Take A Look Inside
A real platform, a real community — not a folder of PDFs.
Every lesson, every scene breakdown, and a roomful of serious writers, all in one place you'll actually want to log into.
The Story Grid Guild is a full year inside the 20 Core Scenes every story must have — seeing how they show up in the greatest stories ever told, then practicing until you can write and edit them yourself.
Enrollment for the summer cohort is now closed · cohort starts July 1
Pay in full and get our $10,000 novel-planning system, free.
A quick note from me, Tim —
You already know Story Grid. So I'll keep this simple: we open the Guild to new members once a year. The last time was July 1st of last year. After this week, we close the doors again.
Here's why it works this way. The whole cohort starts together on July 1st and moves through the 20 Core Scenes as a group — learning, writing, and editing in sync. That only happens if everyone begins on the same day.
So if you've been circling Story Grid waiting for the right moment, this is it. The next chance won't come around for another year. Come spend this summer actually learning to write scenes that work. I'd love to have you inside.
Thirty-five years in publishing. A New York Times bestselling author. A career spent as an editor, agent, and publisher obsessing over the one thing the industry still can't reliably crack: what actually makes a story work.
Here's how rare that knowledge is. Across traditional publishing, only about 35% of books ever turn a profit. Now look across the books Shawn has written, edited, or published over his career — and that number is 86%.
That's not luck. It's a system he's spent decades building. And for the first time, he's teaching all of it — scene by scene — inside the Guild.
You've read the craft books and taken the courses. But the same problems keep showing up on the page — and no amount of "show, don't tell" makes them go away.
It starts strong — then drifts somewhere in the middle. You keep going, hoping to write your way out, and it just peters out.
If a reader can't tell what's happening, they stop reading.The writing comes out like a Wikipedia entry — describing something interesting instead of making the reader feel it. You're not sure which words actually land.
Readers want to feel something, not process information.Thousands of words of world and backstory, and the story still hasn't started. You know you need to cut — you just don't know what, or why.
Revising blind changes things without improving them.You'd love to have those problems — that would mean you were writing. Instead you stare at the cursor, unsure where to start.
If you never write it, you never have to face whether it works.None of this means you're not a real writer. It means no one ever handed you the map for how stories actually work — or a place to practice building them on purpose.
Every great story — across every genre — is built on the same 20 Core Scenes, moving through four acts. In the Guild you'll see exactly how they show up, over and over, in the greatest stories ever told. Then you'll learn to write and edit them yourself. This is 35 years of hard-won insight, in one place.
The complete map you'll master over your year in the Guild — one scene at a time.
You get an in-depth Story Grid analysis of that week's core scene, plus a complete walkthrough of how to write that scene yourself and how to edit it. Then you take on an editing project of your own: analyzing two scenes using what you just learned.
You get the answers to the editing questions and the full analysis of those two scenes, and we walk through the entire process together. You see precisely where you nailed it and where you missed — which is exactly how the skill actually sticks.
You don't just absorb ideas about story. You practice analyzing scenes, writing your own, and figuring out how to edit them — building real, repeatable skill. And you walk away with the exact tools the pros use.
The complete blueprint of every scene your story must have, across all four acts. Your master reference for the rest of your writing life.
A repeatable system for analyzing any scene — yours or anyone else's — so you can pinpoint exactly what's working, what isn't, and how to fix it.
Learn to break down the greatest stories ever told the way an editor does — so you can pull craft lessons straight from the books and films you love.
Different genres, the same 20 scenes. Once you see the pattern repeat across all of them, you can build it into your own story — whatever you write.
Every lesson, every scene breakdown, and a roomful of serious writers, all in one place you'll actually want to log into.
Not because you got lucky — because you finally understand what you're doing and have the reps to prove it.
You stop being a writer who hopes the story works — and become one who knows how to make it work.
An in-depth breakdown of each core scene and how it shows up in the masterworks — plus a full walkthrough of how to write and edit it yourself.
Each cycle you analyze two scenes on your own, then get the complete answer key and analysis so you can check your work and improve fast.
The complete 20 Core Scenes map and the 10-Question Protocol for analyzing any scene — the reference tools you'll use for the rest of your writing life.
Watch the Story Grid team work through real scenes in real time — spotting what's working, what isn't, and exactly how to fix it.
Bring your questions to the Story Grid team. Can't make it live? Submit ahead and watch the replay — every call is recorded.
24/7 help trained on 4M+ words of Story Grid craft — your on-call study partner for analyzing scenes and answering questions.
Serious writers all speaking the same craft language. Accountability and insight — not a vague cheerleading circle.
Every lesson, recording, and resource for 12 months. Miss a week? Revisit a lesson? It's all there when you need it.
Across 35 years as an editor, literary agent, and publisher, Shawn has worked on books in every genre and helped launch New York Times and international bestsellers. Where the industry sees about 35% of books turn a profit, 86% of the books he's written, edited, or published have. He built Story Grid to make what the best editors do teachable — scene by scene — and in the Guild he teaches all of it.
Author of six books and CEO of Story Grid, Tim has personally coached hundreds of writers from stuck-and-guessing to finishing work they're proud of. He runs the Guild and the member experience, making sure every writer who joins has what they need to do the work and see it through.
"I'd started and abandoned the same novel four times in five years. I could never get past the middle. Eight months into the Guild I finished a complete 90,000-word draft — and for the first time I actually know why each scene is there."
"I used to spend a whole writing session staring at the page. Now I sit down, know exactly which core scene I'm writing, and draft 1,500 words before lunch."
"My critique group used to say 'something feels off' and I had no idea how to fix it. Now I can diagnose a sagging scene in ten minutes and tell you exactly what's wrong and why."
"I finally was able to finish a draft of a novel I was actually proud of!"
"By exploring story in a more complete way, I can construct a more cohesive narrative — and paired with beat-to-beat instruction, I get the right words on the page. It's a commitment, but well worth it."
"I spent years in the wilderness of craft books and workshops, always wandering. Story Grid is the star chart, the globe and the atlas. Add a community that speaks the same language and you will not get lost again."
"I was worried I'd made a mistake — it was a lot of money to me. Now I realize how much is involved and how much I'm getting out of it. It's an intensive course, and I'm so glad I get to be part of it."
"The Guild is the only place to get it. I've been challenged and frustrated — all in a good way. It's wonderful to be in a community where people care so much about learning the material."
"I can understand logically where there's a problem and how to fix it. If you're tired of feedback based on 'feelings' and ready to understand the bones of story, the Guild is the right place."
"It's the most useful writer's resource — specific, actionable tools to diagnose a scene and make it work. What I've learned here can't be found anywhere else."
A typical MFA in creative writing runs tens of thousands of dollars a year — and most of that time goes to literary analysis and peer critique, not hands-on craft you can use Monday morning.
The Guild gives you a full year of scene-by-scene instruction from a 35-year publishing veteran, plus the exact tools to diagnose and fix your own pages — for a tiny fraction of one semester's fees.
You're not paying for a credential. You're paying to actually get better at writing.
We open the Guild to new members once a year. The last time was July 1st of last year.
Enrollment for the summer cohort is now closed, the cohort starts July 1, and we won't open again until next year.
The complete process Shawn and Tim use to take a book from a raw idea all the way to a finished, writeable novel. It walks through everything that has to come before the 20 Core Scenes: choosing your genre and its conventions, building your structure, developing characters who drive the story, and locking in a premise that holds. By the end you have a fully planned novel you're ready to write. Tim charged $10,000 to walk writers through this one-on-one, and it has never been available publicly until now.
Tim walks through all 20 core scenes live, start to finish, so you begin the year seeing the whole map at once.
You leave the workshop with the entire map in hand, your reference for every story you write from here on.
All three bonuses are for paid-in-full members only.
Paying in full saves you $192 versus the plan — and it's the only way to get the bonuses.
Join, go through the first lessons, and show up. If the Guild isn't right for you, email us within 14 days for a full refund. No hoops, no hard feelings.
Plan on 3–5 hours a week — watching that cycle's analysis, doing your editing project, and writing your own scene. You can do more if you're on a deadline or less in a busy week; everything is recorded and yours for the full year, so you set the pace.
You'll write and edit every cycle. Each one pairs a deep analysis of a scene with a prompt to write your own version, plus a hands-on editing project. The Guild is built around putting the work on your own pages, not just absorbing ideas.
Yes. The 20 Core Scenes build in order across the four acts, so beginners get a clear path from the ground up. Everything is recorded and available all year, so you can move at your own pace and revisit anything.
No problem. Every live call — including the July 2 workshop — is recorded and posted in your member area, and you can submit questions in advance. Plenty of members are fully remote and catch everything on replay.
If you write narrative or story-driven nonfiction — memoir, narrative journalism, story-led business books — absolutely. Scenes, structure, and emotional payoff work the same way, and you'll apply the same tools to your material.
The cohort starts together on July 1 and moves through the scenes as a group, so we only open once a year. We last opened July 1 of last year. Enrollment for this cohort is now closed, and the next chance to join won't come for about another year.
Paying in full is $960 (vs. $1,152 across four payments of $288), so you save $192, and it's the only way to get the bonuses: the Narrative Path course (the $10,000 process Shawn and Tim use to plan a novel, from idea to writeable draft, never released publicly), the live July 2 workshop with Tim, and the complete 20 Core Scenes map worksheet. Same training either way. Paying in full just saves money and adds the bonuses.
You have 14 days. Join, go through the early lessons, and if it isn't right for you, email us within 14 days for a full refund.
You can keep writing the way you always have, hoping it eventually clicks. Or you can spend the next year learning the craft on purpose — all 20 scenes, with the editor who's spent 35 years figuring out what works.
Enrollment for the summer cohort is now closed. The cohort starts July 1, and we won't open again until next year.