The word ‘creative’ is flexible and can mean several different things. There are so many ways to express your creativity; whether playing guitar, photography, fashion design, or simply sitting down and writing, the options are endless. Creative writing has no restrictions, and you can explore the depths of your mind and emotions with a good creative writing course.
Creative writing also does not simply mean you must work on fiction. A clever piece of writing can be non-fiction, a memoir, or an autobiography. In addition, creative writing can be poetry or prose. There are genuinely no restrictions!
However, despite the apparent flexibility of creative writing skills, a good piece of writing does require immense discipline. Therefore, it would help if you had a regime for writing; sometimes, a little guidance is necessary to get a good report. The following are some of the top online creative writing courses that you can consider.
Neil Gaiman Masterclass
There is hardly a lover of good fiction out there who has not heard of Neil Gaiman. The English author is a popular name in the literary world and is known for his short stories, graphic novels, comic books, etc. An online writing courses masterclass with an author like Gaiman is a dream come true for many. But with this short creative writing classes on MasterClass, this dream can come true for a relatively small sum of money.
There are 19 online creative writing classes in total, and each class has been specifically designed to impart crucial tricks of the trade and writing techniques that Gaiman himself has acquired over the years. Some studies are titled ‘Truth in Fiction,’ ‘Sources of Inspiration,’ ‘Descriptions,’ and more. Each online writing course is 12 minutes long.
Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot — Wesleyan University
The ‘Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot’ is offered on Coursera by Wesleyan University and is one of the best creative writing courses. This required course takes you through a crucial aspect of fiction writing — devising the plot. When you are writing fiction, whether a short story, a novella or a whole series, a crisp scheme is the foundation on which your writing will unfold.
In the series of online courses, you will be able to learn how a plot can be structured by creating frameworks on which your short story will be mounted. In addition, you will be acquainted with plot twists, narrative arcs, creating suspense, and other plot devices. This class is excellent for your writing career and is one of the free online courses on Coursera, but it is only available to members.
Mystery and Manners: The Art of the Short Story
The ‘Mystery and Manners: The Art of the Short Story is a course offered by Stanford (Continuing Studies), a primer on how to draft and edit an excellent short story. As one of the best online writing courses, you will learn about the creative writing process, going through some notable works of authors like James Baldwin, Sandra Cisneros, Akhil Sharma, etc.
Their works will become a great starting point for how a short story can be drafted. You will be able to workshop your writing with the tutor. By the end of the online writing classes, you should be able to workshop and produce two original works of fiction, compile reports that inspire you, and work on various writing assignments.
Two Weeks to Your Best Children’s Book
‘Two Weeks to Your Best Children’s Book’ is a course on Bookfox and a great choice for those interested in creative writing specialization. The course outlines 30 video lessons where you will be taken through the process of writing, editing, and publishing a children’s book. The course will take you through each step of this process and make it far less daunting.
As you progress in this best creative writing course, there will also be quizzes so you can test how much of the course material you have retained and what areas you need to focus on more. This is a brief two-week long course; if required, you can enlist the tutor’s support to edit your book once the course is done.
This online writing class is a complete package that will see you from the beginning through to the end of your children’s book. Writing a children’s book is not an easy exercise. This book makes the task easier for fiction writers to manage and write a compelling story. Experienced writers looking to learn creative writing for children can also take this class.
Writing the Novella
A novella is a sweet spot between a short story and a novel. It is the perfect length of a piece for most readers and is a highly consumable piece of writing. However, it is not an easy effort to put down on paper. With this course, offered by Writers.com, you will be guided through the process of writing a novella and character development.
The course will also include a study of a few good examples of novellas, including Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and Train Dreams by Denis Johnson. At the beginning of the course, you will need to present the instructors with a proposal of what you had in mind.
After that, the rest of the class will be spent workshopping and drafting your novella, apart from looking at other case stories. You can write at your own pace, and when you experience writer’s block, your tutor and other creative writers can help.
Embodied Writing: Improve Your Writing With Full-Body Creativity
Creative writing can be quite a cathartic process for the mind, whether you are an accomplished writer or a newbie. Your writing will have power and soul in it only if you are able to unleash your innermost emotion and instinct. A piece of embodied’ writing is more authentic and powerful. With this course, you will be able to put your body into writing and sync your physicality with your thoughts and emotions.
These unique online writing courses offer you ways to explore your body as you explore your writing. You will use your whole body to think and give your writing more shape. The course will guide you through physical exercises that will help boost your productivity and writing. This is also an interactive course where you will be able to share notes with your fellow classmates too.
Irresistible Fiction
‘Irresistible Fiction’ is a straightforward writing online course you can take over email. It is one of the popular creative writing courses and will take you through the stages of writing fiction that readers will be unable to put down. This is a brief eight-week course where you will be able to churn out pages that are going to be gripping and ‘irresistible.’
The online classes are conducted over email, so it is self-paced. You can make your own scheme and draw from the notes that the instructor provides you with. Unfortunately, there are no provisions for individual feedback on your writing at the moment, but the general framework the course provides leaves you wanting little else.
The Ninety-Day Novel
‘The Ninety Day Novel’ is an intensive course offered by Novelty. The course is a must for those who want to learn to write fiction, and as the name suggests, it will get you through the writing process of your novel within three months and make you a successful and confident writer. In addition, there will be six live working sessions where you can workshop your writing with the tutor and hone your writing craft.
Apart from these sessions, there will be more than 100 lessons where you can progress with your novel daily. By signiSigningthis course, you will get a year-long membership in a writing community dispersed worldwide. A culture of writing is best encouraged by fellow writers!
COMPLETE Creative Writing
The ‘COMPLETE Creative Writing’ course offered on Udemy is a full package that covers everything you need to get your creative writing juices flowing. In addition, this course includes a practical aspect that will make you feel excited about writing that next paragraph, crafting characters, or getting to the next plot twist in your story.
This great writing course includes fiction, creative non-fiction writing courses, poetry, and drama lessons. In addition, you will be able to gain insights on how to get more publishing opportunities and build a strong writing portfolio. There are 161 lectures in total, and as a member of Udemy, you will get full lifetime access to the course material and lessons.
Create Brilliant Characters
In any story, the characters’ richness dictates the story’s strength. The ‘Create Brilliant Characters’ course is practical, helpful, and crucial. It will teach you how to flesh your characters out and make them more engaging. The course will have practical exercises, and writing prompts.
There will also be an interactive forum where you can post questions for your tutor. There is also a comprehensive list of resources and additional reading that you can refer to even after the course is done.
You can see that the list is a compilation of a wide variety of courses. Creative writing is a large umbrella, and you will be able to tap into different kinds of skill sets under this umbrella.
Some courses focus on building a solid plot, others flesh out characters, and some focus on creative non-fiction. But, again, there is a whole array of courses you can pick from, so get started and work on that piece of writing already!