Writing is hard to teach. How to craft a languid, luminous sentence that lodges itself in a reader’s heart? Whew. That comes from a place that’s hard to quantify.

Storytelling, though, is different. That’s a little more science than art. It’s about mechanics: pacing, character, dialogue, worldbuilding.

Sure, there’s plenty of art in the machine, and everyone’s process is different.

But there’s a source code to telling a good story. Basic tenets that, once you see them, you can never un-see them. And they’ll inform your work going forward, helping you to craft the kinds of stories that demand to be read.

That’s the focus of the four-week online workshop I’m teaching at LitReactor, starting on June 15!

Haven’t taken a class with LitReactor? Here’s the deal: The whole thing is online. The lectures and assignments are all written, and there’s no specific timing to it—there are deadlines, but there’s no hard-and-fast time you have to be in your seat. It’s meant to be flexible in terms of timing. You’ll get critiques from me, and from the other students.

Some of the material here will be a rehash of what I taught in my previous online class, The Big Idea. And this is all about laying groundwork for what I hope would be a craft writing book at some point (I love, love craft and teaching and shop-talk).

So, yeah, if you want to get in there, I would suggest signing up soon, because there are only a few seats left, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Let’s get some good work done and recharge those creative batteries!