Margaret Atwood

Teaches Creative Writing

Masterclass is $20/month (billed annually)

Called the “Prophet of Dystopia,” Margaret Atwood is one of the most influential literary voices of our generation. In her first-ever online writing class, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale teaches how she crafts compelling stories, from historical to speculative fiction, that remain timeless and relevant. Explore Margaret’s creative process for developing ideas into novels with strong structures and nuanced characters.

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Browse Lesson Plan
1. Introduction

Meet your new instructor: Man Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood. In your first lesson, Margaret shares her perspective on the art of writing and who ultimately gives your book its meaning.

2. Getting Started as a Writer

Margaret encourages you to find your own path, overcome obstacles like fear, and start writing by sharing her own writer’s story and creative process.

3. Story and Plot

Learn what makes a strong plot. Margaret advises you to study myths, fairy tales, and other historical works of literature so that you can use them as building blocks for your stories.

4. Structuring Your Novel: Layered Narratives and Other Variations

Margaret illustrates the myriad ways you can structure your story and create a multi-layered narrative, using the classic tales Little Red Riding Hood, Arabian Nights, and her own novel The Blind Assassin as examples.

5. Who Tells the Story: Narrative Point of View

Choosing the right point of view to tell your story from involves a lot of trial and error. Margaret explains the impact this decision has on your story, and offers an exercise to help you explore the effects of various points of view.

6. Point of View Case Studies

In this chapter, Margaret discusses her use of multiple points of view in Alias Grace, and why she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale from the first person point of view.

7. Bringing Characters to Life Through Detail

Actions and reactions reveal character, but so do details the writer thoughtfully weaves into the story. Margaret offers concrete tools to help you create nuanced, well-developed characters you know by heart.

8. Creating Compelling Characters

Margaret teaches why the most compelling characters are often not very likeable, and delves into how gender plays into our expectations about character.

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General
What is MasterClass?

MasterClass is the streaming platform that makes it possible for anyone to watch or listen to hundreds of video lessons taught by 85+ of the world’s best.
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Whether it be in business and leadership, photography, cooking, writing, acting, music, sports and more, MasterClass delivers a world class online learning experience. Video lessons are available anytime, anywhere on your smartphone, personal computer, Apple TV and FireTV streaming media players.

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Membership includes access to an incredible catalog of 85+ classes taught by the world’s best on cooking, leadership, photography, writing and more.
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Each class includes around 20 video lessons that are 10 minutes long on average, along with an in-depth workbook. You also get access to our smartphone and TV apps, offline lessons, our member’s only newsletter, and our dynamic community of members around the world.

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*Downloads only on iOS and not available for all classes. Audio mode is not available for all classes.

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Check out our catalog and watch a few class trailers!

Pricing & Payment
How much does MasterClass cost?

The annual membership is $200 and provides unlimited access to all classes and new classes as they launch. All MasterClass memberships include access to our mobile and TV apps, high-definition videos, and downloadable class workbooks.

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What is MasterClass?

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