Build the Skills.
Write a Book.
Leave Your Legacy.
The only science-backed training on leveling up your craft of writing.
Join the Self-Study Story Grid Guild
Next Cohort Begins July 13, 2024
9 HIDDEN PROBLEMS IN YOUR WRITING
Do these show up for you?
🔄
1. Your scenes have no direction.
The writing starts, you feel good about the scene, and then you realize—it's hard to tell exactly when this happens—everything has gone off track.
You keep going, hoping you'll be able to write yourself out of the hole, but eventually the writing peters out and you stop.
On a reread, there is a lot going on. Characters are doing stuff. Plenty of exposition. Lots of description. But it doesn't go anywhere and even you get lost... and you wrote it!
If a reader can't figure out what's going on in your story, they will stop reading.
🥱
2. Your scenes are boring.
It’s hard to get all the details and story bits into your writing without making it boring. You know there needs to be some kind of action happening, but how do you do this without car chases and explosions? What if it’s two people getting coffee or a person traveling alone?
You force yourself to finish the scene, but even you get bored when you read back through it.
And if it’s boring to you, imagine how the reader is going to feel!
😱
3. Your scenes don't evoke emotion.
Your writing comes out flat and dull like a Wikipedia entry describing something interesting instead of pulling you into the narrative.
As you struggle to put the words down, you’re not sure which verbs, adjectives and adverbs to put down in order to connect your writing to your reader at an emotional level.
You know each word you choose is important, but how do you make those choices?
🤷♀️
4. Too many details in your scenes.
You get lost in the excitement of creating your world and characters, so you keep putting more and more. Before long, you have thousands of words of exposition but nothing has happened yet.
Somewhere in that mess you try to get your story elements in, but you worry that you’ve buried them in an avalanche of description. When you go back to edit though, you know you need to cut, but you’re not sure what to cut or why.
👨👩👧👦
5. Poorly Developed Characters.
As you develop your story, you keep adding characters without a clear direction on their purpose and how they will add value to the narrative.
On a reread, you start to fear that all of your characters are running together and remain uninteresting and unbelievable. Your protagonist is acting inconsistently and doesn't have a clear path or goal.
🙄
6. Your world is not believable.
You struggle to choose the right details to describe your story’s world to make it feel real and vibrant. So you keep adding more and more, unsure of when you’ve put enough.
The world feels so real to you, but you’re never quite sure if it’s landing on the page in the right way.
🗑️
7. Your scenes are full of exposition dumps.
As you write, you struggle with weaving the exposition, dialogue, and action together.
You worry you’re not giving your readers enough information, so you opt to open a scene or stop mid-action and dump all of the information on the reader at once.
But then you worry that you’re back to making your writing boring again.
📣
8. Your scenes do not have a clear voice.
You don’t feel locked into who you’re telling the story to and why, so the voice shifts as you write. Sometimes you use flowery prose and then switch into Hemingwayesque direct, simple language.
You feel the inconsistency in the word choice, but struggle to lock in on anything that feels coherent throughout the writing.
🎥
9. Your "camera" movement is confusing.
As you write, you bounce from a god-like view of the context to an up-close description of action to dialogue to a different character's vantage point. It feels right in the moment, but when you read through later, you feel like you’re getting jerked around, unsure of where to focus.
If the movement is too jarring, your story will get lost in the chaos.
😢
Bonus: Your scene is a BLANK PAGE.
You would love to have these problems in your writing, as that would mean you were actually writing.
Instead, when you try to write, you end up staring at the endless blinking of the cursor unsure of where to start and what to write.
If you never write anything then you never have to deal with a reader who doesn't like your writing.
What happens if you can’t write exciting, compelling scenes?
Maybe you love the macro storytelling stuff. Diving deep into the genre and story structure and conventions and obligatory moments… so much fun!
And, obviously, this stuff is important. It’s a huge part of what we do here at Story Grid.
But…
If you can’t write scenes that excite the reader to turn the page and keep reading, none of it matters!
This means...
- Readers won’t stick with your story long enough to experience your story’s climax or speech in praise of the villain.
- Readers won't make it through 3 scenes before they give up on your entire book.
- You’ll never write a book that people love so much they’ll tell other people about it.
- Readers will never get to hear your voice and your message. They'll miss out on the joy of experiencing your story.
THE STORY GRID GUILD
Self-Study Program
Learn to write scenes and books that are so good
readers can't help but keep turning pages.
New cohort begins July 13, 2024.
CURRICULUM
Over 3 Years, You Will:
Read
Widely and deeply, and become a well-read writer.
Learn
About story from the micro to the macro and everything in between.
Write
Your own masterwork-level book by combining everything you've learned.
HERE'S HOW IT WORKS
SEMESTERS 1-2:
Fundamentals
Study
A pattern scene sourced from a master writer.
Practice
Creating iterations of your scene and writing as you improve your craft.
Feedback
Partner with other students in the program and work through feedback together.
Weeks 1 - 11:
Scene Analysis and Planning
Discover the Story Grid 624 Analysis Toolkit that allows you to gain high resolution understanding for the story.
During this process you will learn to use tools including:
- The 5-leaf Genre Clover to get crystal clear on how to meet reader expectations.
- The Proposition of Possibility (POP) generates and governs the problem space for a story.
- The Narrative Device which sets out the Author, Single Audience Member, and Problem for the story.
- Point of View options for presenting the story to the reader.
- The Five Commandments that track the value shift in a story.
- The Event Synthesis Analysis which evaluates the trinity planes of perception in the story.
- Identifying Tropes and Beats in the story.
Weeks 12 - 16:
Writing Engaging Action
Build your toolkit for writing action by adding energy to your writing that generates excitement and anxiety in the reader.
During this process you will learn:
- The different types of Action Beats and when to use them in your writing.
- How valence in your language plays a huge role in generating engaging action.
- The critical role misattunement in your line-by-line writing plays in keeping the reader turning pages.
- Internal and External sources of energy that drive action in the story.
Weeks 17 - 21:
Character Development
Understand how to develop characters that readers will empathize with and connect to.
During this training you will learn:
- How to effectively reveal your character's true nature through action instead of exposition.
- The 3 categories of Breakdown Beats that force the characters to change in your story.
- How misattuning the Beat writing reveals the truth about the characters.
- How writing Freeze, Flight, and Fight play into character development.
- The 7 ways a character can react to misattunement in their environment.
Weeks 22 - 24:
Writing Captivating Exposition
Exposition is necessary in your writing, but hard to do well without boring the reader.
During this training you will learn:
- Frameworks for building exposition in a way that engages your readers in a coherent experience.
- Techniques to avoid info-dumps while making sure you include enough description to keep your reader from getting confused.
- The 3 functions of exposition and how to balance them in your writing.
- How to connect the exposition in your scenes to the global concepts at play in your story to make sure that the entire story works together as a whole.
SEMESTERS 3-5:
Arcs
Study
Twelve masterwork-level novels and films spanning the Story Grid Genre Blueprint classifications.
Learn
How to identify the global genre components in a masterwork.
Practice
Creating connections in your own iterations to start building global arcs.
SEMESTER 6:
Blocks
Study
Select and study 3-5 masterwork novellas from a curated list.
Learn
How to distill masterworks to their essence and make the essential components your own.
Practice
Identifying key features across a range of masterworks and integrating those features into your own original novella.
FINAL PROJECT:
Novella
Develop
Use the Story Grid Narrative Path to develop your idea into a writeable plan for a novella.
Build
Map out the twenty skeletal scenes for your project that works along the Narrative Path.
Write
Use your plan to write a working and publishable draft for your novella.
Self-Study Program Includes:
🧑🏫
WEEKLY TRAINING
Every Saturday you will receive access to new writing instruction covering the week’s topic. This will include examples, how-tos, and next steps for your personal writing practice.
✍️
WEEKLY WRITING
Every Saturday with the release of the instruction, you will get access to the week's writing worksheet. This will take less than an hour a week, but will include highly potent and practical exercises to help you level up your writing.
💻
MONTHLY LIVE GROUP COACHING
Every month, join your fellow writers in a group coaching led by Story Grid CEO Tim Grahl.
🏘️
COMMUNITY FORUM
Find other writers to connect and form writing groups to work together to level up your craft of writing.
🤖
NEW: STORY GRID AI
Get exclusive access to the new chat AI developed and trained on the full Story Grid methodology.
Meet Your Instructors
These are the people guiding you through the Story Grid Guild Program.
Danielle Kiowski
Chief Academic Officer, Story Grid Universe
Danielle works with writers to help them tell the stories that they need to tell.
In 2019, she came to Story Grid to level up her own craft, and discovered a passion for teaching others and helping them to tell their stories. She strives to guide her students and clients to unlock a new understanding of how stories work and how they can apply that insight to their own writing and in their own lives. Writing is hard work. She coaches her writers through the transformative work that they must face to tell a story that matters while maintaining focus on the joy of creating art and protecting the passion for storytelling that drives them to the page.
As the Chief Academic Officer at Story Grid, Danielle crafts the Guild experience to help members reach their writing goals. Along the way, she teaches plenty of theory, but always brings it back to the page — where the writing happens!
Rachel Arsenault
Director, Story Grid Guild Program
Rachel Arsenault hails from the writing and research-heavy disciplines of history and anthropology, which fueled her love of writing and springboarded her into editing. She came to Story Grid in 2020, drawn by the collaborative approach to the writer-editor relationship and the use of a clear evaluative methodology. She focuses on helping writers tell stories full of action and intrigue while building immersive worlds, whether representations of the real world or faraway imagined places. Rachel lives by the words “Writing is more fun with friends,” and strives to help writers grow while staying curious and enjoying the process, especially when it’s difficult.
As an instructor in the Guild, Rachel helps implement the curriculum with an eye toward analysis and practical application, and as self-titled Wit to the CAO, does her best to make Danielle laugh.
Shawn Coyne
Founder and Creator of Story Grid
Shawn Coyne is a writer, editor, and publishing professional with over 30 years of experience. He has published more than 300 books with many dozens of bestsellers across all genres and generated over $150,000,000 of revenue.
He started his editing career in 1991 as an editorial assistant and was promoted to senior editor in less than five years. Four years later, he became a publisher. Throughout his twenty year career in traditional publishing, he held positions at Dell Publishing, St. Martin's Press, and Doubleday Publishing.
From 2001 through 2007, Coyne founded and served as Publisher and Managing Partner for Rugged Land Books. In its six years of operation, Rugged Land published thirty-six hardcover titles and fourteen trade paperback titles. One third of all original titles published at Rugged Land were placed on the major bestseller lists.
After shuttering Rugged Land in 2007, Coyne became a literary agent representing many bestselling authors including Robert McKee, Steven Pressfield, David Feherty, Scott Patterson, Anita Raghaven, and many others.
In 2011, Coyne co-founded Black Irish Books where he has published over twenty-five titles including bestsellers such as The War of Art and Turning Pro.
In 2015, he wrote and published The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know and, later that year, launched the Story Grid Podcast. Since then, Story Grid has grown into a community of 40,000+ writers dedicated to leveling up their craft.
Shawn continues to study and write on Narrative Theory, develop the Story Grid methodology, and teach aspiring and professional writers.
A small sampling of works he acquired, edited, published and/or represented include James Bamford, John Brenkus, James Lee Burke, Barbara Bush, Dick Butkus, Harlan Coben, Nellie Connally, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Ben Crenshaw, Catherine Crier, Brett Favre, David Feherty, John Feinstein, Tyler Florence, Jim Gant, Col. David H. Hackworth, Jamie Harrison, Mo Hayder, William Hjortsberg, Stephen Graham Jones, Jon Krakauer, David Leadbetter, Alan Lomax, David Mamet, Troon McAllister, Robert McKee, Matthew Modine, Bill Murray, Joe Namath, John J. Nance, Jack Olsen, Scott Patterson, Steven Pressfield, Matthew Quirk, Anita Raghavan, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Jerry Rice, Giora Romm, Tim Rosaforte, William Safire, Dava Sobel, Michael Thomas, Nick Tosches, Ann Scott Tyson, Minette Walters, Betty White, Randy Wayne White, Steven White, and Don Winslow among many others.
Tim Grahl
CEO of Story Grid
Tim Grahl is the CEO of Story Grid Universe and the Publisher of Story Grid Publishing.
He has written five books including the novel The Threshing and the nonfiction perennial sellers Running Down a Dream and Your First 1000 Copies. His next book, The Shithead, is due out in Spring 2024.
For the last eight years, he has studied under Shawn Coyne, world-class editor and writer, and helped thousands of writers create books they are proud to have written.
What Our Students Are Saying
"The Guild has completely transformed my writing."
"By exploring story in a more complete way, I’m now able to construct a more cohesive narrative; and then pairing this understanding with beat to beat level instruction, I’m able to get the right words on the page. The Guild is a commitment, but one that is well worth it."
— Amy Kelm
"I spent years in the wilderness of craft books, university writing classes and local writer workshops."
"I was trying to find someone who could not only tell HOW to do this mysterious task of writing a novel but also tell me where mine was going wrong! I had some amazing teachers and I knew I had good instincts and I had tons of writing "practice" but I did not have a map... I was always wandering around. Story Grid is the map... actually it's the star chart, the globe and the atlas. Add to that a community of writers and instructors who all speak the same language... you will not get lost again."
— Krista Adams, Writer and Story Grid Certified Editor
"There is so much more value than I was expecting."
"When I first signed up, I was worried I was making a mistake. It was a lot of money to me. But now that I realize how much is involved and how much I'm getting out of it, I feel like it was actually an amazing deal. It's such an intensive course and the trainers are putting so much work into it, and I'm so glad that I get to be part of it."
— Annette Roth
"This material isn't talked about anywhere else."
"The Story Grid Guild is the only place to get it. I've been challenged and frustrated, but all in a good way. I love the forums. It is wonderful to be in a community where people care so much about learning and understanding the material.
I know two people joining the new semester. I did not try to encourage them to join. Instead, I kept going on about the incredible concepts I was learning, the new perspectives for analyzing works, etc. It just got them interested and wanting to have it for themselves."
— Pam G
"I have learned so much from the guild that has improved my writing."
"This teaching is objective, not subjective. I am able to understand logically where there is a problem and then how to fix it.
If you're tired of getting feedback based on 'feelings,' if you're ready to understand the bones of story and learn to use them to build your own unique stories, stories that work, then the Story Grid Guild is the right place to learn."
— Cathy Ryan
"I always tell anyone and everyone to join the Guild!"
"It is the most useful writer's resource because it has specific and actionable development tools to diagnose a scene to make it work. The information I've learned in the Story Grid Guild cannot be found anywhere else. Story Grid has been the most helpful resource out of everything I've read to improve my writing.
The community of writers is an extra resource of limitless knowledge and experience of the same writing mindset. The Guild members have an understanding of the same Story Grid methodology, and they're excellent at helping to explain concepts. It's invaluable, and I benefit from it in ways that I'd never get on my own."
— Kristi Stalder, author of Navigating Assisted Living
Do you think a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing is the best way to develop your line-by-line writing?
An MFA program won’t provide anywhere near the rigor and level of useful writing training found in the Story Grid Guild Program.
Watch the videos below to hear from students who also have their MFA in Creative Writing.
Join Now
A New Cohort Begins July 13, 2024
Self-Study Guild Membership
Join the only writing program based on a complete narrative theory developed over thirty years by editor and author Shawn Coyne.
One year of Guild membership consists of two 24-week semesters and includes:
- Weekly Instruction
Every Saturday you will receive access to new writing instruction covering the week’s topic. This will include examples, how-tos, and next steps for your personal writing practice. - Weekly Worksheet
Every Saturday with the release of the instruction, you will get access to the week's writing worksheet. This will take less than an hour a week, but will include highly potent and practical exercises to help you level up your writing. - Monthly Instructor Q&A
Each month, join the semester's instructor for a live Q&A to ask your questions on the month's topic, instruction, and practice. - Monthly Live Workshopping
Submit your scenes for live workshopping and feedback to learn alongside your fellow students. - Group Practice and Discussion
You will have the opportunity to join small groups of other Guild members to weekly work and practice together.
$135/month
or, pay for a year and save $140!
What Our Students Are Saying
"This will become the required basics for every writer in the future."
"The concepts of Story Grid are brilliantly insightful to the writing process. If you want to understand the structure of story and how to write well, you need to study Story Grid."
— Bill Babb
"If you really want to learn how to write — really — then this is the way to go"
"This is what I've been waiting for forever. Nobody out there is doing this and this is the only way to really become good at writing.
We have to know what we're doing. Nobody becomes a doctor by winging it. Why is it assumed that writing is any different?
Shawn is a visionary."
— Shelley Malka, Ph.D
"I would recommend this to all real writers out there that want to be proud of their work."
"Stop wasting your time typing out fancy words and stop trying to copy other writers styles. Instead, learn how to tell a story on three different levels and beyond. You won't regret leveling up yourself."
— S.E. Mckee
"One-of-a-kind deep-dive learning you can't get ANYWHERE else."
"Members of the Guild are challenged to improve our writing skills together. We share questions and reach understanding while sharing resources generously."
— Johne Cook, author of The Blue Golem
"Story Grid is the best way to analyse stories in a practical, useful way whilst still keeping the process creative."
"Think about some vague piece of writing feedback you've had in the past, such as being told that something ‘doesn’t flow right’ or a character seems ‘off’. Story Grid will show you how to analyse all aspects of Story to help you understand why something is working, or why not. "
— Linda
"The Guild offers extensive resources on story craft."
"If you're thinking you'd like to write a story, have a draft or two, or have been writing a story for a long time but don't know how to finish it, Story Grid can provide the tools you need, like a trusty roadmap, to know where to begin, how to plow through the middle, and how to reach the end without wasting time and energy and, most importantly, WORDS."
— Estee Cortez
FAQs
What happens when I join?
You will have a link on your My Account page so you can access the Guild Dashboard.
This will give you access to the dashboard for the new semester of the Story Grid Guild. You will be able to access the Story Grid Foundations series of courses and other resources to get you started.
On Saturday, July 13th you will receive the first weekly training and worksheet to kick off the semester of training.
How much of a time commitment is the Story Grid Guild?
You will have plenty of opportunities to invest in leveling up your craft inside the Guild through training, practice, and community.
The weekly training and assignment takes roughly two hours to complete. The small group meetings last less than an hour and the monthly live Q&As last sixty to ninety minutes.
Beyond that, we welcome you to invest as much time as you have available in the various resources to work with the material.
Who will be leading the training each week?
The weekly training will be divided between Chief Academic Officer Danielle Kiowski and Story Grid Certified Editor Rachel Arsenault.
How does the semester schedule work?
Every six months we start a new semester of training. We will follow a specific curriculum that takes you start-to-finish through a masterwork scene to gain a deep understanding of Beats in your line-by-line writing.
What happens if I can't attend a live Q&A call with Tim or the instructors?
All calls will be recorded and posted to the Guild dashboard. They'll be available for the duration of your membership so you can listen to them at your convenience. You'll also have an opportunity to send questions in advance.
I understand each semester is 24 weeks and there are 2 semesters per year. Is the syllabus the same every time?
Each semester the syllabus is different as you will be taking a different required class in the Story Grid Guild training.
You can see a more detailed outline of the 3-year plan in the syllabus section of this page.
What does the practice consist of? Are we writing our own material, or analyzing and dissecting the works of others?
Each week there will be an assignment based on that week's training. The assignments vary depending on the material in the week's training. The Guild is not meant to work on your current work-in-progress. It's focused on skill acquisition that will level up all your future writing.
I write nonfiction. Is this still a good fit for me?
The Story Grid Guild is focused on leveling up your line-by-line writing as well as your overall understanding of narrative theory. This will improve your skills across all writing whether it's fiction, nonfiction, marketing or even your daily emails.
The methodology in the Guild has been applied across all genres and, even though we use a scene from a masterwork of fiction as the study tool for the semester, you will be surprised how much it applies across everything you write.
What sort of feedback do we get?
We are not able to provide 1-on-1 feedback to Guild members. We have the cohorts that allow you to work with other students on your answers and we provide general feedback based on what we are seeing in the answers. We also have monthly Q&As with the instructors and Shawn Coyne to answer questions along the way.
If you are interested in getting 1-on-1 feedback we recommend joining the Writer Mentorship Program.
Can I join whenever I want?
Because the Guild is now running on a 6-month semester cycle, registration is currently open for the semester that begins July 13, 2024 and the registration will close July 12.
How do renewals work?
Your membership will automatically renew for both the yearly and monthly membership options. Continuing the membership is the only way to lock-in your pricing and avoid future price increases.
What if I need to cancel?
If you need to cancel a future renewal, please notify us at [email protected] at least one week before your renewal date. Keep in mind, once you cancel there is a 6-month waiting period to rejoin and you will not be able to rejoin at your previous pricing.
I still have more questions. Who can I contact?
If you've still got questions, simply send us an email at [email protected].
Join Now
A New Cohort Begins July 13, 2024
Self-Study Guild Membership
Join the only writing program based on a complete narrative theory developed over thirty years by editor and author Shawn Coyne.
One year of Guild membership consists of two 24-week semesters and includes:
- Weekly Instruction
Every Saturday you will receive access to new writing instruction covering the week’s topic. This will include examples, how-tos, and next steps for your personal writing practice. - Weekly Worksheet
Every Saturday with the release of the instruction, you will get access to the week's writing worksheet. This will take less than an hour a week, but will include highly potent and practical exercises to help you level up your writing. - Monthly Instructor Q&A
Each month, join the semester's instructor for a live Q&A to ask your questions on the month's topic, instruction, and practice. - Monthly Live Workshopping
Submit your scenes for live workshopping and feedback to learn alongside your fellow students. - Group Practice and Discussion
You will have the opportunity to join small groups of other Guild members to weekly work and practice together.