Top 7 Creative Writing Courses Online to Become a Better Writer

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Also known as ‘the art of making things up’, creative writing has become a fundamental aspect of our modern society in which writing is performed in such a way that is not necessarily academic or technical, but still attracts an audience.

Traditionally referred to as literature, the definition of creative writing has become a rather loose term, and can be used to refer to any form of writing that is both original and self-expressive.

The sole purpose of a creative writing piece is to entertain its audience while sharing a seemingly human experience. Writers will attempt to gather and share the truth about humanity and society though carefully and well-constructed poems and stories.

Creative writing includes, but is not limited to: poetry, plays, movies and televisions scripts, fiction (novels, novellas, and short stories), songs, blog posts, speeches, memoirs, and personal essays.

Whether you’re looking to start expressing a deeply found feeling or thought through poetry or short stories, or are wanting to improve on your creative writing skills to become a better writer, there are thousands of online courses available to help you achieve just that.

We have gathered some of the top rated online creative writing course available at the moment, in order to get those creative juices flowing and allowing you to escape into a world of imagination.

CREATIVE WRITING: THE FULL COURSE | UDEMY

Luca Panzarella, self-proclaimed storyteller geek with a passion for design and literature, has designed and created an all-encompassing creative writing course for you to improve your writing skills.

The course focuses on helping you to develop engaging characters, using a 3 act narrative structure and conveying emotions using nothing more than written text. This allows you to captivate your readers from start to finish. The course will also teach you how to write dialogue that manages to deliver information about the character while keeping the plot going all by itself.

Whether you’re a budding Wordsmith or someone who already has a few novels under their belt, having a new set of tools will always be useful for your journey as a successful writer.

After enrolling, you will have lifetime access to all course content which covers 7 hours of on-demand video content. The road to becoming a better writer starts here, so enrol today!

What the reviews are saying:

“This training program was on of the best I had! Very complete, detailed and so well grounded. We can notice that the trainer is very knowledgeable regarding the themes he teaches. The program is very well structured and reveals a lot of research. It also gives students lots of examples and each module ends with a challenge! Even if you don`t want to be a writer or a novelist, this program is great for everyone who communicates to audiences and is fond of storytelling techniques. Great tips on this matter! Great job! :)” – 1stLegacy

“This course is wonderful and super helpful! It is perfectly well explained, with practical examples and exercices. You are gonna love it!” – Sandra Navarro Bejerano

ENG030: CREATIVE WRITING (ELECTIVE) | K12

K12 is an incredible online learning platform that’s offering students the opportunity to create original essays, poems, and short stories over 2 semesters.

The course follows the four-step process writing model through which you will create your own pieces of art. You will read professional written forms of creative writing and use these as models in order to integrate your impressions of these works into your personal life experiences.

All students will be encouraged to write about topics they personally find engaging as they practice writing across various themes. After submitting each assignment, you will be given detailed suggestions for revision. This constructive feedback will encourage you to learn about how to improve your self-expression and self-editing skills.

CREATIVE WRITING COURSE – SHORT STORIES | JOHN ACADEMY

If you’re looking to learn the simple procedures needed to win the hearts of your readers, then look no further because John Academy has you covered!

Short stories have become one of the most popular forms of writing as people have become more drawn to reading shorter stories instead of longer novels. This Creative Writing Course – Short Courses will help you learn some of the useful and pragmatic ways of scripting short stories for avid readers.

Before covering the writing strategies, you will learn some of the related terms needed to be a great writer, such as time management, defining your goals for writing, understanding your audience, etc. You will learn how to successfully create protagonists, style, points of view, tones, short story templates, creating drafts, and publishing techniques. The final section of the course will focus on the procedure related to edition (including Kindle publishing etc.), how to deal with rejections, as well as rights and payments.

This is the perfect course to begin your journey as a successful and proficient short story writer. So what are you waiting for?

What the reviews are saying:

“Content writers are highly demanded in the market nowadays. i took up this course in order to enhance my skill and i am highly satisfied with the level of my improvement.” Sean Carroll

“This course taught me the extra-academic writing style. I want some more contents and more updates.” – Evie Rose

CREATIVE WRITING VALUE SUITE | ED2GO

Ed2Go recognizes that creative writing has become so much more than just having a good idea for a story. If you have a great idea for a story lurking in the depths of your mind, this bundle of online creative writing courses will help you to create a publishable piece of written art.

The writing process requires one to be well-endowed with the mechanics of writing, strong editing skills, and the ability to give and receive constructive feedback. This course will help you bring your creative pieces to life through teachings in literacy techniques, peer review of classmate’s work, as well as the fundamentals of story writing, writing essentials with focus on composition, grammar, and structure. This will allow you to create clear and effective paragraphs when conveying a message.

You will also have the opportunity to learn the “Keys to Effective Editing”, allowing you to become your own editor as you learn how to shape a rough draft into a final product with professional editing techniques.

Don’t miss this awesome opportunity and get enrolling today!

CREATIVE WRITING: THE CRAFT OF PLOT | COURSERA

Wesleyan University is offering aspiring writers the opportunity to grapple with the most elemental and often most challenging element of a story, the plot.

Over the course of 4 weeks, you will learn what keeps the plot moving, how it manipulates our feelings, expectations, and desires, as well as examining the choices storytellers make to capture our imaginations and drag them into the fictional world of stories. You will also learn how to outline and structure a plot, discussing narrative arcs, pacing and reversals and revealing surprise of connecting the beginning, middle and end of the narratives.

The key skills you will learn include: short story writing, fiction writing, creativity, and copy editing. All assignments will incorporate these key skills as you solidify these skills gained in a very practical manner. The course has a flexible deadline approach, allowing you to work in accordance with your own schedule.

This course is instructed by one of the top-rated instructors, Brando Skyhorse, a visiting assistant professor of creative writing. You will be guided by one of the best every step of the way as you master the techniques used by successful writers to compose bracing stories.

What the reviews are saying:

“The course was informative on how to build, structure and develop the plot of our own stories. It was also very helpful in guiding us through the editing process. A useful course for aspiring writers.” – BM

“Great information about plot and scene structure. The information about revision was entirely new to me – thank you! The exercises were good and difficult in a good way that helped me hone my writing.” – LB

THE CLASSIC COURSE – CREATE A BIG STORY | THE NOVELRY

The Novelry is offering all avid writers an opportunity to take part in their Classic Course. The perfect course designed to help you to start writing a book based on the secrets of the bestselling authors of all time.

Join today and start learning the ingredients for story success and get started on writing for both adults or children. The course combines key aspects from some of the bestselling books of all time with your own unique life experiences, in order to create a powerful and original story.

You will gain knowledge of some of the key plot elements used by bestselling authors JK Rowling, CS Lewis, and so many more. You are guaranteed to leave this course with story ideas and plots mapped out, ready to begin writing the story you were meant to tell.

The course comprises of 45 gripping lessons and is suitable for all writers in any genre. This also includes writers interested in writing short stories. It is stand-alone course that you can take at your own speed in your own time. Each lesson was carefully designed to get you thinking and creating in order to come up with big story ideas!

What the reviews are saying:

“Whether you are writing for adults or children it sprinkles glitter over necessary rules and gift wraps essential tools, then Louise waves her wand and sets you free. In one of the lessons Louise writes “It’s about life within life, and reclaiming our lives for ourselves through our senses and ennobling our purpose. ” This is more than a writing course this is a course on how to enrich your life by really seeing what is in front of your eyes. And once Louise shows you how to see it you can never unsee it.” Trisha Smith

“It was unlike any other writing course I’ve done, delving deep into the psyche of the writer that you are: what drives you, what your fears and hopes are, and how you will translate that into the characters in your story.” Xiuhui Lee.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF FICTION (WRITING MASTERY) | UDEMY

If you’re looking to become a creative writing master and write killer novels, memoirs, or short stories, then this is the course for you!

Designed and created by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell, both published authors, this course will help you to master the 6 universal foundations that make up all great fiction. But that’s not all, you will also have the opportunity to write vibrant, riveting dialogues that will breathe life into the scenes you’re creating. You will compose intricate pieces that are sure to captivate your readers from the first word and create complex, realistic characters who will jump right off the page.

The course covers 6 hours of on-demand video content with 3 articles and 31 downloadable resources. You will have full lifetime access on enrolment for you to continually look back when structuring masterful, gripping plots that will surely hook readers.

There are no prerequisites for enrolling and the course is open to anyone with a desire to write fiction that is sophisticated, compelling, and dynamic.

What the reviews are saying:

“Joanne Rendell and Jessica Brody have done an excellent job of explaining and engaging the viewer into the course. When you start it, you get addicted to the course. Every detail of fiction writing has been explained very well. They have given many examples from popular books, which ensures that once you have watched a video, everything would be implanted in your mind. There has been a significant change in my writing after doing this course. Finally, the writing prompts given in all the lectures ensure that your writing remains in constant practice, and they are also very stimulating.” – Siya Singh

“This was a great course! I’ve taken other writing courses and this one was more comprehensive than the others which helped my writing. I only wish they would have covered how to plot a series as well.” – Denise Gormley