• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
nicholas kotar logo

Nicholas Kotar

Fantasy inspired by Russian fairy tales

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog
    • Book Reviews
    • Russian folk culture
    • Worldbuilding
    • Fairytales and myths
    • Russian history and literature
  • Podcasts
  • The Story Hearth
  • Patreon
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Courses

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” 

― Joan Didion

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” 

The problem, of course, is not that we can’t tell stories. We all do, all the time, whether we know it or not. The problem is that most of the time we don’t do it well.

It’s not a problem of ideas. It’s not a problem of inspiration. It’s a problem of technique.

So often, we just don’t know what we don’t know.

And what we don’t know is the simple, universal rules that govern narrative storytelling. In my online classes, I collect the best advice from the greatest writers of our time and break it down into bite-sized chunks.

Motivating Your Lazy Characters

Crafting Characters that Force Your Story to Move

Learn more

The Art of Storytelling

Guideposts to Structure and Style

Learn More

Free Webinar for Writers

3 Techniques for Telling Better Stories

Watch TODAY

St. Basil Writers’ Workshop

A Year-Long Course in the Art and Craft of Fiction

Learn more

Coaching

If you want more personalized attention from me, I offer limited spots for coaching through my Patreon community. Check out the tiers on my Patreon page to see if any of my coaching options fits your needs

Join My Patreon Page!

~ Featured Course ~

The Art of Storytelling

Guideposts to Structure and Style


Why do great writers go unpublished?

The answer is simple: it’s usually because they don’t finish their novels. The Art of Storytelling was created to help you go from writing beautiful fragments to completing a novel you can self-publish or pitch to agents.

ENROLL NOW →

(This course is hosted on Teachable. You’ll need to create an account before purchasing.)

Vision

Learn how to gain a clear vision for your project even before you begin so your story writes itself

Voice

Tap into your personal voice so readers stay captivated from the first word you write through the end of your novel

Flow

Craft a writing ritual that gets you quickly into flowstate so you’re productive every time you put pen to paper


About the Course

This course is the product of my own writing journey. After decades of regimented writing and 7 years devoted to trying to finish my first novel, I finally implemented a few key writing practices that completely transformed my writing process to the point where I authored and published:

7 award-winning fantasy books
3 non-fiction books
A TV script that is being looked at by Netflix
A full-length classical music libretto

all within the course of 6 years. And I was also juggling other commitments teaching music, raising a family, and conducting a choir.

The Art of Storytelling: Guideposts to Structure and Style synthesizes the practices that transformed my writing life in six video lectures. I also include targeted writing exercises to ensure concepts translate to your own writing. The techniques you’ll learn in this course are a combination of my personal experience and the most helpful tips I learned from reading just about every writing book out there and spending literally thousands of dollars on writing courses.


Who It’s For

You’ll Love The Art of Storytelling If

The Art of Storytelling Isn’t The Right Fit If

You Write Fiction or Narrative Non-Fiction
This course covers the tools and techniques that made me a prolific, award-winning fantasy writer. As such, it’s best suited to fiction and narrative non-fiction genres.

You Write Self-Help Books, Essays, or Poetry
My course specifically covers fiction and narrative non-fiction techniques and is less applicable to other genres.

You’re an Advanced Beginner or Intermediate Writer
Get ready to finish your current work-in-progress or gain inspiration for new ideas you’ll be well equipped to develop.

You Like the Idea of Writing but Haven’t Practiced Your Craft
This course goes beyond writing basics, and while you definitely don’t need to be an expert, you should come with basic knowledge of storytelling elements.

You’re an Adult Writer or Upper Level Homeschool Student
The Art of Storytelling was created for adults but can easily be used as a creative writing unit for upper-level homeschool students.

You’re a Younger Student OR You’re Already in an MFA Program
If you’re an elementary or middle school student or a highly experienced fiction/narrative non-fiction writer, this course will not be as efficacious for you.

You Can Commit 5 Hours a Week to Writing
Yes, this course is self-paced, but you’ll get more out of it if you follow a consistent pace and do the writing exercises as you go.

You Just Don’t Have Time 
Writing takes practice, and I want you to get everything you can out of this course. That said, you can still purchase this course now and take it when you have more time; your access won’t expire after purchasing.

You’re Ready to Be Published
You’ll learn how to clarify your project vision, enhance your writing voice, and create a writing ritual that gets you into flowstate, all with the end goal of finishing a book you can pitch and publish.

You’ve Already Published Several Books
If you’ve already established a successful writing process that works for you, you won’t benefit as much from this course since its goal is to help you finish a book and get published.


How It Works

The Art of Storytelling: Guideposts to Structure and Style is a self-paced course featuring 6 video lectures paired with 19 exercises designed to hone your creative voice, inspire your imagination, simplify enigmatic processes, and build writing habits that help you beat writer’s block.

Session 1: How to Hear Your Story
Session 2: The Mechanics that Make or Break the Rhythm of Your Story
Session 3: To Kill our Darlings or Not?
Session 4: The One Big Thing that Will Change Your Writing Life
Session 5: Is it “Show, Don’t Tell,” or “Tell, Don’t Show”?
Session 6: Rituals for Writers

By the end of the course, my goal is that you will have the tools to:

Know where your story is going even before you start writing it 
Turn ideas into stories that sell
Understand the mechanics that make writing compelling
Have the tools to craft an engaging narrative flow
Beat writer’s block for good
Go from feeling “busy” writing unusable scraps… to finishing your book
Enroll today for $397

(This course is hosted on Teachable. You’ll need to create an account before purchasing.)

About Nicholas Kotar

Deacon Nicholas Kotar is the author of seven award-winning fantasy books, three non-fiction books, a TV script that is being looked at by Netflix, and a full-length classical music libretto. He is also a translator of Russian fairy tales, a teacher of creative writing, and a speaker whose engagements have taken him throughout the United States to present on classical education, storytelling, and Russian literature, history, and culture.


Testimonials

Despite having both taken and taught several years of creative writing courses already, The Art of Storytelling gave me new and practical tools for writing in a more engaging manner, and it also gave me the right insights to build a more effective daily writing routine. Not only did this course help me bring a several-year-long novel to completion, but it also reminded me that writing is play.

Deacon Nicholas Kotar is the perfect writing guide; it’s obvious that he has been a writing student himself and has distilled the best advice from a wide array of writing masters. I highly recommend The Art of Storytelling to anyone looking to kickstart or actualize their writing career.

Anna

Colorado

Story ideas started to pour out of me like a fountain.

Robert

Kentucky

The video conferences were well paced and long enough to delve into analysis of each exercise. Which was much appreciated and enjoyable.

Nina

California
Enroll today for $397

(This course is hosted on Teachable. You’ll need to create an account before purchasing.)

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 · Nicholas Kotar. All rights reserved. Home banner image © Andrei Shishkin.

 

Loading Comments...