Literary Writing for Beginners: How to Become an Author
A course by Isabelle Lehn , Freelance Writer
Get a practical and theoretical introduction of literary writing to discover your voice and share your perspective with the world
- German with subtitles in English
- 94% positive reviews (67)
- 2489 students
Get a practical and theoretical introduction of literary writing to discover your voice and share your perspective with the world
The fact that there's no rule book for writing literary texts means that even the keenest writers can end up feeling overwhelmed sometimes. In this online course, writer Isabelle Lehn teaches you to take your first steps to becoming an author. It's normal to draw a blank when asking yourself what exactly it is you want to write about. That's why in this course, you start with the "how" rather than the "what." Begin by simply following your impulse to write by running with an idea that fascinates you or focusing on something you might have seen, and learn to find and kindle a narrative structure in a playful and experimental way.
Isabelle introduces you to some stimuli and techniques to give you a little nudge in the right direction. Discover your strengths and work on developing your skills. With her as your guide, explore how to publish your work and see what emphasis and writing styles work best for you, what to write about, and how to overcome whatever obstacles might have previously got in your way. By the end of the course, you'll have written a short piece of prose to showcase all your capabilities.
What will you learn in this online course?
11 lessons & 30 downloads
- 94% positive reviews (67)
- 2489 students
- 11 lessons (2h 13m)
- 30 additional resources (15 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: German
- German, Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Write two pages of prose that you can use as a short story or the beginning of a longer piece.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone wanting to take up writing and professionals who want to boost their writing skills and knowledge.
Requirements and materials
No prior knowledge is needed to take this course.
All you need is a pencil and a notebook or a note application and a word processor.
Reviews
A course by Isabelle Lehn
Isabelle Lehn is a freelance writer based in Leipzig, Germany. After earning a degree in literary writing and receiving her doctorate in rhetoric from the German Institute for Literature, Leipzig, she also went on to work there as a teacher and assistant while carrying out her research. Her work can be classified as a combination of fiction, essay, and realism. Each of her texts is an exploratory journey—at the beginning, the end is unknown, and as it progresses, she as the narrator learns more and more about her surroundings, her timeline, and also about herself.
In 2016, she published her first novel Binde zwei Vögel zusammen, which has won several awards, and in 2019, her autofiction book Frühlingserwachen was shortlisted for the Text und Sprache literary award. She has also received various grants and her essay Weibliches Schreiben in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur, about specific gender roles within the literary world, was highly acclaimed and won the Dietrich Oppenberg Media award. She regularly writes essays and radio-show columns, hosts literary events and podcasts, and teaches classes, conferences, and workshops.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
What to Write About: Research and Collection of Material
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Writing Exercises to Help You Get Started
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Leverage Content and Capture Impressions
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Learning to See: Tracking Down Stories
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U3
How to Write: Design and Revise Texts
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The First Draft: Finding a Shape
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From the Toolbox: Storytelling Techniques
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Revise, Shape and Condense Texts
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U4
Keep Writing, Persevering and Publishing
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Seek Allies
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Out of the Drawer
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Discover and Develop Literary Skills
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FP
Final project
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Literary Writing for Beginners: How to Become an Author
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
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FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
vanalart
Domestika no deberia ofrecer un curso que está en Aleman, si fuera solo traducir el video esta ok. pero el material que ella ofrece mientras explica, el apoyo visual, las referencias y material estan en Aleman.
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isaacmathew
it is an interesting perspective, all these courses but you guys should provide a transcription of the lectures not just captions. i do not know german therefore i am very reliant on the material and resources in addition to whatever is translated.
arri71
Der Kurs hat mir viel gegeben. Er ist klug aufgebaut und vermittelt sehr viele Elemente des Schreibens literarischer Texte, ohne dass man als Teilnehmer überfordert würde; Theorie und Praxis halten sich in bewundernswerter Weise die Waage. Sehr schön finde ich, dass auch der Prozess des Überarbeitens nicht zu kurz kommt.
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terryberrylearns
I loved this course and given that i'm a native speaker, her resources for authors were very helpful.
orgahim
Los subtítulos dejan mucho que desear y los materiales adicionales deberían estar traducidos. Domestika no debería ofrecer un curso en un idioma en el cual no está al 100%.
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