's a great supplement to the course work.
Over the next several weeks, I will be following along with his workshop and developing a story from scratch. With each lesson, I will post my thoughts and some of the work I have completed during the lesson. I'll try to not give away too much of Dave's teaching style of the assignments he offers, as I think, if you're truly interested in learning from him, you should sign up for one of his workshops yourself. They are totally worth it.
So, stay tuned for more information about my time in this workshop. It should be fun.
