This review is about the 4-month online program offered by KristaLyn (@therealkristalyn) and Emily (@likerofwords). Overall, the Forgotten Storytellers has a lot to offer, and I found many aspects of it truly helpful and life-changing, but the program still needs some serious adjustments for it to be worth the 4k+ it costs. The Pros -Emily's guided meditations, activations and techniques to remove energetic, spiritual and psychological blockages are fantastic and extremely helpful, specially if you feel these things are what are preventing you from writing a novel. -KristaLyn is very knowledgeable about astrology and her materials helped me look into it in more detail. Most of the actually information had to be researched on my own though, since her guidelines were fairly basic. I admit it was helpful to dig deeper into elements of my birth-chart, like chiron, which were not on my radar before but more of a 1:1 with KristaLyn would have been better instead of digging through the internet to find information. -Having a community of like-minded individuals is helpful to break out of the isolation many of us, writers, tend to crawl into. -My overall objective when I signed up was to get rid of blockages and learn how to step into my flow more easily in order to complete my novel. That was achieved. The Cons -Except the 1:1 meeting at the very beginning, which is only 30 mins. long and feels very rushed, participants have little to no access to Emily's and KristaLyn gifts and abilities or any additional 1:1 interaction or input. Any questions or doubts that were not of the general variety were dismissed and it was suggested we should paying additional money for a private session instead. -The core of the program takes place during the first two months and during the last two months there is little interaction outside of a weekly Q&A. This is when you devote most of your time to writing, which makes sense. But it ends up feels like you paid $4,000 for a two month program, which comes with a complementary 2 months of writing on your own but with the vague notion that a group of other people in the program are writing as well. That all fine, as long as you are aware that what you are paying for is NOT 4 months-worth of learning and workshopping, just two. -There is very little sharing of your actual work with others, zero critiquing and very little guidance on structure, tone, tempo, etc. -The retreat costs an additional $2,500 and it entails simply hanging out in a small, isolated town of Pennsylvania and having time to write. Again, there is no workshopping or critiquing of anyone's work. -There is a mandatory $500, non-refundable, deposit fee for the retreat. If you cannot attend, they offer a virtual experience, which ended up being simply logging into a live-feed of the coffee shop where participants were siting down writing on their own. Virtual participants were not able to actually participate and engage with other live or virtual participants. There $500 deposit fee ends up having no value and the other $2,000 for the retreat feel like a hefty price for simply being given time to work on your novel without. -A lot of promises of extra perks and interactions were continuously promised and later not delivered, which made it hard to manage your expectations. -Responses to questions or concerns were often curt and dismissive. -A lot of the techniques that were taught are also available on their tiktok and podcast for free. -The affiliate list offered at the end is very short (5-7 people some with broken links) + there is only one beta reader. -There is no actual, practical guidance on how to approach or contact reps or publishers. Summary If what you are looking for is connecting with other writers who are also into magic, astrology, spirituality, etc; and you need help getting rid of blocks, developing a deeper understanding of magic, learning how it can influence your creativity, and how to push your writing to the next level, this is the program for you. Just be ware of the cost. You may not get everything you were promised. In my opinion, the program is worth $2,000. To make it worth the $4,000, there should be an additional 1:1 sessions with KristaLyn focusing solely on astrology; another 1:1 with Emily focusing on spiritual guidance and insights; structured sessions where you get to peer-review your work; more hands-on guidance on how to take your novel from the first draft to the finished product and the how to approach publishers or reps. But other professionals and other programs may be better suited for those more technical, hands-on components. I'd recommend it without hesitation if it was worth $2,000, that way you can skip the retreat and and spend the other $2,500 on a different retreat or on hiring beta readers or even a content editor. read more

The cost of this program is $4300 USD (+ an additional $2500 if you choose to attend the in-person retreat--travel not included). There is a $500 charge to attend the retreat virtually, but more about that in a sec. What you get for $4300: 8 weekly lessons (~45 min ea.), 16 Q&A calls (~45 min ea), 1 individual zoom session at the start of the course (30 min), a personalized recommendation of publication method(s) and timeline vía email at the end of the course, 8 optional weekly writing prompts, access to a private online forum to interact with cohort members, downloadable worksheets, contact info for 6 affiliates, and guided meditations and other spiritual work videos housed on a separate website--roughly 8 videos total. FYI-- About half of the content you are paying for is available for free on their personal social media pages, most notably tiktok and YouTube. For the additional $500 I paid for the virtual retreat experience I got: time to zoom in during group writing sessions (no instruction, just writing time), a bag of coffee, and a glass dip pen. What I liked best: They were good about responding to comments and questions promptly in the forum. I also enjoyed some of the meditations. What was lacking: I signed up for this course expecting to get more one-on-one channeling sessions and individual writing advice. I expected more critique and guidance on the writer's craft aspect. They adhere to the "good job" side of things without giving feedback to help you grow and improve as a writer. I expected to be included in more virtual retreat activities, such as the Q&A time with guest speakers. Some members of the cohort (both virtual and in person) received more "gifts" than others after the retreat--some received 4 items, I received 2, at least one person received just 1 item. To be clear, it wasn't a case of person A getting one high value item and person B getting 3 medium value items to equal the value of person A's item; it was simply unequal distribution with some being asked to "keep it a secret." Additioonally, there was a lack of cohesion between the online instruction and written materials, which made the course organization confusing. Furthermore, several times our questions were brushed off with "it's in the book." If you're down for a self-study format, the actual book for this course can be purchased on Amazon for $15. Was it a terrible course? No. But in my opinion the price point is at least 50% higher than what it should be. If you are interested I their spiritual and astrological advice, watch their tiktoks. If you want writing advice, find a cheaper course elsewhere. read more