On-Demand Classes
Fundamentals of Great Storytelling
About the Class
What Students Say
In this self-paced 50-minute introductory on-demand course, novelist Blair Hurley shares three fundamental elements of storytelling: story structure (including story arc and the trajectory stories take), character development and what makes characters multi-dimensional, as well as the elements of style such as language, voice, and perspective. Short excerpts from classic literature provide tangible examples, and the class ends with a writing exercise that challenges writers to put into practice these fundamentals. For beginning and intermediate fiction writers.
All students of this course are invited to sign up for Blair’s next live Q&A session for a chance to meet with her and other writers live on Zoom, ask questions, share thoughts, and continue the discussion!
"Blair draws on her vast knowledge and expertise in the craft to clearly convey the fundamentals of storytelling. My deepened understanding of the novel's structure, scene-building, and story arc improved my writing skills."
- Adrienne Anifant
"Blair is an incredible facilitator...her craft workshops are full of gems."
- Amanda DiSanto
"Blair's lectures are outstanding."
- Jackie Craven
"A terrific class - Blair is an exceptionally good instructor."
- Duston Spear
Meet Your Instructor
BLAIR HURLEY is the author of the novels THE DEVOTED (W.W. Norton, 2018) and MINOR PROPHETS (Ig Publishing, 2023). Her work is published in New England Review, Electric Literature, The Georgia Review, Guernica, Paris Review Daily, West Branch, and elsewhere. She is a Pushcart Prize winner and an ASME Fiction award finalist. Her story “The Telepathist” was listed as a Distinguished Story in Best American Short Stories 2022. Blair holds an A.B. in English and Creative Writing from Princeton University and an M.F.A. in Fiction from New York University. Blair teaches novel writing in PVWW's (virtual) 10-Month Manuscript Program. She lives outside Toronto.
