Let’s break this down.

TELL STORIES

That’s what the course is all about. We all know a good story when we see it - you’re immediately hooked, you remain gripped, and you stay until the very end - but knowing how good stories work so you have the same impact with the ones you tell? That’s a skill worth mastering, and I couldn’t see many people teaching it for the kind of non-fiction writing I do.

Hence, this course.

HAVE FUN

Investing time in telling good stories is only a worthy pursuit if it’s fun . I could give you a million reasons for this - including the special magic we bring to creative work when we really, truly care about it - but as a fairly lazy person, here’s my favourite: if you’re not having fun, your brain will fight what you’re trying to get it to do, and you will soon give up. Fun is stamina - and it’ll get you over any finish-line you set for yourself.

This is very much a course about rediscovering the fun in your writing, powered by all the other storytelling you’re already enjoying in your life, and channelling that enthusiasm in a whole new way. It’s worked for me, so I hope it’d work for just about anyone.)

(GET PAID)

This one is in parenthesis because you might have zero interest in making money from telling a good story! You might just want to win over your grandkids at Christmas, or give an absolutely killer presentation at work - or you may dream of standing in front of a microphone at The Moth. As a toolkit, good storytelling can be used in all sorts of ways, and only a fraction of them involve getting paid for it.

Nevertheless - I tell stories for a living. I have done it as a freelance writer and story consultant for over ten years, and now, with Everything Is Amazing , I do it through the science newsletter you’re a kind supporter of. This is my own path using storytelling, and I spend a few lessons of the course explaining what I’ve done and how it’s built my audience to over 31,000 readers & over 800 paid supporters.

It’s definitely not a get-rich-quick scheme (see disclaimer above) - but if you are looking for tips on making enough money to support telling more of your stories in your own special way, I think this course can help.

It’s 6 weeks of email lessons - which means you’d be all finished before the New Year, ready to put all of it into practice.

You’ll get Lifetime Access - so all future updates (including extra modules on specialised forms of non-fiction stories like memoir and science writing) will be totally free.

The doors close at the end of today , Monday 10th November .

Not your thing? Then I’ll shut up and just say thank you (THANK YOU!) for being a supporter of Everything Is Amazing . I’ve got a ton of hopefully wow-inducing science stories heading your way very soon.

Outlook