Writers, welcome to Weavers of Story!
Here, we seek the golden threads of universal human truth and longing in the great books, and I teach storytellers how to use them to craft lasting, beautiful stories that transcend their genres.
In short, I show authors how to craft great stories and how to cultivate a creative life.
The central idea is this: the best stories are doing two things. One, they follow specific craft techniques that make readers feel like they are experiencing the story as reality. Two, they take existing story patterns and transcend them.
Once you, the writer, start to see this happening, you can’t really turn it off. You start seeing it everywhere. It becomes something like a key that can unlock your own writing.
But there’s a deeper reality going on here too. The best stories defy all attempts to categorize or explain. You can sort of see what the writer is doing, you can be amazed at the virtuosity of it, but sometimes all you can do is wonder at the audacity and the brilliance.
Those are the cases where stories become culture-creators, as do the writers themselves. These are the stories that persist for centuries, that get included in canons, that keep exciting and tantalizing readers for centuries and even millennia after the writer dies.
I think most of us secretly hope we’ll become that kind of storyteller.
But craft isn’t enough. We also need to know how to cultivate the kind of life that can make us culture-creators.
Here at Weavers of Story, we’re on a quest to figure out how it’s done.
But why should you listen to me?
I’m Nicholas Kotar. I write epic fantasy and science fiction inspired by Slavic fairy tales.
I write for readers who love classic fantasy like The Lord of the Rings, but who aren’t afraid of a little darkness and honesty about the human condition. I also write for seekers after truth and beauty (like myself), and for those who feel trapped by modernity, with a fresh take on traditional values and storytelling.
I firmly believe that becoming a storyteller, especially in these crazy days, may be the most important thing you do with your life.
So here on Weavers of Story, I’m inviting you on my own quest to figure out what makes great writing great, and to teach others how to do it well.
Here are some other ways I help writers become authors:
What if there was a way to integrate writing with life itself? What if writing wasn’t just one more demand to juggle in an already overwhelming schedule, but a way of life that grows from and enriches your relationships, your work, and your spiritual life?
I believe that writing is not a matter of finding the right productivity hack to churn out more content while ignoring the inevitable burnout, a burnout that not only makes your life miserable but also saps your writing of all human feeling.
Writing is first and foremost a way of being, a habit of living. Good writing, the kind that penetrates and transforms hearts, can only spring from deep personal transformation. Cultivating a lifestyle that facilitates creativity–-as well as offering accountability, community, and instruction-–is what we explore in my online writing community, The Story Hearth.
If this resonates with you, I invite you to learn more about The Story Hearth and listen to a free audio series on Cultivating the Lifestyle of a Writer.
St. Basil Writers’ Workshop is the gathering place for this generation’s Inklings. Designed for advanced beginning and intermediate fiction and narrative non-fiction writers, the Workshop prepares writers to respond to the acute cultural need for restorative stories by helping hone their craft to connect with today’s readers using time-tested techniques that infuse their words and worlds with the heartbeat of reality. Together with Dostoevsky, we believe that “beauty will save the world.”
Now in its fourth season, St. Basil Writers’ Workshop is a 9-month writing program for writers following in the footsteps of the Inklings. The Workshop begins with an in-person retreat in September, after which all courses are hosted online. Admissions is capped at 10-15 students per year to ensure personalized mentorship and tight-knit community bonding. Our instructors are Paul Kingsnorth, Deacon Nicholas Kotar, Jonathan Pageau, Katherine Bolger Hyde, Dr. Nicole Roccas, and Dr. Samira Kawash.
So you’ve written a book. Now what? Do you self-publish or find an agent? What does branding and marketing look like, and how do you navigate issues of copyright and intellectual property?
These days, getting a traditional publishing deal can feel like trying to jam your foot through the door when you don’t even know the building’s location (or trying to find out you need to stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin’s Day shines upon the key-hole… all without Elrond to read moon letters for you). Whereas, with self-publishing, there’s an overwhelming slush of advice on how to write/edit/design/format/market/sell/etc… advice that can leave you overwhelmed and confused.
That’s why I created a year-long author-publisher masterclass comparing traditional publishing and indie publishing. You’ll also get my advice, as someone whose 15 books have sold over 50,000 copies and grossed over $250,000, on how to get published and make money without losing your soul. Learn more about the masterclass by starting with my free webinar on today’s publishing landscape.
Bio
I come from a family of Russian immigrants who moved from Russia after the Revolution, and I grew up in what was essentially a Russian ghetto in San Francisco. I spoke Russian before I spoke English.
My fascination with fantasy goes way back to the days when my friends and I created an alternate version of Narnia, called Wreathlea (I don’t know? It had a lot of wreaths maybe?), with a Stone Witch instead of a White Witch, and an enchanted princess who had been turned into a Golden Evergreen.
Instead of playing with toys, we would go outside and look for cloud formations in the shape of lions. Except in our version, he was called Seaze, not Aslan. I can only imagine what the neighbors were thinking, watching us standing outside, staring at the sky, screaming “Seaze! Where are you?” with all our might…
My sister and I were homeschooled until a bright and sunny day when my mom had had enough of cat-herding. So she decided to open a school (thinking it would be less of a hassle, I suppose?), which she and my dad then administered for the next twenty years of their life (without taking a penny for it). This school, St. John of San Francisco Orthodox Academy, is a shining light of classical education in the Orthodox Christian community.
After graduating from UC Berkeley (yes, I studied Russian Literature, how did you guess?), I came back to teach at St. John’s for seven years. Those years were formative for me and for many of the teachers, because of the talent of the faculty. There were poets, philosophers, politicians, and musicians among my colleagues, and our regular tea-fueled conversations by the fireplace had something of the Inklings about them.
Conquering Time
Eventually, a few of us teachers joined up to form a storytelling troupe, of sorts, called Conquering Time. We were an ensemble of performance and visual artists that staged original works of storytelling and traditional music. We also published some original poetry and prose.
My collaboration with Conquering Time produced four semi-staged musical pieces that we performed on both coasts of the US, France, and Russia. It also inspired me to write a novel called Raven Son, which was the kernel that eventually became The Song of the Sirin, my first completed novel.
At the core of all of my work is a fervent belief that telling, writing, watching, listening to, and reading good stories may be the most important thing you do with your life. To that end, I have authored 7 fantasy books, 3 non-fiction books, an award-winning TV script, and a full-length classical music libretto.
Current projects include three new books, writing courses designed to inspire budding creatives, new translations of Slavic fairy tales, speaking events across the U.S., and regular podcasts reviewing and sharing great stories.
