# Story Grid Guild

> Shawn Coyne and Tim Grahl's year-long Story Grid membership teaching the structural anatomy of story through 20 Core Scenes, with weekly scene-analysis and craft training, monthly live workshops, certified-editor scene breakdowns, and Story Grid AI — for serious literary and commercial fiction writers.

Source: https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/courses/story-grid
Website: https://g.storygrid.com/
Category: Courses & Education (https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/courses)
Pricing: paid — $195–$1960/monthly
AI-powered: no
Tags: writing-craft, story-structure, novel-writing, fiction, editing, coaching, membership
Last verified: 2026-06-18
Best For: Serious fiction writers who want a year-long systematic education in narrative structure and the tools to diagnose what isn't working in a manuscript
Commitment: membership, live-sessions
Course Focus: writing-craft
Format: Video Course, Live Coaching, Live Q&A, Community
Instructor: Shawn Coyne & Tim Grahl
Skill Level: Intermediate, Advanced
Topics: Writing Craft, Story Structure, Fiction, Editing, Narrative Theory

The Story Grid Guild is a year-long membership built around the Story Grid methodology developed by Shawn Coyne — a veteran editor with over 25 years of experience working with major publishers, and author of the widely studied *The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know*. The methodology provides a rigorous analytical framework for understanding why some stories work and others fail, applicable to both literary and commercial fiction. The Guild replaces Story Grid's earlier 15-week "Level Up Your Craft" semester cohort, shifting to an evergreen, year-long systematic education.

Unlike most author courses that focus on publishing workflow or advertising, the Guild goes deep into the craft of narrative structure itself — making it a different kind of investment for authors who want to write better books, not just publish more efficiently.

**What's included:**
- Weekly scene analysis with Shawn Coyne (examining four masterworks) and weekly craft/writing instruction with Tim Grahl, alternating each week
- An in-depth textbook guide for each of the **20 Core Scenes** that structure all narratives
- Monthly live workshopping sessions analyzing real student scenes
- Monthly Q&A calls with the instructors (recorded if you can't attend live)
- Monthly scene analysis from a Story Grid Certified Editor
- **Story Grid AI** — a 24/7 methodology assistant for questions while you write
- A private writing community for accountability and peer discussion
- Full-year access to all materials and recordings
- 20% off all other Story Grid products, events, seminars, and books

**The Story Grid methodology covers:**
- The 20 Core Scenes and how they assemble into a working story
- The five commandments of storytelling (inciting incident, progressive complications, crisis, climax, resolution)
- Genre theory: understanding the obligatory scenes and conventions of your specific genre
- Global, act-level, and scene-level structure analysis
- How to diagnose what is wrong with a manuscript that "isn't working"
- The relationship between theme, genre, and reader expectation

**Best for:** Serious fiction writers — literary or commercial — who want to deeply understand the structural principles behind compelling storytelling rather than a quick-start publishing workflow. Writers who have completed manuscripts and received feedback like "something isn't working but I don't know what" will find the Story Grid's diagnostic tools particularly valuable.

**Note on Story Grid AI:** The Guild bundles a Story Grid AI methodology assistant for on-demand Q&A, but the program's instruction is delivered live by Coyne and Grahl — the AI is a supplementary reference tool, not the core teaching.

**Pricing:** $195/month with a 12-month minimum commitment, or $1,960/year paid annually (saving roughly $537 versus monthly). Your rate locks in for life at enrollment. (Some third-party sources cite $197/mo and $1,997/yr.) Visit g.storygrid.com for current enrollment.