318R Writing Class About the Course
From 1999 to 2002, David Farland taught a popular science fiction and fantasy creative writing class at Brigham Young University. Some of his students from those classes went on to make millions. Brandon Sanderson took it twice and has become one of the bestselling fantasy writers of our time. Dan Wells also took it, and he became one of the bestselling writers of dark fantasy of the past three decades. Stephenie Meyer took it and asked in a private consultation “How do I write the bestselling young adult novel of all time?” The book she penned has sold over 250 million copies in 37 different languages.
Now, this class is offered online so that it will be available worldwide. This workshop, “318R” features much of the same content, only it will be better, because, as Dave put it, “I’ve learned a lot.”
Instructor, Assignments, and Feedback
Since Dave’s passing, DJ Butler has been teaching in his place.
Mentored by David Farland and an avid member of the writing industry, DJ’s passion is in part to write amazing books but also to strengthen communities of authors. The class will have assignments based on the methods Dave used.
Each assignment will receive personal feed back from DJ.
Number of Class and Size
The full class will be taught live on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM Mountain Time. If you miss a class, there will be links to the Zoom recordings and material so that you can review them at your leisure.
We’ll have a total of about 30 lectures. Classes will begin on April 4, 2024
Auditing the class:
But wait, there is more! In the classes at BYU, many students came to “audit” the class. They weren’t required to take the tests or turn in assignments, but were encouraged to participate in classes, and since their work wasn’t critiqued, they only paid half price.
So, we’ll have thirty students who will get the whole “318R experience,” but others will be allowed to sit in, ask questions, learn, and have fun. You can just hang out and learn, without any stress.
Course and Lecture Structure
Each class will begin with a lecture, and I will have three quizzes, and three shorter two-page exercise assignments, too. So, I might ask you for example to create a character sheet for a single character, or to read a story so that you can understand a certain principle. But these assignments won’t take more than a couple of hours per week, and we won’t have them on most weeks.
We will divide you into critique groups for assignments so that you will have three other people whose work you will need to critique or brainstorm.
How Long is the Course?
The course starts April 4, and meets twice a week for 15 weeks. The thirty classes will cover a multitude of topics on creative writing and the writing business. Here are some of the sample titles:
- What it Takes to Be a Professional Writer
- Brainstorming Like a Pro
- The Power of Setting
- Creating the Perfect Cast
- Focusing on Individual Characters
- Conflicts—The Engines of Your Story
- Treatment—Style, Tone, Voice
- How to Plot a Tale
- Composing Well, Fast, and Fun
- Hooking and Holding Your Reader
- Five Keys to Reaching a Massive
- Audience
- Designing a Great Scene
- Writing Powerful Dialog
- How Traditional Publishing Really Works
- Publishing Indie
- How to Make a Million—Strategies for Middle Grade, Young Adult, Genre Writers
- Screenwriting and the Film Business
- The Hollywood Greenlighting Process
- How films are Financed, Produced, and Distributed
- Income Streams for Writers
And more!
What's the price?
The price for taking the full class will be $997, which is a little less than the charge for taking three full college credit hours at today’s rates. The price for auditing will be $497.
Topics Covered
The class curriculum is somewhat subject to change, but we’ll cover a wide range of information on writing, publishing, and marketing books.
The first class,” explains how writers make a living in this business and also tells why most of them fail.
We’ll then move in week two to brainstorming like a pro.
We’ll then study worldbuilding, characterization, developing your conflicts for books, and plotting novels—from simple short novels to epics.
We’ll advance to exercises on how to write completely immersive fiction that involves all of the senses.
From there, we’ll talk about how to submit novels for publication, and go into techniques for marketing your books.
We’ll then branch out into how to sell ancillary rights to your intellectual properties, including audiobooks, electronic book rights, foreign rights, videogames, and film—both movies and television series
There’s a reason why the lecture time on this is 30 hours!
I hope you join us. Over the years I’ve had dozens of writers say, “I wish I could have been in that 318R class.” Well, now you can, but I can’t guarantee that this will go on forever.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Did you know that I offer a 100%, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee?
My number one goal is to help you make real progress as a writer. I want to boost your confidence and see your writing with my readers and their hearts. Just let me or my team know via email and we’ll cheerfully send you a full refund.
So sign up now, before seats run out!
A Note After Our 2023 Enrollment
Thank you all for the overwhelming response! In our Fall and Winter classes we completely filled our “live” seats , and we reached our maximum of “Audit” seats.
We are so grateful for the interest of writers from across the globe, and were disappointed that we had to turn away people after seats were filled. Due to the several dozens of people who emailed me, expressing interest, I have decided to hold this class again in 2022.
You can sign up for the email list, and be the first to know of details when registration opens! See the form below.
Sincerely,
David Farland’s Team