Have you ever dreamed of writing your own book but feel like you need a helping hand to brush up on your skills?
In this Malcolm Gladwell’s
This online writing class offers a unique insight into the world of writing from someone who knows it best.
Like all Masterclasses writing courses, you’ll have to pay to learn from Malcolm. If you’re struggling to decide whether this course is a good fit for you, we’ve taken the time to try it for ourselves and offer you an honest review.
Let’s read this detailed Malcolm Gladwell Masterclass review and learn the creative writing techniques and how behavioral economics and performance prediction works and what the Tipping Point teaches!
Who is Malcolm Gladwell?
Before we begin, you’ll want to make sure you’re learning from the best. So, let’s find out a little more about our tutor, Malcolm Gladwell.
Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist, author, and public speaker who has an impressive amount of New York Times bestsellers under his belt.
Some of Malcolm’s most famous books include The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and What the Dog Saw.
He’s also appeared in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people, and his books on social science have captivated readers across the world.
Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing: Masterclass
Now, a little about our course.
Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing is made up of 24 comprehensive lessons that walk its students through the most essential skills for writers, including how to find information, research, and write in a way that captivates an audience engagement.
Each lesson is between 10-20 minutes long, and you’ll have roughly six hours of video content to work through.
Like most
If you’ve ever taken or considered taking a college course or degree in English, you’ll already know that these skills aren’t always taught in the curriculum.
While educational courses provide you with invaluable writing skills, they teach you little about the industry you’ll be working in.
This masterclass course gives students an opportunity to learn from someone who’s made their way to the top of the writing nonfiction world – this sort of knowledge is invaluable in its own right, which is precisely why we were so drawn to it.
So, how exactly does Malcolm teach you to write? Here are the topics Malcolm teaches throughout this course:
- Learn from the best!
- New classes added every month
- 180+ classes to choose from
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Lessons 1 and 2: Structuring Narrative
In these lessons, Malcolm begins with a short introduction of himself and his career and moves on to his first focus: structure.
Malcolm gives excellent advice on how to decide how your narrative fits together while using plenty of case studies and theories to explain concepts.
Lessons 3 and 4: Holding a Reader’s Attention
Lessons 3 and 4 go more in-depth, and Malcolm discusses how to draw a reader’s attention and maintain it.
You’ll learn from two subcategories (tools for engagement and controlling information), and these lessons focus primarily on how to give your readers a framework and explore concepts like:
- Knowing how your readers think
- What tools do you need to guide your readers
- Knowing the difference between talking and thinking
- How you can use data to enhance a reader’s experience
Lesson 5: Research
Research is one of the most important skills you’ll need as a writer. Malcolm shares his own approach to research and reminds us how important it is to dive in with an open mind.
Malcolm teaches us how to find the most valuable sources, follow lines of interest, and more. You’ll also learn from some of Malcolm’s own case studies, which we loved. Learning via real examples is invaluable.
Lesson 6: Choosing the Story
How do you choose your story? This was one of our favorite sections of the class, as Malcolm covered some important topics like how to find (and build) a good story, using examples from his own books.
He suggests using the principles of connectedness as a starting point and offers a fresh perspective on how to choose your own story.
Lessons 7 and 8: Developing the Story
Malcolm follows on from the previous lesson by showing us how to develop our own and write stories. He suggests that testing our big ideas and creating outlines is a good starting point.
However, we thoroughly enjoyed the way he compared story patterns to human memory, which offered a more scientific approach to creating and developing a story – something you won’t find in a traditional English course.
Lesson 9: Interviewing
Interviewing is one of Malcolm’s most practical lessons. So far, most of his lessons have been rather philosophical and subjective.
However, this one gives concrete advice on approaching an interview and extracting the right information.
You’ll learn important tips on interviewing, what your job is as an interviewer, how to calm your subject, and where to start if you’re new to interviewing.
He contrasts the writer’s job as an interviewer with a talk show host and shows us how to consider our weaknesses as well as our strengths.
Lessons 10 and 12: Characters
Malcolm distinguishes between fiction and nonfiction writing characters and teaches us how to layer our characters. You’ll also learn more about character relationships and what role your characters should play in the narrative.
Lessons 13 and 14: Language and Jargon
How do you use language to impact your reader? Here, he discusses how to use sentence structure, create emotion with form, use rhythm and punctuation, and create suspense with your language.
Lesson 15: Tone and Voice
Malcolm advises us on which techniques should be avoided and how his own work in David and Goliath can show us more about establishing an intentional tone from the outset.
Lessons 16 and 17: Using Humor and Melancholy
Want to know how to evoke deep emotion in your readers? Malcolm shows us how to use humor and melancholy effectively and how you can identify (and meet) your reader’s expectations with these techniques.
Other lessons in this course include…
Lesson 18: Titles
Lesson 19: Drafts and Revisions
Lesson 20: When Your Story Enters the World
Lesson 21: Working as a Writer
Lessons 22-23: Reading: How and Who
Lesson 24: Conclusion
In these lessons, you’ll learn things like:
- What makes an effective title
- How to organize your daily writing
- How to draft your work
- How to navigate the publishing world
- Finding work as a writer
- Using reading to enhance your writing skills
… and more.
- Learn from the best!
- New classes added every month
- 180+ classes to choose from
"Bored of TV, check out this Incredible content and cast"
Our Verdict and Final Thoughts
So, is the course worth it? Well, if you’re looking to learn practical skills from an industry professional, we’d say absolutely.
In this course, you’ll learn things a degree WON’T teach you, like how to approach interviewing, finding work as a writer, and more.
Plus, if you want a full-time career in writing, Malcolm provides an honest insight into both the excitement and hardships of writing professionally.
However, we did find some of the advice a little vague and subjective.
Lessons like interviewing and finding work as a writer offer more concrete advice; however, his other lessons are (of course) based purely on HIS experience and may not be appropriate to your own writing – especially if you’re writing in a different genre.
However, his industry insight is invaluable, and video lessons on how to use tone and captivate readers are universal, regardless of your writing style.
