I took Neil Gaiman's Masterclass on storytelling (& here's what I learned...!) 

Not to get spicy, but I still chuckle a little that Masterclass is technically cheaper than some of the courses we've seen Authortubers sell 😂

I got his masterclass as the ad on this video lmao

I recently just figured out the writer's block tip, or at least something similar. So imma share my story cuz why not. I had been working on my WIP for months when one day I just didn't write in it. That day turned into more days, weeks, months, and then half a year. This was because my mental health was derailing and I couldn't work on novels. And when I wanted to get back to writing my WIP, I couldn't. This was because I left off in the middle of a sentence on October 3, 2020. I do this because I find it easier to get back to writing the next day if I left off in the middle of a sentence the day before. However, this doesn't work months later. So, I decided to reread the ~40,000 words I had already written. I knew that whenever I finish a movie or a book or a whatever, I always want to continue it. Hence why I'm into fanfiction. So, I figured that the same thing would happen for my own book. I finished that reread a few days ago and yesterday, I wrote in my WIP for the first time in over six months! I honestly felt like celebrating; it felt like I was finally home. While rereading, I also re-found out that one of my characters wears glasses and is addicted to coffee, so that was also nice for me to remember half way through the book and not when I was editing lol.

I loved Neil's Masterclass. Another great one just dropped is N. K. Jemisin. She really knows what she is talking about because she has thought about it. I recommend it. And Margaret Attwood, she has a wicked sense of humour and a great backstory herself which she discusses.

“I did not get it done in December...nor January, February, March, or April...” has been the mood of this year for me 😂

I LOVED his masterclass, it reassured me in many ways Margaret Atwood's was also really good

Prediction - next writing experiment is "I tried writing a comic"??? Also, you've got me wanting to take this Masterclass now, mostly so I have an excuse to listen to Neil Gaiman's voice for a few hours XD

As someone who is *really* new to writing fiction, I feel like I would want something more proscriptive than what Masterclass seems to offer. This is why I love Sanderson’s lectures!

“Why can’t I just be lazy” Best quote ever!

I've seen a lot of materclass ads on writing videos but I think the Neil Gaiman always stood out to me the most! It's so cool that you enjoyed it, I kinda wanna check it out now!!

You should absolutely read his book of essays if you liked the masterclass. It's called the View from the Cheap Seats.

Neil Gaiman is my favorite author. I liked how you liked the part when he talked about his comics. I love making comics. I think that storytelling with art can be just as impactful as regular books. I really need to buy the Neil Gaiman masterclass. Great video!

I loved this masterclass. It was by far my favorite. I think Walter Mosley and Dan Brown were tied for my runners-up, although I really enjoyed Walter's perspective as a POC.

I actually do art for graphic novels and web comics, so I know it from the opposite end. Trying to learn the writing side of things currently. 😅

Neil Gaiman's aesthetic is everything I aspire to! Definitely considering checking out this course specifically for the short story topics.

Okay this may have been the best ad I’ve ever seen for a masterclass lol. It sounds so good and I can’t wait to hear what tips you keep from this!

Oh dear, now I _really_ want to watch his masterclass

Thanks Kate for being so honest, open, and genuine in your videos. You help inspire other writers (like me) with the amount of heart, and willingness to try something outside your comfort zone, you put into everything. Appreciative hugs from Ottawa, Canada.

Great one, Kate! I have taken a lot of these Masterclasses, and I have to say that David Lynch`s was my favorite. That beautiful, genius wierdo! (Whos movies scares me half to death!) Margaret Atwoods Masterclass was my second favorite, and then Neils. I started getting into Neil Gaiman in the mid 90s, reading The Sandman. It made a deep, long lasting impression on me. I had never seen storytelling done that way. It opened my mind in such an incredible way, I think I will reread it until the day I die. I have read most of his books, they are always a joy. In Neverwhere he made parts of London into characters, and I think he was the first one to use that technique. Love that book!

I just finished this about a week ago and loved it! His voice is so comforting ❤ Also, I just started going through the supplemental workbook for the class and it has a lot more of the specific tips and exercises that the videos don't include as much of

Ooooh! I'm doing an at-home writing retreat this weekend and I'm doing a masterclass a day! This is just what I needed!

I’m so glad you did this! I’ve had the app downloaded on my phone for ages, but I wasn’t sure if it would be worth the money. The classes look so interesting.

What a great start to a Wednesday morning! And good for you, taking a vacation for a week. (I hope you went to Disneyland.) The Neil Gaiman class sounds awesome. :) I finally finished the edits and corrections (inputting the edits) on the vampire sequel. Huzzah!!! putting finishing touches on it (responding to my own sticky notes) and getting ready to ask for ARC readers. Your video felt like a reward for slogging through the hard parts. LOL Sending Love and Hugs!

I loooove how you overlay narration to vlog clips. I haven't seen anybody doing that, and I love the format!

So excited for you to write a Manga. I have written MANY storyboards and done one comic. The visualization of storyboarding is something I learned in Film School and WOW did it click for me. I think it depends on the person if they find it helpful or not but for me it's almost critical to my stories.

This was a terrific recap Kate, really enjoyed your snippets!

I could just listen to Gaiman talk all day long. Same with Wendell Berry and a few others. I might sign up for the class just for that.

I really love your vlogs. I look forward to every single one you upload. You've inspired me to start working on my own channel of vlogging + writing and any time I feel like I need to get excited about the work ahead of me, I come back to your channel. It always gives me such a motivational boost.

Yay! So glad you finally got to watch it!

I'm late responding to this, but wanted to say thank you for your content. And we must be close because I recognize the highway signs and know of the infamous Buc-ee's! I'm new to writing and it has been so helpful to see your content and join you on your various writing adventures. Thanks and please keep them coming!

Really appreciate you sharing with us!

I like how excited you are about the course ☺️. I loved that masterclass very much too

LOVED this class so much! Took almost 10k words worth of notes and might watch a few of the courses again

I'm a simple person: I see a new Kate vlog, I click

So glad I came across this video! Been wondering about it as I love Neil Gaiman and his style of story telling. So far, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is my favorite of his books. Also, I got so excited about your corgi! I have one too ☺️ she is a spoiled potato ❤️

Damnit Kate, now I need a cinnamon roll! 😂😂 Gold star content right here. Loved the topic, I need to go take the class.

Your videos about writing experiments are my new favorite distraction from working on my own. Thank you for your service lol

Oh, this vlog was fun!!

Digging on the coffee ASMR in the beginning 👍

ooh! I'm so happy that you did this! Been wondering how the experience is, I get their advertisement all the time :D

His masterclass is my favorite. I feel like every time I watch it, I've done it more than once, I learn something new. Or at least, I actually hear it. If that makes sense. I've read quite a few of his books.

I didn't know that the masterclass had an app until today! Thank you for that knowledge!

His is the only one I have taken and I loved it! Something about hearing him talk and explained things inspires me extremely!

I really liked the cinematic scenes tbh. It was immersive to watch. The graphics were amazing too

I can’t wait to take his class, I’m signing up with MasterClass this summer, maybe in June. I’m also stoked about the David Baldacci class. I want to write crime fiction.

I really really hope you take David Baldacci's thriller class. I am so curious about his notebook method (not really outlining, from what I understand). I LOVE this series of yours!!!!

I’m watching his MasterClass right now and I’m loving it!! My mom and brother got it for me for my birthday lol. The production quality alone after RU-vid is almost too much 😂

Thanx for sharing ur review of this class

Amazing video as always. I got lost in that Bucky's lol. It wouldn't end. It was like a Walmart in a gas station. Best snacks too.

I took it last November. It was legit the best masterclass on that site

Your voice is pleasant to listen to. :)

I have done the Masterclass about two years ago and absolutely loved it... keep going back and picking through the lessons repeatedly... really want to dive into the one by N.K. Jemisin

I'm in the process of world building, character creation and plotting for my webcomic. It's interesting hearing about his take on the positioning of panels for specific moments because it certainly changes depending on the medium in which you publish said comics. As a webcomic artist, panelling will usually take one scroll to reveal the next picture, some panels are on their side for when people read on their phones and can give a longer reveal of a scene in action. But also, as a novel writer I can see how you could use these ideas in novels as well. You finish a scene on one page then the next page BAM a reveal or twist or horror scene comes to life!

I started his class and then stopped, and now I'm going to pick it up again. Didn't stop because I didn't like it, stuff just happens lol. Deciding if I want to go from where I left off or just start all over... Also, there are so many great Masterclasses on writing on this site!! I want to do them all!!

The RU-vid ad for Neil Gaiman's Masterclass was one of (if not the) only times those ads have gotten me to buy something 😆😄. (I actually got it as a gift, but still. 😊)

I got that free 2-week Masterclass promo and took Neil Gaiman's course. I can only give it the highest commendation: when I heard the bits of audio cues or snippets of Neil talking, I smiled involuntarily.

I really enjoyed his class and especially the "Perfection isn't in this universe" episode (I think it was the second to last lecture. It was like he was talking only to me because I try to write perfect stories which means I don't finish them 😞 Very good class!

Omg hearing the keyboard clicks is just so satisfying for some reason!! I dont know why it just sounds nice

I'm writing for a comic! It's super indie and it isn't officially out for a few months. But it's been a really fun project to work on! It's my first professional creative writing job since college and it's very collaborative experience. And it's a humbling but wonderful creative experience to write for someone else's premise. I love it

I would love to see you try N.K. Jemisin's Masterclass! "The City We Became" might be one of the best books I've ever read!

Hi Kate, Just a bit of advice about writing. There are several ways to write your story. From your video Neil sounds like he says that sometimes you go off course. I find one way to avoid this is to make a tree or your story before you write. So the bottom of the tree is where you start and them as you move up you can add your plot and sub plots into branches where characters are introduced. You can also use this to add plot points that could happen, it does not mean you have to use them but by doing this sometimes you story make make an unexpected turn and even better than you first planned, main characters maybe become sub characters and visa versa. Wishing you all the best from the UK with your writing and your channel. ps. I have written a book and onto my second. I did once try writing a comic but I didn't get very far as I feel as though I had a good idea but really needed to collaborate with an artist but I don't know any so it kind of just faded away. However, I would say that a good idea is to get a graphic novel of a movie and see how they cut down the dialogue and scenes they use to give you some idea of how and why they strip away to the bare bones and still tell the story.

I can recommend N.K. Jemisin‘s masterclass so much. From all the masterclasses on writing this one helped me the most with advice about world building. Especially when you write Science Fiction or Fantasy. The rest of the masterclasses are more on the inspirational side in my opinion.

Someone uploaded the entirety of Neil Gaiman's masterclass onto RU-vid back in April of 2020. I watched it. It was great. I'm pretty sure there it's been taken down now.

New follower. I just like her.

It's interesting to see you see your reactions and opinions on different writing courses through masterclass.

I love his comics, that's where I first found his works - with Sandman, and the Books of Magic. Totally recommended.

I love his Masterclass - I've watched it a number of times. Dan Brown is really good too.

I love the lil dolly zoom effect you do @ 9:23 . Kate Cavanaugh Cinematographer confirmed.

:) love these vids

Thanks for reminding me of Gaiman's 100 word story. The best Father Christmas story ever written.

Kate, is that the daughters of the moon series I see on your bookshelf at 0.14 seconds in? If so, we are now best friends and you have no choice in the matter :), even if it isn't, still forced besties ;) love your videos. Neil Gaiman was definitely my favorite of the master classes. But David Balducci and Margaret Atwoods were great as well.

They never give enough icing for the cinnamon rolls!! WTheck Pillsbury!? A little trick my husband and I do is when we order cinnamon sticks from our local pizza place-Domino's? Fox's Pizza? Idk, one of them- we ask for extra icing and use that on our Pillsbury cinnamon rolls!! Loved the vlog!

I was curious about his class. It's one I want to take. Please, do Margaret Atwood next! I saw the trailer for it and was intrigued. I'm planning to take that one and would love to see what you think of it as well.

Gaiman's masterclass got me super hyped up. I really enjoyed it. I also liked Margaret Atwood's masterclass. She's a charismatic speaker... the type of person that makes you stop and listen to what she has to say.

Hey! I was so excited to see this video - it definitely makes me want to take the Masterclass even more. I don't draw comics (because I suck at drawing) but I do have a Master's in Literature in a Visual Culture where I focussed on comics theory. If you have any questions about that side of things or want some reading recommendations for accessible articles/books etc about what goes into comics, hit me up!

i’ve been calling that block writing myself into a corner because it doesn’t feel like a “real” writers block if that makes any sense. i might just have a different perspective as someone who’s both an artist and mentally ill (and as a result struggles with motivation + creativity sometimes). mckay and gray i think is the name of a channel of a couple that makes comics together; ones the writer ones the artist and they talk about their process if you want to look into some indie creators and their process! i’ve read coraline, the graveyard book and good omens and plan on one day reading all of neil gaimans books lol. and i’ve both written and drawn a comic! it was only 3 pages and i’m currently working on a much longer one that i’ve written and thumbnailed about 60 pages of.

omg, every time i watch your vids, i want an espresso machine... they're prohibitively expensive, but i still want one

so far I have watched Neil Gaiman, Aaron Sorkin, James Patterson, David Sedaris, Joyce Carol Oates, David Mamet, Margaret Atwood and Shonda Rhimes and for me the most comprehensive and valuable was Sorkin's lecture.

I'm writing a comic right now, and I can tell you it needs an almost whole different set of skills! Not completely, of course, a lot of things from storytelling carry over, but almost everything has a different shape, a different pacing, a different way to be conveyed. You have to think in a way closer to a movie script than a novel. And I'm having to learn a lot of new things in the world of comics because I got used to making storyboards in page format, since most of what I read was physical, but nowadays webcomics have a different shape and flow to them, and my brain is having a hard time adapting to it. 'xD Through that process, I also learned that certain stories work better in comic format. Or, to put it in a better way, I, as a writer, can tell certain stories better in comic format. I abandoned some drafts a couple of years ago because they simply weren't working as novels, but now I'm considering turning them into comics and things started to make more sense. Funny enough, my first "project" as a writer was a manga I tried to make when I was 11. After a whole year, I had about 5 or 6 pages drawn and at least 12 chapters planned out. That's when I realized I was better at writing than drawing. '^^ Recently a friend agreed to draw one of my comic projects, and by the end of the year we'll have a short webcomic done. If that goes well, we'll start a much more ambitious project of a years-long webcomic where each arc (or season) will have a different subgenre. The overall genre is supernatural, but the first arc has super-hero vibes, the second one is thriller, and the third will be (post)apocalyptic. And I don't know if there will be more arcs after that. Guess I'll cross that bridge when we get to it, years from now. =D

Is Neil Gaiman my spirit animal? 1) As soon as you mentioned flipping the tale of Snow White I immediately thought of vampires...and then that was also his idea???? Okayyyy 2) With a background in creating graphic novels, I never really noticed all the story elements, and at this point it's second nature so it's interesting to try and analyze it... Perhaps worth making a video on it hmmm

I loved the video! I've been thinking about watching Masterclasses and stuff for a while, and Neil Gaiman's and Margaret Atwood's classes seem really cool. Your feedback and thoughts on everything is definitely helpful when seeing which class I want to watch. Could you possibly do a video where you go over everything you do in Scrivener? I just recently bought it and I'm a little confused about some things, such as how you get your session word count to show up averse to total word count. (Is that even a thing? 🤔) Also, how often do you use Scrivener averse to Google Docs? I've been switching between Google Docs and Wavemaker for a while, and I'm not sure how Scrivener will fare compared to them.

I just noticed you have all the original Daughters of the Moon books. So do I!

I loved his class in so many ways. The opening music just pulled me in and I was lost in his world of writing. Such an amazing storyteller and teacher. I got really emotional at the end of it because he makes it seem so possible all while activating your imagination and your inner storyteller. It was brilliant. I think I will have to watch it again.

The very first writing Masterclass I took was Margaret Atwood's which I HIGHLY recommend. She has a very clear understanding of her process and gives so so much helpful insight and instruction. I can't give a full review of Gaiman's as I'll admit I could only make it through about 4 lessons before getting frustrated. He could tell anecdotes about his process but didn't seem to understand exactly what he was doing and why. That can be fine for writing (he obviously does it well), but not so great for teaching.

I did Neil Gaiman's masterclass. It was a lot of fun and my first self published novel is the result of the workbook's assignments. I wouldn't say it's worth the price though.

Please! check out N.K. Jemison's if you have an opportunity! and Ron Finley's class is absolutely fantastic, he's helped my quarantine garden so much.

Nice! Did you try the workbook of this class? (also amazing graphics!)

I'm at the end of Gaiman's master Class right now. I got side tracked by N.K. Jemisin's, which is awesome!

"STORY is truer than FACT. A fact happened once, but STORY is always true." Madeleine L'Engle

Hey @Kate! Recommending Brandon Sanderson's course on Fantasy and science fiction. It's all on youtube and I found it really helpful. Please check it out if you haven't!

I love pastries, I can't bake though. By the way I'm trying to write my first book but I'm abit worried because I don't have any idea how to write a book. I have ideas but I'm worried I might not get the technical part right, any advice?

have a nice day

This channel should be called typing noises with Kate.

I draw comics! :D Specifically shoujo manga! Which is very much not what Neil Gaiman writes so I never thought I should watch his master class but now I'm thinking about it...especially when I heard that bit about the silence beat. But also I realize comics, novels, games, movies all follow the same storytelling elements. ...kinda wanna watch his masterclass... I've never really read western comics so I wonder how different they are to Japanese comics

If you are interested in comics try reading "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art" by Scott McCloud.

Is it me or did anyone else get the notification for this and then get confused thinking that they'd already seen it ages ago?

I hope Neil sees this! :)

American Gods...didn't he write that???

Have you ever tried diamond painting?

I’m still waiting to get a MasterClass for free trial or do a monthly plan 😩🤦🏾‍♀️