Run a Storyliner Master Class
A Storyliner Master Class is a time-bound collaborative writing project, not a video course. A teacher or experienced writer creates a real book project, opens a limited number of places, and guides enrolled students as they plan and write together inside Storyliner.
The technique treats creative writing as a practice that produces shared work. Students learn by making decisions, contributing text, reviewing the developing structure, and seeing how individual passages become part of a complete book.
Watch how to create a writing Master Class
Design the class around a book project
The instructor begins with a Storyliner writing project and defines the Master Class around a clear creative outcome. Depending on the class, students might build an anthology, develop different perspectives on one event, write connected chapters, or collaborate on a branching story.
Before opening applications, the instructor sets:
- the calendar start date;
- the number of available seats;
- a free or paid ticket price;
- the refund window that applies after the class begins.
The project gives the class a common object of attention. Discussions and teaching decisions can refer to actual chapters, characters, plotlines, and contributions rather than exercises scattered across separate files.
Enroll writers before the class begins
Students apply through a Master Class ticket. They need active Writer Tools access because participation takes place in the writing workspace, not in a passive course viewer.
Applications stay open until the start date arrives or every seat is filled. If the date arrives without an enrolled student, the class does not begin as an empty event.
Start the shared writing workspace
When the class starts, enrolled students can find the shared project on the Co-author page, where they can open it to edit and contribute. The instructor can begin early when the group is ready, or Storyliner can start the class when its date or seat limit is reached.
Students can read the shared project and create their own contributions. They can edit or delete the content they own, while the project author retains broader control over the complete work. This lets everyone work in the same book without making every participant an unrestricted project administrator.
Teach through visible structure and contribution
The platform supports several practical teaching techniques:
Plan before drafting
Use the Graphical Storyliner to establish chapters, plot movement, and responsibility for different parts of the book. Students can see how their assignment connects to the whole rather than treating it as an isolated prompt.
Give guidance with Notes and Tasks to do
The instructor can attach a Note to any chapter or to a specific topic within that chapter. Notes work well for general instructions, questions for the group, teaching context, or ideas to revisit. They remain part of the shared writing workspace and do not appear in the published book.
For a directive with a responsible student, use Tasks to do in the project information. A task names its assignee and describes the required work; the task's creator or assignee can mark it done. The instructor can review every task, while students see tasks they created or that were assigned to them.
Write from different perspectives
Assign a scene, character, plotline, or chapter to each student. Comparing contributions inside one project makes voice, continuity, pacing, and point of view concrete subjects for discussion.
Review development, not only final prose
The instructor roster shows each student's contribution activity. The shared project makes it possible to discuss how the manuscript develops over time and where a student needs direction before the final submission.
Build one editorial conversation
Characters, locations, research, illustrations, and chapter text remain connected to the project. The class can refer to the same source material and current structure instead of reconciling several incompatible document versions.
Use branching for alternative solutions
In a multi-plotline exercise, groups can develop different consequences from one shared decision point. The class can compare the dramatic effect of each path and decide whether the paths should diverge permanently or meet again.
Complete the class and decide what happens next
The instructor marks the Master Class complete when the teaching project has reached its end. Completion begins the platform's dispute and payout hold period for paid classes.
Publishing is optional. The instructor may keep the result as a class project or publish a separate reader-facing Master Class book when the work and participant terms support publication. Completing the class does not automatically expose the manuscript to readers.
Participant protections
Students can leave before the class starts or within the configured refund window. The instructor can cancel within the supported period, with eligible students refunded, and can remove a participant under the platform's class rules. After the refund window closes, ordinary instructor cancellation is no longer available.
These lifecycle rules make the timing of enrollment, access, refunds, completion, and payout visible before the class begins.