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The Home of Creative Writing

Arvon is a charity that runs creative writing courses, events and retreats both in-person and online. Our courses are tutored by leading authors and include a powerful mix of workshops and individual tutorials, with time and space to write, free from distractions of everyday life. Grants and concessions are available to help with course fees.

ARVON COURSES & RETREATS

Aug 12-Sep 10

Online 5-Week Evening Course: Fiction

Who's talking?

Masterclass: Ecopoetry

Wild listening

Masterclass: Writing for Performance

Improvisation; joyful tools for scriptwriting

How I Write: Helen Oyeyemi

Q&A and Reading

• Non-Fiction

Residential Writing Week: Non-Fiction

Transforming travel experience into compelling writing

Masterclass: The Poetic Line

Dashes, slashes and white space

• Screenwriting

Online Writing Day: Screenwriting

Transform your screenplay

• Totleigh Barton

Poetry , Non-Fiction

Residential Writing Week: Poetry & Memoir

New ways of looking at the natural world

“Every time I’ve taught at Arvon - going back over fifteen years now - I’ve seen how much difference just a handful of days can make in the life of writers. There’s a perfect mix of tutorials, writing time, socializing, and discussion - all those elements come together to create an atmosphere in which writing projects move in that longed-for but often unattainable direction: forward.”

— Kamila Shamsie

ARVON AT HOME

Our online programme of courses, events and writing support

Virtual versions of our famous Writing Weeks, plus Masterclasses, free How I Write events, Online Writing Weekends, Writing Days and more . . . all accessible from the comfort of your sofa.

SUPPORT ARVON NORTH

Arvon North is an ambitious capital project to adapt Lumb Bank into a beacon of creativity for the North

Help us transform Lumb Bank into an engine-house for creative writing development in the North of England, connecting the rich literary collateral of the region with a community of writers locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

CLOCKHOUSE WRITERS' RETREAT

Give your writing the time and space it deserves with Arvon’s dedicated Writers Retreat at The Clockhouse

The Clockhouse is specifically designed for writers on retreat. It has four apartments for writers, each with bedroom, study-lounge and bathroom. All food is provided for you, so you can spend your time as you please.

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Arvon is a charity that believes everyone deserves the freedom to imagine, write and explore ideas regardless of their age or financial background.

OUR SCHOOLS & GROUPS WORK

We offer residential weeks for schools, young people and adult groups.

Our weeks for schools and groups follow the same pattern as our adult course programme – led by two professional writers, with tutorials, group workshops, and time and space to write.

ARVON BLOGS

Northern Writers’ Awards 2024

26 Jun 2024 / Arvon Friends

New Writing North celebrated its 25th anniversary with an awards ceremony honouring writers in fiction and poetry. As part of the…

Quay Words and Arvon Live: Fiction Writing Day

05 Jun 2024 / News

Do you have a novel writing project that needs attention? Perhaps you need some technical help, are looking for tips to…

My Arvon Week: Jessica Eve Watkins

15 Apr 2024 / My Arvon Week

A preview of Jessica Eve Watkin’s experience on a week-long writing retreat at Arvon’s writing house, The Hurst. “ ‘The…

SI Leeds Literary Prize 2024

07 Mar 2024 / General

A writing prize that helps discover exciting new talent from underrepresented groups will be accepting entries again next month. The SI…

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10 Best Creative Writing Courses for 2024: Craft Authentic Stories

Learn how to tell your story and engage your readers with great storytelling.

As a lifelong literature enthusiast, I decided to challenge myself in 2010 by participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which tasks participants with writing a 50,000-word draft within a month. Although I’ve only achieved this goal twice since then, the experience has been invaluable. I’ve connected with a wonderful community of writers, both online and in person.

Through my experience, I can confidently say that creative writing is a skill that can be developed and honed, just like any other. While traditionally associated with literature, creative writing is increasingly being recognized as a powerful tool in various forms of writing, from copywriting and storytelling to novels and poetry. It has the ability to captivate readers and elevate the impact of written expression.

If you’re searching for the best online Creative Writing courses and resources, you’ve come to the right place. This Best Courses Guide (BCG) is built from Class Central’s catalog of over 300 Creative Writing courses and selected according to a methodology that you can check below.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

What is Creative Writing?

Courses overview, why you should trust us, how we made our picks and tested them, here are our top picks.

Click on one to skip to the course details:

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Creative writing is a genre of writing that seeks to evoke emotions and feelings in its readers. It surpasses the limits of traditional forms of literature and emphasizes narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes and poetic traditions. Creative writing finds application in various forms of writing, including screenplays, plays, novels, poems, and other written works. In this guide, I will delve into some of its most popular facets.

Enhancing resilience and creativity through writing

Research shows that the brains of professional writers work differently from those of novice writers. Moreover, creative writing has been found to boost resilience in students . If you want to enjoy the benefits of writing, it’s important to develop the habit of jotting down your thoughts and words. Doing so can help you overcome writer’s block.

Creative writing is so powerful that it’s used in prisons to give inmates a chance to express themselves in programs like PEN America . “By providing resources, mentorship, and audiences outside the walls, we help these writers to join and enrich the broader literary community.”

Creative writing is a skill that can be learned and practiced like any other. Techniques such as ABDCE structure, 1st or 3rd person point of view, “show don’t tell”, dialogues, and tropes can be easily learned through the online courses in this guide.

• Together, they account for over 1M enrollments
• Skillshare, with 2 courses, is the most featured provider
• The single most popular course has nearly 400k enrollments
• Three courses are entirely free or free-to-audit.

Best Fantasy And Short-Stories Writing Lessons For Beginners (Brandon Sanderson)

Besides being an awesome writer, Sanderson is an instructor with a very unique talent for keeping us engaged. He has also made available a full course in creative writing on YouTube , originally presented at Brigham Young University, which includes the most crucial tools for any beginner or even experienced writers. The course is comprehensive and rich in content, with great sound and video quality.

Each video discusses a specific tool or technique, so you can easily select the theme you want to explore next or watch it all in sequence. It’s up to you. I recommend you take your time, watch one video at a time and experiment with each concept, or even better, find a writing buddy or form a group to practice writing together.

What you’ll learn:

• Plot construction, character development, and engaging storytelling
• Techniques for crafting immersive worlds and believable viewpoints
• Insights into the publishing industry, tailored for emerging writers
• Strategies for writing compelling short stories and leveraging them for larger projects.

“Very informative! I’m a beginner writer looking to study writing for video games, and this class gave me a lot of helpful tools to start understanding how stories work/how to organize my ideas! Will definitely be returning to some of these lectures in the future for guidance 👍” – Paige Webster

Best University-level Creative Writing Course (Wesleyan University)

Creative Writing by Wesleyan University is a specialization for those looking for a way to improve their writing structure, scene and character creations and finding your style. Each course includes writing practice (for paying learners) and insightful interviews. It’s worth your time and effort if you are a disorganized writer like myself.

• Techniques for crafting a bracing story with memorable characters and an interesting setting
• How to employ a fresh descriptive style in your writing
• Skills for analyzing and constructively evaluating peer writing
• The ability to refine your writing, critique writing in general, and draw inspiration from existing literature
• The process of drafting, rewriting, and completing an original story in the genre of your choosing.

It should be noted that the peer-grading system often lacks depth. However, the assignments are well-crafted and can be easily evaluated with minimal effort, providing some insights from other participants in the form of feedback or inspiration from their submissions.

“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.” – Laura B, Coursera learner

Best Course to Find Your Voice (Neil Gaiman)

Neil Gaiman is currently one the most prolific writers I know of: he’s written books , comics , movies and even TV shows . Even if you’re not a fan of his style, there is definitely something you can learn from him.

In Neil Gaiman Teaches The Art Of Storytelling you will discover Neil’s philosophy on what drives a story and learn to unlock new stories within yourself.

While MasterClass doesn’t sell single courses, a subscription provides access to their entire library, including other writing courses like Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing , Dan Brown Teaches Writing Thrillers , Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing , and James Patterson Teaches Writing . If you are considering the purchase, you should definitely enjoy the rest of their catalog.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Discover and develop your unique writing voice
• Generate and develop original ideas
• Create dynamic, well-rounded characters that come to life on the page.

This course includes a 94-page workbook that includes assignments and supplemental material.

Best Practical Writing Course With Support (Trace Crawford)

I love it when a passionate teacher like Trace Crawford puts the effort into creating a comprehensive curriculum. COMPLETE Creative Writing – All Genres is a 12-hour course with 145 downloadable resources. In this course, you will learn how to write engaging fiction, poetry, drama, and creative non-fiction, helping you become the successful writer you want to be.

• The four genres of creative writing: fiction, poetry, drama, and creative non-fiction
• How to discover, refine, and share your unique writing voice
• A series of authentic writing assignments designed to target the skills you need to develop
• Writing techniques, literary devices, and specialized skills to enhance your writing
• Opportunities for publishing, podcasts, and how to create a professional creative writing portfolio
• Discover multiple public outlets to share your writing with others as you gain confidence and experience success in your writing ability.

This is a practical creative writing course that includes assignments reviewed by the instructor, though response time may vary.

“The short snippets of theory in combination with the short assignments suits my learning style. I don’t remember the last time I’ve written anything creative, but this course gave me the incentive to set some foundation and its actually quite enjoyable if you stick to it.” – Nikolaos-Stylianos Z., Udemy learner

Best Course to Overcome Writer’s Block: 10-Day Journaling Challenge (Emily Gould)

I couldn’t resist adding Creative Writing for All: A 10-Day Journaling Challenge to this guide. Emily Gould is a delightful instructor, and her approach to inviting you to participate in the challenge is impossible to decline. It’s the perfect course to overcome writer’s block, which is exactly what she proposes. In this 10-day creative writing challenge, filled with inspiring examples, observation prompts, and clever revision tricks, writers and enthusiasts will be able to express their creativity in a personal and artful way.

This course is the shortest one on the list, and it’s more about the challenge of keeping a journal. If you decide to subscribe to Skillshare, you can also enjoy their entire library of courses. In addition to the other two recommended courses on this list, you can also check out these other Skillshare courses: Writing Suspense: How to Write Stories That Thrill in Any Genre and The Writer’s Toolkit: 6 Steps to a Successful Writing Habit .

Best Course to Create Fiction From Personal Experience (Shaun Levin)

Shaun’s approach to writing in Short Story Writing: Create Fiction from Personal Experience is an unusual one. It draws from your personal experience to create a compelling fictional story. I can say from experience that this technique will help you write with more depth and authenticity. Every time we bring our own life to the story, it becomes alive, believable and relatable. In a way, all fictional stories are based on the author’s life.

This course will help you with techniques and a series of practical exercises to start writing your scenes from a more philosophical point of view, creating compelling stories. You’ll learn how to delve into your imagination to find everything you’ll need to become a prolific writer, no matter where you are.

By the end of the course, you will have a final project that will receive feedback from Shaun and other learners as well. Actually, if you want to check it out, in the course page on Domestika you can open the submitted projects and read the comments.

Shaun’s other courses: Creative Writing for Beginners: Bringing Your Story to Life .

“A practical course. Shaun Levin talks about theory but also demonstrates his process, which was invaluable. The exercises got my creative juices flowing. Thinking about doing his other course in the future.” – Maya Dicheva

Best Course to Make Writing Less Stressful with Best Practices (Jennie Nash)

If you struggle to start or get stuck in your writing, Write Your Book: Start Strong and Get It Done can help. With good advice and emotional support, you’ll learn techniques to make writing less stressful. The accompanying workbook guides you to think methodically by asking the right questions to keep you focused on your story and not chasing your own tail.

In this class, you’ll learn how to:

• Design every element of your novel or memoir, including the protagonist, plot, story structure and a project success plan
• Define your narrator’s voice
• Determine where your story begins and where it ends
• Decide what point you’re making about human nature
• Make sure you’re giving your ideal reader exactly what they want
• Gain the confidence you need to push past any doubts and finish your book.

This course is more of a masterclass, so there are no assignments included but it teaches good practices and provides a very useful workbook.

Best Course to Create A Compelling Story (Lisa Cron)

Writing: The Craft of Story is a series of well-produced lectures covering the basic building blocks of a story. Taught by author Lisa Cron, you will learn how to create compelling stories based on the way the brain responds to storytelling. This course emphasizes the importance of capturing the reader’s attention through techniques such as suspense, exploring the protagonist’s inner issues and dreams, specificity, and cause and effect. Upon completion of the quizzes, you will receive a certificate for your LinkedIn profile. Additionally, you can watch all the videos without subscribing to the course.

“Learning the fundamentals of crafting a story was and is a fascinating experience. And yes, I would highly recommend writing to anyone interested in learning how to express the communication of feeling.” – Nicole Gillard, LinkedIn learner.

Best Course to Write Personal Essays with Impact (Roxane Gay)

Discover the art of crafting powerful personal essays with best-selling author Roxane Gay in her course, Creative Writing: Crafting Personal Essays with Impact . Through her honest and thoughtful approach, Roxane will help you find your story, craft your truth, and write to make a difference.

This master class offers eight video lessons that are filled with practical guidance, actionable tactics, and example essays to guide you from the first idea to a final, publication-ready work.

You’ll learn how to:

• Find a specific purpose for telling your story
• Connect your work to larger conversations and timely themes
• Conduct crucial research to support your work
• Navigate personal memories to write your truth
• Write and revise your final work, and submit your work for publication.

Additionally, the class provides a downloadable worksheet to support your ongoing creative nonfiction writing practice, as well as links to additional resources.

If you enjoy creative nonfiction writing, you might consider this course that’s also on Skillshare: Creative Nonfiction: Write Truth with Style (Skillshare Original) by Susan Orlean

Best Course to Develop Your Ideas And Research for Characters (The Open University)

Start Writing Fiction explores the writing process, from journaling and idea development to reflection and editing. It features insights from established writers such as Louis de Bernières, Patricia Duncker, Alex Garland, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Tim Pears, Michèle Roberts, and Monique Roffey,  who share their approaches to research and turning events into plot. Led by Derek Neale, a novelist and short story writer, this course provides a comprehensive understanding of the writing rituals and techniques used by successful writers.

You’ll get to critique the work of other writers and receive feedback. This course is designed for individuals interested in starting or improving their fiction writing and does not require prior experience in the subject.

You’ll learn:

• Creation of characters in fiction
• Different sources and ways of presenting characters in stories
• Reading as a writer
• Writing practice including creativity, research, observation and editing
• Peer reviewing, workshops and the importance of feedback.

“This course takes learners through many aspects of writing such as developing characters, observing and describing details, finding inspiration, writing and editing. It includes some peer reviews which can be varying in quality. I was lucky enough to have some of my writing reviewed by a reviewer who gave very helpful and positive feedback.” – Pat Bowden

What’s Next

Scribophile is one of the largest online writing communities. You can get feedback on your writing and join writing groups. If you decide to join with a free plan, you need to collect points by reviewing other writers’ work before submitting your own work for review. They also developed some advanced tools for evaluating work and guidelines to make sure you give/receive feedback that is actually meaningful.

NaNoWriMo started out as a month-long challenge where you invite your friends and join other writers in your region, be it online in their forums or in person, to challenge yourself in writing your first draft. Nowadays, they run all-year round writing challenges (but November is still the biggest one in terms of participation). What is cool about it is you actually get to meet people in real life with various writing skills and backgrounds. I was able to make some great friends over the years and even met a few professional writers that decided to join our local group just to support us.

If you have any resources you would like to have added here, leave a comment below.

Class Central , a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 200,000 online courses and 200,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid open courses, some with certificates. You don’t need to enroll in a university to learn about creative writing.

When choosing courses, I considered the following factors:

• Renowned Institutions : I looked for recognized institutions in creative writing
• Instructor experience : I sought instructors with extensive experience in creative writing and engaging presentation styles
• Popularity : I checked numbers of enrollments and views to find popular courses
• Course content : I examined courses that covered a range of topics and presentation styles, including the basics and more advanced topics. I watched some course videos to sample courses I hadn’t already taken
• Learner reviews : I read learner reviews (when available) to get a sense of the quality of each course, leveraging the Class Central database with its thousands of course ratings and reviews written by our users as well as available course provider reviews.

Then, I defined the scope for these recommendations. A creative writing course can cover various topics, so I chose top courses from a range of sub-fields.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will be a reliable way to learn about creative writing.

Fabio Dantas

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Creative writing courses

Short and part-time courses with Oxford University

Need an extra push to finish your novel, poem or play? Want to explore new genres? Whether you're a beginner wondering where to start, or an experienced writer looking to extend your craft, we have a course for you.

Short courses

Our  short courses in creative writing  include in person and online live-time weekly classes, day and weekend schools and flexible online courses.

Courses cover all genres: fiction, poetry, memoir, creative nonfiction, drama, writing for young adults and critical reading. There are courses for beginners and options for those with experience. Class sizes are kept small to maximise interaction between you, your classmates and your tutor.

Credit earned from some of our short courses is transferable towards our  Certificate of Higher Education  – a part-time undergraduate course in which you study a main subject discipline, but also undertake study in other academic subjects.

• View all short courses in creative writing
• Ways to study: how our short courses work

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Join us for one of our Oxford  creative writing summer courses , and spend a week or longer immersed in your craft. Accredited and non-accredited options are available; courses take place at Rewley House and at Oxford's historic colleges.

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From undergraduate level to advanced postgraduate study.

• The  Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing  is a two-year part-time course that helps you to strengthen your ability in four major areas of literary activity — prose, poetry, drama and analytical reading — while letting you specialise in the genre of your choice. Choose from two study options: regular in-person meetings in Oxford or mostly online, with a summer school in Oxford.
• The  Certificate of Higher Education  is a flexible, part-time programme which lets you study a main subject discipline (such as creative writing) while also undertaking study in other academic subjects. Ideal for lifelong learners, you can study what you want, when you want, how you want. The credits you obtain from taking short online courses, weekly classes and attendance at the Oxford University Summer School for Adults all count towards your final award.
• Delve deeper into creative writing with our MSt in Creative Writing – a two-year, part-time master's programme offering a unique combination of high contact hours, genre specialization, and critical and creative breadth, delivered in a clustered learning format of five residences, two guided retreats and one placement over two years.

Student spotlights

Charles bush.

Charles Bush published his debut young-adult novel thanks to the skills and experience gained from completing the Undergraduate Certificate of Higher Education.

Tahmina Maula

Tahmina worked as a senior manager in education before taking a career break to undertake the Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing.

Daisy Johnson

While studying the MSt in Creative Writing Daisy worked on a collection of short stories which would later become her debut book.

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Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing (from 2025)

Mst in creative writing, undergraduate certificate of higher education (from 2025).

NovelMasterClass.com

• Nov 16, 2022
• 11 min read

15 Things to Consider When Deciding Between In-Person Creative Writing Courses vs Online

Creative writing courses, whether online or in-person, can be a great way for you to either learn craft or to supplement what you already know. If you’re a writer, especially a published writer, you know you have to write, even if you don’t know what works and what doesn’t work in your writing. You may write in solitude while writing your first draft (either short story, novel, whatever), or you may write and then meet with other writers at set times—every week, two weeks, or whatever schedule your writing group decides. While what I speak of are writing groups, I consider them courses as well—because you’re learning as you work with your fellow workshoppers.

That said, there is a difference between workshopping your writing with a group of other published or unpublished writers, and taking online writing courses or in-person writing courses. Like getting your MFA in Creative Writing , online and in-person courses are normally taught by professional writers, meaning they have been published, teach writing at the college level, or have, at one time or another, worked as a professional in the publishing industry.

So, let’s tackle online writing courses first. Depending on the type of writing course you’ve enrolled in dictates what you’ll get out of it. There are a lot of courses out there, from Masterclass.com to Reedsy.com (which is a great resource but is more geared toward the services around writing and publishing books), to individuals who have decided to take their experiences as teachers, writers, editors, agents , and so on to offer their knowledge and background as services that can help writers learn craft, the publishing industry, and how to “break through” the noise in order to acquire an agent and, hopefully, a publishing deal with either one of the large, traditional publishers or an indie publisher.

NovelMasterClass.com and our blog, NovelMasterClass.blog/blog is one of the latter. While we haven’t launched our actual courses yet, we’ll be including video modules on craft, recommendations on craft books and books we believe are exceptional representatives of their genre, worksheets, templates, and writing prompts, as well as including manuscript consultations and services of varying intensity/level of editing and personalization for those who benefit from such one-on-one interactions. The courses and materials will be online. The writing/workshopping sessions will be done via email, phone, and either facetime, skype, zoom, or whatever platform you prefer.

At any rate, depending on your learning style, some courses will suit you better than others. Here are the benefits of online courses :

1. Unless the course is a drip course, meaning that you’ll receive a lesson once-a-week or at whatever interval the online course decides should be the interval, you’ll have instant access to the online course and all of the course materials . This means that you can binge the course at your own pace. You’ll be able to watch all the video modules (assuming the course has video modules), and you’ll have access to all of the supplemental materials—the written portions of the lessons, whatever templates, checklists, and writing prompts they offer, and anything and everything they offer for the price of their product/service.

2. If your learning style is having all of the materials before you so that you can refer to them as needed, they’re there for you . You’ll be able to duplicate the templates/worksheets, etc., and use them over and over again for different projects. And you’ll be able to customize them according to your preferences. You’ll be able to review all of the materials at your pace, based on your lifestyle. If you work and have a career, you can jump into the course(s) afterhours or on the weekend.

3. You won’t have to travel anywhere in order to “go to class .” If you’ve ever been part of a writing Meetup or writing group that congregates to work on and critique each other’s work, you know that it isn’t always convenient, and you end up missing some of the meetings to the detriment of your writing.

4. If you’re a beginning writer, you’ll be able to follow a pretty organized structure that will educate you on the basics of writing. You won’t want to take an advanced course if you don’t know the basics yet. At the same time, if you’re an advanced writer an advanced course might help clarify certain things you’re having trouble with while you’re writing, or at least remind you of all of the elements of writing so you don’t miss anything or don’t fall back into the tunnel vision we often fall into when writing, especially when writing longer works of prose like novels.

5. There are plenty of very specific courses , like “Writing historical fiction,” “How to get published,” “Romance writing,” “Book marketing,” “Character development,” and so on.

Now for the drawbacks of online courses , which you’ll have to evaluate for yourself before diving into your pocketbook and pulling out your hard-earned money.

1. You don’t know what you’re getting before you actually buy the course. A lot of courses promise the same things:

a. Tons of video modules that last for hours (most of them are broken up into smaller, digestible chunks that last no more than 10-20 minutes)

b. Plenty of worksheets, writing templates, prompts, quizzes, assignment sheets, lists of outside resources helpful to writers/aspiring writers

c. Access to publishing contacts and literary agents who’ll review your work

d. In-depth focus on particular aspects of writing such as dialogue, setting, point of view, storytelling, plot and structure, character development, and more

e. The ability to sign up for bootcamps, webinars, virtual conferences, live online classes, and other options for interactive participation with other writers

2. You don’t know what’s going to work for you specifically.

a. Do you work better one-on-one or in a group? A lot of us writers like working alone. We like the quiet and solitude, because it allows us to think, to concentrate, and to get into the worlds we’re building and the characters we’re thrusting into untenable circumstances. We may workshop our writing later with writers whose opinions we respect, but for the most part we prefer going it alone. Or you may be the type of writer who needs the encouragement and who requires being held to specific deadlines. Writing groups meet on regular schedules (for the most part), and you’ll have the pressure on you to produce work for the next time you meet. You’ll also have to devote time to reviewing your fellow-workshoppers work by that next time as well.

b. What about one-on-one time? Does the online writing course offer one-on-one time to review or discuss your work? If so, to what level? Do they offer services that will review your work and provide constructive feedback based on:

ii. Characterization

iii. Structure

iv. Dialogue

v. Setting & Place

vii. Beginnings, middles, and ends

viii. World building

ix. Conflict & suspense

xi. Point of View

xiii. Description

xiv. Opening lines

xv. First drafts vs subsequent drafts

3. What’s the price tag for the course you’re considering? The old saying, “You get what you pay for” definitely holds true in online writing courses. There are some courses that go for as little as $7. Other courses, which are more inclusive, and likely include manuscript reviews, editing services, coaching, and other offerings will be more expensive, up to $5,000+, depending on what services you select. Some offer monthly and yearly subscription services that can go from a few dollars to a thousand a month, which, I suppose, is worth it to some. I have to imagine that for most people that kind of money is out of the reach.

Benefits of In-Person creative writing courses

Having received 3 masters degrees, two in-person and one predominantly online (my Low-Residency MFA in Fiction degree), I’ve had the opportunity to experience the differences between taking online courses and in-person courses. While a low-residency isn’t 100% online (MFA programs normally require 2 one-week in-person residencies), for the most part you’re communicating with your facilitator online. Now, while we’re referencing “online vs in-person courses,” we’re including writing groups as well. Courses implies that it’s a structured format taught by professional writers. And this may be the case. But because in-person paid courses are so similar to writing workshops that aren’t fee-based, we wanted to include them as well.

The benefits of attending in-person creative writing courses:

1. Immediate feedback. If you’re attending workshops in your local neighborhood or at the community college or even in an MFA program, you’re in a community of like-minded individuals that you have access to in a face-to-face environment. This means that you can have conversations with your fellow writers on different writing topics, and it also means that you can ask for feedback on either the writing you have with you or, assuming this is a recurring meeting/workshop/class, work that you’ve already previously shared for the purposes of workshopping when you do meet. If you have any questions about what your fellow writers mean in their comments, you’re able to ask them in person, and nothing is misconstrued. Immediate feedback allows you to take your notes, understand without ambiguity the feedback you’ve received, and then progress on your work from there.

2. A shared Frame of Reference . When writers congregate, a number of things happen. First and foremost, you work on each other’s progress/improvement by workshopping each other’s fiction. That’s the obvious benefit. But there are others. When you meet with writers in a workshop situation, you get to share the tips and tricks and insight you have with your fellow writers, and they do the same. This often leads to new insights for you and your craft.

Every writer has a different perspective. Every writer reads different books—novels, short story collections, nonfiction, but in particular craft books—which you can then recommend to your fellow writers. You’re also able to share your experiences with conferences, literary agents (if you’re at that point in your career), publication opportunities that might not yet be publicized, and so on. Can you share these things via email and on the phone? Sure. But chances are that your in-person interactions are going to allow for a more fluid communication (and openness) between you and your fellow writers. It’s easier to avoid answering tough questions or volunteering information when someone’s not in front of you.

When someone is in front of you, it’s the tougher questions and favors (Can you recommend a literary agent? Do you know anyone at XYZ literary journal ? Will you read my novel and give me feedback?) that you’ll hear yes to specifically because most people don’t like to say no to someone to their face. (Guilt often works in your favor).

3. Community . Building a core group of writing friends is an invaluable thing to have when you’re writing fiction seriously. You want people whose opinions you respect when it comes to your writing, and that’s not always an easy thing to come across. I personally know great writers whose opinions on writing are less than stellar. I know others—both published writers and non-published writers—whose words are like manna from heaven. When you’re part of a writing community, it means you hear of all of the latest and greatest writing resources, the best new books to read, the writing competitions you might have missed out on if you weren’t part of that group. Plus, if you’re workshopping each other’s work, so much the better.

4. A built-in cheerleading section . A win for one of you in your in-person group is a win for all of you, in particular when you’re a tight-knit group. You’ve gained personal friendships and writing partners whose progress you’ve helped, and you’ve been there when they’ve received constructive criticism from others. If everyone gets along, you’re all rooting for each other’s successes. When you’re feeling down and having difficulty writing, they’re there to cheer you up and motivate you to keep on trucking. Human contact, especially with people who have the same goals as you is invaluable. When you find a good, productive, helpful writing group, stick with it for as long as you can. Keep an open mind. And never get defensive. Just use what makes sense for your writing, and discard what doesn’t.

The drawbacks of in-person writing courses:

1. Attendance . If you’re in an in-person MFA program , if you’re a member of a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly or quarterly writing group, or if you take individual lessons from a paid writing coach, you have to be there. You can probably call it in if you have a paid coach, which they may actually like, but mostly you’ll have to drive or take a bus or walk or ride your bike to show up to the course or workshop. There’s not really a phone-in option for an in-person course. That means that if you have a career or a family or other obligations, you’ll need to set those aside or make plans for someone else to take care of what you would normally be there to take care of yourself.

2. Personalities . Writers are artists. They are competitive (not all of them, but plenty). They see the world in different ways, and often that leads to minor (and sometimes major) disagreements or even clashes. Over my career I have seen writers make other writers cry. I’ve seen writers yell at each other. I’ve seen writers insult each other over the inanest things you can imagine. Some writers don’t know how to give constructive criticism. They berate, they question writing choices they express to be sophomoric, and they are simply negative people when it comes to other writers’ works. They’re often narcissistic personalities who view their writing as fantastic and everyone else’s writing as mediocre. We know the truth, but the truth is hard to fathom for them. That’s okay. Just know that you’ll likely bump into those types when you have in-person writing courses and workshops. Of course, you’ll encounter all sorts of personality types, but that particular one sticks out because of it’s obvious cruelty to their fellow writers.

3. Costs . When you attend in-person courses or MFA programs or potentially even writing workshops or meetups outside your local neighborhood, you’re going to be shelling out money to pay for tuition or accommodations or food, parking, gas, flights, or all of the above and more. For many people pursuing writing as a career, or at least seriously, education is the field in which they have their careers. Most educators simply aren’t paid what they deserve, and so the costs of MFA programs in creative writing (or traveling for workshops and meetups where they have to spend the night), are often either cost-prohibitive or taxing on their financial situation. This is not to say that other professionals don’t feel the same sort of pains—they do. But it isn’t inexpensive, pursuing your dreams of writing seriously. You have to weigh the costs of pursuing your craft and passion.

Depending on how much it’ll cost you to participate in in-person writing courses/classes/programs, you may need to rethink what’s possible and what’s not. If you’re lucky enough to be able to afford the cost and time of chasing your dreams, that’s fantastic, and we’re happy for you.

4. Finding the right fit. Finding the right fit—whether at an MFA program, a writing group, or a writing coach, doesn’t necessarily automatically happen the moment you decide you’ve made your selection. I’ve been a part of numerous writing groups that simply didn’t work for me, for a variety of reasons. As mentioned above, personality conflicts have arisen in some. In others, the level of craft wasn’t there, meaning there were some writers who had no idea of either what made a story or even how to get there, while others were self-publishing every first draft they wrote.

You have to evaluate those types of issues for yourself, in particular with writing groups and paid writing coaches. As for MFA programs and the courses they offer, you’ll benefit profoundly from the criticism and recommendations from some of your facilitators and professors, while others will fall abysmally short of providing anything worth applying to your work whatsoever. Like in any field, there are great educators and there are less well-equipped ones who maybe are good at what they do but lousy at the teaching of it. It’s your job to evaluate whether or not the program/group/coach is right for you. Don’t waste your time and money on something that isn’t going to advance the areas of your craft and writing that you want to advance. Life’s too short.

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Top 5 Best Creative Writing Courses

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best creative writing course for most people is Masterclass : Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing or Coursera : Creative Writing Specialization.

Creative writing courses help develop your writing skills, build conscious writing habits, and teach you how to build a professional portfolio for your writing career. Most creative writing courses offer educational and practical assignments that help you advance your creative writing abilities. 

Whether you’re a complete beginner or just want to sharpen your creative writing tools, the courses below have you covered.

The Top 5 Best Creative Writing Courses 

• Masterclass : Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing – Best for writing development
• Coursera : Creative Writing Specialization – Best for experiential learning
• Udemy : Complete Creative Writing Course – Best for portfolio creation
• Gotham Writers : Creative Writing 101 – Best for building a writing habit
• Reedsy Learning : Understanding Point of View – Best for beginners 

Continue reading for our in-depth reviews on the five best creative writing courses to help you become a better writer today. 

Masterclass: Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing – Best for Writing Development 

If you’re an experienced writer looking to develop your writing abilities, the Masterclass course Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing is an excellent option for you. 

This course compiles advanced material that Atwood simplifies with 23 slow-paced video lessons that span across about four hours. 

Author of The Handmaid’s Tale and instructor of this creative writing course, Atwood takes you on a journey of the creative writing process from getting started to getting published. Her first-ever online class will teach you to develop your writing with advanced material and personal advice. 

Whether you already have a first draft or a half-written book, this in-depth course teaches all about core writing elements. Atwood discusses how to write a compelling story, create structure, develop nuanced characters, keep your readers interested, and how to stay motivated while writing—helping you turn your work into a masterpiece. 

The best part about this specific creative writing course is how participatory it is. You get access to a class workbook that includes additional writing assignments you can complete after each lesson, as well as helpful resources for writers. 

The course also comes with a community hub for all students to interact with each other. The community page gives you a place to discuss lessons, share your work, get feedback, and network—creating a sense of classroom-like community. 

The structure of the Masterclass course is easy to navigate, with all 23 lessons being split into three to five sections and are around 10 minutes long each. 

Lessons one through 16 are about the general elements of writing, like story and plot, structure, characters, and point of view. Lessons 17 through 23 discuss the business side of writing, including getting published and working within different genres. 

Masterclass offers one membership fee to receive access to every class on its website. The fee is $10 per month, billed at $120 per year.

A Masterclass membership gives you access to more than 180 classes, audio-only lessons, offline viewing, downloadable instructor guides, and new classes added every month. 

Masterclass also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all subscriptions.

Coursera: Creative Writing Specialization – Best for Experiential Learning 

Not every creative writing course offers practical and interactive assessments, but the Creative Writing Specialization courses offered by Wesleyan University for Coursera stands out because of its experiential learning experience. This is a set of five courses within one larger specialization, all leading to a capstone project.

As a creative writing course with extensive hands-on projects, each specialization will teach you how to master a different writing technique that successful writers use in the three major writing genres. 

There are more than 113,000 students already enrolled in this set of courses, and for a good reason. The course structure has helped many people understand the short story, narrative essay, and memoir genre. 

What makes this course so experiential is during the last lesson, where you have the chance to write and edit your own original story. 

Using the elements and techniques you learn throughout the five courses taught by different instructors, you will draft a short story, narrative essay, or memoir. With the help of your peer readers and instructors, you will revise, rewrite, and complete the story in whichever genre you choose. 

Each course within the overall Specialization focuses on a different element for each genre. During this course, you will learn the craft of plot (course one), crafting characters (course two), settings and descriptions (course three), and style (course four) before you put these skills to the test and write your story in course five. 

Even though this Specialization is more in-depth, it’s still flexible, as you can take each of the first four courses in any order (ending with the course five capstone). It’s also 100% online, so you don’t need to show up to a classroom, and you can access all course material via a desktop or mobile device. 

The Creative Writing Specialization currently takes one month to complete at 10 hours a week, which you should keep in mind. However, Coursera lets you set and maintain flexible deadlines, even though you cannot change the course duration to be any shorter than it already is. 

Currently, Write-Bros, Scrivener, and Scribophile are sponsors of the Creative Writing Specialization course and are offering discounts for all students who complete their assessments.

Upon completing your first assignment, you receive an 80% discount from Write-Bros, a 30% discount on your first purchase from Scrivener, and a 30% off membership pricing for Scribophile’s online writing community. 

You can enroll in the course for free to read and view the course content. However, if you want access to all courses in the Specialization and receive a certificate upon completion, you need to sign up for Coursera Plus. Coursera Plus offers both monthly and annual subscriptions. The cost is $59 per month or $399 per year with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

With each Specialization course, you get access to shareable course certificates, course videos and readings, practice quizzes, graded assignments with feedback, graded quizzes with feedback, and graded programming assignments. 

Coursera also offers financial aid and a seven-day free trial of Coursera Plus.

Udemy: Complete Creative Writing – Best for Portfolio Creation 

If you want to learn about the four writing genres and create a strong portfolio with your writing samples, the Complete Creative Writing course by Udemy is an excellent option. 

Creating an outstanding portfolio can be difficult for many writers, especially beginners, but this course will help you create a digital portfolio in just five concise sections. 

Instructed by teacher and author Trace Crawford, this course delves deep into the world of fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. In the fifth and final section, you’ll learn how to create a digital portfolio.

Including the introduction, the course has 162 lectures and a running time of about 12 hours. By the end of this course, you will understand the ins and outs of all things creative writing. 

Crawford breaks down the course into four subsections: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Creative Non-Fiction. You will receive a writing journal prompt for every lesson, 145 downloadable resources, and a certificate of completion. Each subsection offers between 20-50 lectures that range between one and four hours in length in total.

The final course section focuses only on the digital portfolio. Many creative writing courses don’t touch on portfolio creation, even though it’s an essential aspect of a writer’s career. These lectures will leave you feeling ready to pursue a career in writing. 

This course is also flexible, as you can complete it at your own pace and receive lifetime access for one price. If you have the time, you can complete this course within a day or two, which is helpful to retain as much information as possible. 

The course comes with 37 online quizzes, 145 downloadable resources, and journal prompts. You also receive a daily writing assignment, a lesson covering the course content, and a practical application project. 

Crawford aims to further develop and perfect your voice by teaching you about the four genres. You will also learn about writing techniques, writing concepts, how to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your writing projects, and of course, you will build a portfolio. 

The regular price is $109.99 for the Complete Creative Writing course, and Udemy often has discounts throughout the year. This specific course usually goes on sale each month, so look out for this. 

Udemy also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

Gotham Writers: Creative Writing 101 – Best for Building a Writing Habit 

Are you struggling to build a writing habit and don’t know where to start? The Creative Writing 101 six-week course by Gotham Writers is an excellent place to start. 

This level one online six-week class focuses on slowly building a writing habit while teaching you about the show and tell of writing, individuality, fiction, nonfiction, and how to get better at the craft. 

This course is unique because each class size is limited for students to get enough personal attention from the instructor. There are a maximum of 16 students in each Creative Writing 101 class, which is 100% online. 

Creative Writing 101 helps you slowly build a writing habit by encouraging you to complete daily observation exercises and free writing. These writing activities help stimulate the brain and create a way to write freely without the burden of writer’s block. 

The course also offers weekly writing assignments that the instructor grades and provides feedback for, which will help you feel more confident about your writing abilities as you progress through the course. 

Because this course is online, Gotham Writers provides the Lounge feature for all students to meet weekly for a one-hour live chat. The Lounge is open 24/7 for all students to chat and get to know each other, network, and discuss feedback. 

You also get access to a weekly planner, class roster, guidelines, and syllabus. The notebook, booth, library, and blackboard are other essential features that store lectures, assignments, resources, and student feedback.  

The course layout is the most similar to an online classroom, especially for collaboration purposes, making it easy to navigate and complete tasks. Each class session lasts for a week, and you have the flexibility to complete tasks at any time of day during the week. 

Gotham Writers offers this course online, on Zoom, or one-on-one (either in NYC or long distance) for different prices. 

• Online: $319 
• Zoom: $319 
• One-on-One: $1,195

There is also a $25 registration fee that you pay once per term. All course dates are listed on the website and are subject to availability.

Reedsy Learning: Understanding Point of View – Best for Beginners 

Beginners need to start somewhere, and there’s no better place to start than enrolling in the free Reedsy Learning course, Understanding Point of View. 

Taught by TEDx speaker and author Gabriela Pereira, this course focuses on the technical element of point of view, which challenges many writers in the beginning stage. If this sounds like you, you will be delighted to hear that this course is free and gets delivered to your inbox every morning for 10 days. 

This is a quick and easy 10-day course. Each lesson is just five minutes, and Pereira takes you on an immersive journey through the challenges of establishing the correct point of view in your creative writing. 

This course will familiarize you with each primary POV, including first, second, and third person. With the help of practical writing exercises, you will complete the course understanding how to master each point of view within your writing. 

During this course, you will also learn: 

• The differences between third-person limited and third-person omniscient 
• The strengths and weaknesses of second person 
• How to work with multiple points of view
• Epistolary and Journal forms 

To enroll, include your name, email address, and time zone so that Pereira can deliver each lecture to your inbox on time. You can start each morning on the right foot by completing a quick five-minute lesson and go about your day, making it a simple course for the complete beginner to follow and get used to writing each day. 

Reedsy Learning offers this and many other free online courses to help you establish your career and transform your writing skills. 

How to Find The Best Creative Writing Course For You 

There are a few factors that go into finding the best creative writing course for you. Sometimes it can be challenging to choose the right course, especially since there are many different goals you may want to achieve. So we put together this methodology of the three most essential elements to consider before investing in a creative writing course. 

Schedule and Flexibility

The first thing to consider before investing in a creative writing course is the flexibility of your schedule. Consider the duration of each writing course, as some can go for days, weeks, or even months. 

The Complete Creative Writing Course by Udemy is a flexible option, as it allows you to go at your own pace and offers 12 hours of content you can complete in as little as a day or two.

However, some courses aren’t as flexible with timing, such as the Creative Writing Specialization by Coursera and Wesleyan University—which takes one month to complete. 

Make sure you check whether the timing is flexible, or you might need to change your schedule to fit in with your studies. 

Payment Method

Each course offers different prices depending on the duration, topic, and how in-depth the content is. Some writing courses have a subscription-based payment method, while others are one-off payments for lifetime access. 

It’s crucial to look for lifetime access, as you don’t want to invest in a course that will expire, and you lose all access to the materials. The course Understanding Point of View by Reedsy Learning is a free course perfect for beginners or anyone who isn’t sure where to start. 

You can enroll in a free course to learn the ropes of online studying, or you can choose one that offers a one-off payment, as most of the courses on this list. We wouldn’t recommend paying for a subscription unless you are dedicating a few months to learning or are interested in multiple courses from the same company. 

Learning Community 

A learning hub or community page can help you reinforce the learning materials, network, and build on your overall learning experience. Courses like Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing by Masterclass and Creative Writing 101 by Gotham Writers offer community hubs or lounges for students to interact and connect. 

Although not required, a central hub is essential for building a community and connecting with other writers. It can make your learning experience feel more like a classroom, even when it’s online. 

You might even complete the course with a few fellow writer friends along with the knowledge you obtained from the writing course. 

The Top Creative Writing Courses in Summary 

Overall, the Masterclass and Coursera courses are our top two recommendations for the best creative writing courses on the market today. 

With workbooks, learning hubs, video content, and downloadable resources, you can learn how to become a successful and confident writer using the courses reviewed in this guide.

Short courses in Creative Writing

Ever wondered how to write more creatively? Taught by professional authors and editors, our practical creative writing courses will help you explore your writing and develop your storytelling skills.

• Study at a leading London university with more than a decade’s experience delivering short writing courses
• Develop your writing within a safe and supportive environment
• Our courses have helped many students build careers as successful authors
• Join a community that champions inclusion and diverse voices – we offer a scholarship for our Novel Studio programme for writers from low-income households.

Creative writing short courses at City

With an impressive track record of published alumni, a thriving writing community – online and in person, and strong links to the publishing industry, City’s short creative writing courses have everything you need as an aspiring author.

You’ll be guided by a teaching team of professional fiction writers and editors. From beginners to advanced, our courses will help you progress your writing to the next level.

Hone your writing style

We’ve helped many writers explore different storytelling techniques and find their writing style. Whether you’re trying your hand at children’s fiction or dedicating time to your novel, we have a course for you.

We know flexibility is key for our short course students. That’s why we arrange sessions in the evenings and over the weekend. Looking for something more intensive? We offer one-day workshops and summer schools too.

Our Students

Find out more about our students’ journeys towards publication with the help of City short courses.

• Book a short course in creative writing

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530 Best Creative Writing Classes in 2024

Showing 530 courses that match your search.

Write Your Book: Start Strong and Get It Done

Class Central

If you aspire to write a book but struggle to begin or reach the finish line, you are in good company. Many budding authors face challenges in starting or developing their stories. In this course, Jennie Nash, an experienced author, teacher, and book coach, will guide you through understanding your characters, the structure of your story, and the narrative arc, helping you overcome these common hurdles.

Website: https://www.classcentral.com/course/

Categories: Book and Fiction

Start date:

Open all year round

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Discovering Science: Science Writing

Future Learn

Without science writing, science could not really exist. By recording experiments and publishing the results of studies and discoveries, scientists can share their important work, and find an engaged audience. Science writing takes many forms: from press releases to video scripts. You’ll learn about different types of science writing, and look at the factors which you need to consider to write a story.

Website: https://www.futurelearn.com/

Categories: Scientific

Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

In this lively and fun course, author and mentor Steve Alcorn and screenwriter Dani Alcorn, show you how to achieve success. During the past decades they've helped more than 30,000 aspiring writers structure their stories, and many are now in print. You can be next!

Website: https://www.udemy.com/

Categories: Science Fiction and Fantasy

How to Write a Novel

Your story matters. Unlock your potential with daily video lessons from bestselling ghostwriter Tom Bromley, and finish your first draft in just 3 months. Learn more →

Essay Writing

Improve your essay writing skills with this course that covers everything from initial strategies to proofreading. Learn to craft solid theses, supportive sentences, and compelling conclusions for effective essays.

Categories: Essay

Writing Your Fantasy Novel

For fantasy writers aiming to create rich worlds, memorable characters, and captivating plots, this course offers guidance to craft stories that resonate with readers and leave a lasting impact.

Categories: Fantasy

WordPress for Beginners: Create a Website Step by Step

Whether you're interested in creating code-free websites or need to learn WordPress for updating existing sites at work, this comprehensive course covers it all. You'll build a website step-by-step, mastering WordPress in a practical, hands-on way.

Categories: Blog, Content, and Freelance

The Complete Course on Sports Journalism

With the field of sports journalism growing more competitive than ever, it’s becoming increasingly important for those who aspire to become sports journalists to develop their skills and knowledge. This course aims to provide you with all of the information you need to get the best possible start to your career as a sports journalist.

Categories: Sports

Screenwriting 101: Writing for Film & Television

This course covers the entire screenwriting process from concept to selling. Ideal for both aspiring and established screenwriters, it guides you through creating a script and offers insights into the business side of screenwriting.

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Learn WordPress & Using WordPress to Make Money Online

Welcome to the comprehensive guide on mastering WordPress and SEO, where you'll embark on a transformative journey to elevate your online presence. In this course of wordpress, we merge the power of WordPress, the leading content management system, with the strategic prowess of SEO to help you craft stunning websites with hope to rank high and thrive in the digital realm.

Travel Writing: Explore the World & Publish Your Stories!

Lots of people try to break into travel writing. Those who don’t succeed usually blame it on not being talented enough – but that’s often not their real problem. Their real problem is they have adopted a set of habits that are weakening their writing. This course is different from other travel writing courses. It doesn’t just offer tips on how you should write; it also explains how you shouldn’t write.

Categories: Travel

Start A New Career By Being A Part-Time Sports Writer

So, you want to be a sports writer? In this lecture, you'll learn how you can take some basic writing skills (and your love for sports) and combine them into a new career. You can even pick up some extra money by being a freelance or part-time sports writer for a local newspaper, radio or television station.

Categories: Sports and Freelance

Prerequisites: A good understanding of popular sports and basic writing experience is recommended.

Speculative Fiction

As our reality becomes more of a dystopia, you may wonder what counts as fantasy anymore. Collapse, resurrection, and everything in between are entirely possible. The absurd has become a part of the everyday, be it a head popping out of a toilet or slugs that change their sex. This class will explore the fantastical, uncanny, scientific/technological, and fiction that otherwise tests the bounds of human reality.

Website: https://loft.org/classes/current-class-list

Categories: Book, Fiction, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

August, 2024

What is creative writing?

Creative writing is often best understood through a description of what it’s not : it is not business, journalistic, academic, or technical writing. 

Here is what creative writing is : it is the art of telling stories through written mediums. To many people, the novel is the most obvious form of creative writing, but it can also be found in essays, screenplays, poetry, memoirs, and much more. 

As you can imagine, one of the common threads that connects all forms of creative writing is, well, imagination. In fiction, this is embodied in the creation of the story itself; in nonfiction, it’s inherent in the way that the author chooses to present (and engage with) facts and real events to create a compelling narrative. 

Why is creative writing important?

We might as easily ask: why is it important to tell stories? Because that’s just what people do. It’s our way to make sense of the world and ourselves, and share it with others. History abounds with the art of the story. Look anywhere on a world timeline, and you’ll find examples of creative writing fulfilling our need for creative expression, from Homer’s epics in 800 B.C. to Dante’s inferno to modern essays shared on the Internet today. 

Nothing suggests that it will ever disappear, either! In fact, creative writing is arguably even more important in the age of AI, in which we must continue to tell powerful human stories instead of outsourcing such a fundamental task to soulless machines. 

How do creative writing courses teach creative writing?

If you’ve decided that you want to invest in your own creative writing, that’s great! Get ready to embark on a lifelong learning path. Like all art forms, creative writing is a skill that you must constantly train in order to improve. 

Learning creative writing, of course, can be as simple as you want. All you need is pen and paper — or, these days, a computer with a writing app. 

You can also take a creative writing class if you’re interested in a certain writing topic, or if you simply want an experienced instructor to point out the way for you. A course can fast-track your writing progress by teaching you something about the art of writing in one day that might otherwise take a year for you to pick up by yourself. They also often specialize in a specific area of creative writing, for instance:

• Character development, i.e. the way that characters change from beginning to end of a story.
• Genre conventions and tropes, i.e. what conventions you should write to in a certain genre — and what you can (and perhaps should) subvert.
• Story structure, i.e. the order of plot points and key events that a story should take in order to be compelling.
• Writing voice, i.e. the unique writing style that only you can bring to a story. 

Because there are thousands of aspects to creative writing, there are thousands of creative writing classes. That’s why we built this directory of the best creative writing courses. We’ve made it filterable by genre, price, and more to make it easier for you to find the perfect class for your needs. 

But what are the best creative writing classes?

The best creative writing course depends on you , and your own profile! We always recommend that you thoroughly do your research to personalize your choice for yourselves. 

With that said, below are some recommendations to kick you off. 

The best creative writing classes for beginners

If you’ve got a book idea, and you’re willing to invest some money to write it, then Reedsy’s How to Write a Novel could be a great place for you to start. Over three months, this full-fledged course will take you step-by-step from your idea to your first draft — and give you a supportive writing community to boot. 

💲 Cost: $1,000+  👨‍🏫 Type: Video

The best in-person creative writing classes 

Gotham Writers, the biggest adult-education writing school in the US, is based in New York City and offers in-person classes. With self-paced courses, write-ins, and several free events per term, it emulates the university feel wherever possible.

💲 Cost: $165 - $450  👨‍🏫 Type: In-person

The best free creative writing classes 

Reedsy Learning is composed of bite-sized modules that are emailed to you once a day for ten days. They can be read in five minutes — and best of all, they’re free! Each module is packed with practical tips, additional resources, and exercises to sharpen your skills. 

💲 Cost: Free  👨‍🏫 Type: Email

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Top 10 Creative Writing Classes (2024): Can These Courses Get You Published?

by Joe Bunting | 0 comments

If you want to transform from aspiring writer to published author, you might be thinking maybe a few creative writing classes would help. But with so many classes out there, which ones should you take? After all, if you're like me, you have a limited amount of time and money to invest in your writing.

Which creative writing classes should you take to give you the best chance of accomplishing your writing goals and getting published?

In this post, we're going to review the top creative writing classes so that you can make an informed decision. We'll also talk about the different types of courses, how to evaluate them, and give you tips to get the most out of the ones you choose to take.

But first, let's talk a little about whether creative writing classes actually work, whether they will  really  help you get published.

Should YOU Take a Creative Writing Class? 5 Benefits of Courses

I used to believe that no one could teach you to become a better creative writer. You either were a good writer or you weren't one (of course, I was a good writer, and was going to prove it).

But that changed when I discovered the power of deliberate practice.

At The Write Practice, we believe anyone can become a great writer and get published if you practice writing deliberately, and creative writing classes can be a great way to do that.

Classes provide structure, give you the chance to learn new things, and can help you get the feedback you need to get better. Most of all, they can be great sources of deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice has five components, and creative writing classes can be evaluated based on how they help creative writers practice deliberately.

• Theory and Knowledge . A good creative writing course should provide essential information on various writing techniques, storytelling principles, and literary devices. This knowledge will help students understand the craft of writing better and improve their skills.
• Practice and Process. Learning isn't enough, though. You also have to do the work! Good courses include a clear process that can guide you to achieve your writing goals. This might involve breaking down larger projects into manageable tasks, providing templates or outlines, or offering techniques for overcoming writer's block. Good courses also can hold you accountable so you actually follow through with the process and complete your projects.
• A coach. You need a mentor who can show you the process. A good coach can provide insights, share their own experiences, and offer guidance to help students navigate challenges and improve their skills. Interaction with your coach can also be a source of accountability and direction.
• Feedback. We all need feedback on what's working in our writing and what's not, both from professional editors and writing peers. Good courses should offer opportunities for you to get feedback on your writing, whether through peer review, one-on-one coaching, or group workshops.
• A team . Writing is hard, and you need encouragement and support from a community of people to help you keep going. A course that encourages collaboration, peer support, and networking can help you stay motivated, share ideas, and learn from your fellow writers.

If you practice deliberately, you'll grow. You'll become a better creative writer. You'll accomplish your writing goals, get published, and perhaps even become a professional writer.

That's why we evaluated the creative writing classes reviewed in this guide based on these criteria.

By the way, did you know we have creative writing classes at The Write Practice designed specifically around deliberate practice? Check out our community and see if we can help you transform from aspiring writer into published author. Check out our classes here.

Types of Creative Writing Classes

There are many different types of creative writing classes available to suit your unique preferences, learning styles, budget, and goals.

That's why it's so important to think through what aspects are important to you, and how to accomplish  your  writing goals with the classes available to you and your budget and time constraints.

To help you choose the right class for you (the write  class?), we've created a pdf worksheet 10 Questions to Consider When Choosing a Writing Class . You can download it here and use it as you make your decision for your next writing class. Get the worksheet »

Here are the different types of creative writing classes:

• Online Classes: These classes are conducted virtually and can offer flexibility, allowing you to complete coursework and engage in discussions from the comfort of your home.
• Creative Writing Certificate Classes: These programs typically consist of a series of courses focused on developing your writing skills in various genres and styles. They may be offered online or in-person and result in a certificate upon completion.
• Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs in creative writing: These programs are intensive, graduate-level programs that provide advanced instruction and mentorship in various writing genres. They usually require a significant time commitment and culminate in a final thesis or project.
• In-Person Classes: These classes are conducted at a physical location, such as a university or writing center, and often provide more opportunities for face-to-face interaction with instructors and peers.
• Low Residency Programs: These programs combine short, intensive on-campus residencies with online coursework, allowing students to maintain their personal and professional commitments while pursuing a degree or certificate in creative writing.
• Self-Guided Classes: These classes often consist of pre-recorded lectures, reading materials, and exercises that you can complete at your own pace, without direct interaction with an instructor or classmates.
• Writing Type-Based Classes: These focus on specific forms, such as fiction writing classes, poetry, screenwriting, or memoir, and are designed to help you develop skills and techniques relevant to that form.
• Genre-Based Classes: These classes explore the conventions, techniques, and structures of specific genres, such as mystery, science fiction, romance, or historical fiction, helping you hone your skills within your chosen genre.

Which of these class types most interest you?   Let us know in the comments!

Of course, there can also be overlap with each of these types. For example, you might take an online fiction writing class that focuses on writing crime short stories, or a low-residency MFA class that's largely online and focuses on memoir.

Each of these types tend to have different cost ranges as well. For example, in-person MFA programs tend to be more costly than online self-guided ones.

However, I will add that just because a class is more expensive or has a larger time commitment doesn't make it better or more effective. For example, in our 100 Day Book program, we work with many writers doing their MFA who despite their advanced curriculum find they need the accountability and support to finish their books. Sometimes a variety of classes can be most effective.

How to Choose the Right Creative Writing Class

When comparing traditional creative writing programs like the University of Oxford and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop with online programs like Gotham Writers Workshop, MasterClass, and community-based programs like GrubStreet, it's essential to consider various factors, including your personal learning style, goals, time commitment, and budget. Here are some points to consider when evaluating these different types of programs:

To help you choose the right class for you (the write class?), we've created a pdf worksheet 10 Questions to Consider When Choosing a Writing Class . You can download it here and use it as you make your decision for your next writing class. Get the worksheet »

• Format: Traditional programs like Oxford and the University of Iowa typically involve attending classes in-person, providing a more immersive and structured experience. Online programs like Gotham Writers Workshop and MasterClass offer greater flexibility, allowing you to work at your own pace and from the comfort of your home.
• Interaction: In-person programs often allow for more interaction with instructors and classmates, which can foster a sense of community, collaboration, and networking opportunities. Online courses may offer limited interaction, depending on the platform and course format.
• Credentials: Traditional programs, particularly those offered by renowned institutions like Oxford and the University of Iowa, carry a certain level of prestige and recognition in the literary world. Completing a well-regarded MFA program can help establish your credibility as a writer. Online and community-based programs may not carry the same weight, but they can still offer valuable instruction and skill development.
• Cost: Traditional programs, especially those at prestigious universities, can be expensive, and may require a significant investment of time and resources. Online and community-based programs like Gotham Writers Workshop, MasterClass, and GrubStreet tend to be more affordable and accessible, making them an attractive option for those on a budget or with limited time.
• Course offerings: Traditional programs may offer a broader range of courses and specialization options, while online and community-based programs may focus on specific genres or writing techniques. Be sure to review the course offerings for each program to ensure they align with your interests and goals.
• Networking and connections: Traditional programs often provide opportunities for networking with professors, visiting writers, and fellow students, which can be valuable for your future career. Online and community-based programs may offer some networking opportunities, but they may be more limited in scope.

Ultimately, the best program for you will depend on your individual needs, goals, and preferences. Take the time to research each option thoroughly, consider reviews and testimonials, and weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, so choose the program that best aligns with your personal objectives and learning style.

Top 10 Creative Writing Classes

The 10 best creative writing classes can vary depending on personal preferences and individual learning styles. However, here is a list of some popular and reputable creative writing classes that have gained recognition for their quality and effectiveness:

1. MasterClass

Some of our favorite authors offer courses on MasterClass, including Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Aaron Sorkin, Joyce Carol Oates, and Malcolm Gladwell.

We love Masterclasses because each class gives you behind-the-scenes insight into the writing processes and techniques of some of the most successful authors in the world.

We have  lots  to say about Masterclass, more than we have time for here, but you can read our MasterClass review of their best creative writing classes here .

And if you're ready to check them out and sign up, you can do that here .

MasterClass Features:

• Format: Online, subscription based pre-recorded writing classes taught by some of the most successful authors in the world
• Interaction : Limited online interaction
• Credentials : None
• Cost : $180 per year
• Course offerings: behind-the scenes look at the processes of top writers ( view our favorite creative writing MasterClasses )
• Networking and connections: limited

Learn more and sign up here.

2. The University of Iowa Writers' Workshop

This MFA program is one of if not the most prestigious in the world, having produced numerous successful authors, including Flannery O'Connor, John Irving, Marilynne Robinson, Michael Cunningham, and Ann Patchett, among many others.

It offers intensive creative writing courses in fiction and poetry, with an emphasis on peer critique and workshopping, taught by accomplished faculty who focuses mostly on literary writing.

Even better, it is fully funded or close to fully funded, with applicants earning their tuition by teaching or winning a fellowship.

Perhaps that's why it's also one of the most competitive writing programs in the world to get into, admitting fewer than five percent of applicants!

Learn more about the Iowa Writer's Workshop here .

Iowa Writer's Workshop Features:

• Format: In-person residency based MFA program
• Interaction : Highly interactive
• Credentials : Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)
• Cost : fully funded (or close to fully funded) through teaching or fellowship programs
• Course offerings: in depth courses in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction
• Networking and connections: high level of interaction with professors and industry insiders

Learn more and apply here.

3. The University of Oxford

Oxford offers a variety of creative writing classes, both online and on-campus, and both for “credit” or not, as part of their Continuing Education program.

You can take their online classes, sure, but a Summer program in Oxford sounds pretty great, right?

Learn more about the University of Oxford's creative writing classes here.

Oxford Writing Program Features:

• Format:  Online OR In-person classes taught live, some a part-time Masters program
• Interaction : Varies, from low level online classes to high level in-person programs
• Credentials : Varies from non-accredited to Masters degree
• Cost : Varies, from £535 (~$665) for online classes to £11,446 (~$14,200) per year for a two year Masters
• Course offerings: in depth courses in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction ( view courses )

4. The Write Practice

We're biased, of course, but we think The Write Practice's classes are among the best in the world.

Our writing classes use the power of deliberate practice to help transform you from aspiring writer to published author, combining community-based learning (because you learn most from your peers), practical curriculum (because you need to learn through doing), coaching to help hold you accountable, and workshopping opportunities to help you get feedback.

Check out our classes and programs here .

The Write Practice Features:

• Format:  Online classes, taught live and pre-recorded
• Interaction : High-level of interaction and feedback online
• Credentials : Non-accredited (but you will  finish a book by the end of our flagship course, 100 Day Book)
• Cost : $49 / month for unlimited writing classes, $99 / month for classes plus book coaching
• Course offerings:  classes on the writing process, craft, and publishing industry
• Networking and connections: high level of interaction with team and fellow writers

5. Gotham Writers Workshop

This well-regarded writing school offers hundreds of online (and in-person) courses in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and more.

Their faculty is full of usually published and often successful writers, and their courses tend to have a nice balance of theory and practice (although they seem to lean slightly toward theory).

Check out Gotham Writers Workshop here.

Gotham Writers Workshop Features:

• Format:  In-person classes taught live or  Online, a la carte classes, either taught live or pre-recorded
• Interaction : Medium level of interaction, varies by course
• Credentials : Non-accredited
• Cost : varies, usually between $200 to $500 for online classes

6. The Writers' Studio

This writing school was originally founded in 1987 by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Philip Schultz, and began offering online classes in 2001. Their online and in person creative writing classes are taught with different levels of instruction (e.g. Level 1 Poetry, Level 2 Poetry, etc). Like Gotham Writer's Workshop, they have both an in-person experiences—held in New York City, San Francisco, and Tucson—and online classes.

Their extensive faculty consists mostly of former students of Philip Schultz's classes, ranging from Pushcart nominee Joel Hinman to unpublished authors working on their first novels.

Learn more about The Writers' Studio here.

The Writer's Studio Features:

• Format:  In-person classes taught in New York City, San Fransisco, and Tucson or  Online, a la carte classes taught live
• Interaction : High level of online or offline interaction
• Cost : between $400 to $500 per eight-week class
• Course offerings:  classes on fiction and poetry ( view classes )
• Networking and connections:  varies, but medium level of interaction in online classes and higher level in in-person classes

7. Skillshare Creative Writing Classes

These budget friendly, self-guided, online creative writing classes are from experienced writers and editors and include project-based learning. There's very little interaction (although it's available), but as with Masterclass, the chance to learn from some of the most successful writers in the world is cool.

I also like that they have assignments for each class, which you can post for peer feedback (although the feedback seems quite sparse).

Check out our full review of Skillshare writing classes or sign up for a free trial here .

Skillshare Creative Writing Class Features:

• Format:  Online, subscription based pre-recorded writing classes
• Interaction : Low-level of interaction
• Cost : $19 per month or $99 per year
• Course offerings:  various classes on creative writing, fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry ( view our favorite Skillshare writing classes )
• Networking and connections:  none

8. GrubStreet

This non-profit, Boston-based writing center offers online and in-person classes in various genres and skill levels, including workshops, seminars, and multi-week courses.

Several notable writers have come out of GrubStreet, including New York Times bestselling Jenna Blum, award-winning author Rishi Reddi, and bestselling author Celeste Ng, who was at the center of a controversy featuring GrubStreet around an incident of plagiarism, documented in the New York Times article “ Bad Art Friend ” and subsequent Twitter revelations.

Learn more about GrubStreet here.

GrubStreet Features:

• Format:  Online and in-person (Boston) live seminars and writing classes
• Interaction : Medium to high-level of interaction and feedback
• Cost : $80 for one-day seminars to $600+ for multi-week classes
• Course offerings:  various classes on creative writing, fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry ( view all of GrubStreet's writing classes here )
• Networking and connections:  depends on the class and how involved you get in the community, most (but not all) networking opportunities will be in-person

9. Stanford Continuing Studies

Stanford University's continuing education program offers a variety of online creative writing courses for aspiring writers of all levels.

Learn more about Stanford's classes here.

Stanford Creative Writing Class Features:

• Format:  Online live classes or in-person workshops of less than one month
• Interaction : Medium- to high-level of interaction depending on the course and location
• Credentials : They have an “Online Certificate Program in Novel Writing,” although it's mostly an vanity certificate and wouldn't qualify you for professional advancement
• Cost : $300 to $700 per class
• Course offerings:  various classes on creative writing and publishing ( view all )
• Networking and connections:  Varies depending on the class and format

10. The Kenyon Review Writers Workshop

This annual summer writing program, hosted by the prestigious Kenyon Review literary journal, offers weeklong summer workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, both online and in person. They recently added a winter program as well.

Learn more about The Kenyon Review's program here .

The Kenyon Review Writers Workshop Features:

• Format:  In-person weeklong writing workshop
• Interaction : high-level of interaction, especially at their in-person events
• Cost : $2,395 for in-person summer workshop, $895 for online
• Networking and connections:  high, especially at their in-person workshops

Keep in mind that the “best” course for you will depend on your specific goals, interests, and learning preferences. Be sure to research each option thoroughly and consider any reviews or testimonials to determine which program is the best fit for your needs.

Tips for Making the Most of Creative Writing Classes

These are all great classes and programs. However, even the  best  classes won't work for you if you don't go into them with the right attitude. Here are my best tips to make the most out of the creative writing classes you sign up for.

1. Set Clear Goals

Before starting a creative writing class, set specific goals for what you want to achieve. This could be anything from completing a short story to improving your writing skills. Having a clear goal in mind will help you stay motivated and focused throughout the class.

2. Participate in Class Discussions

Class discussions are a great opportunity to learn from your peers and get feedback on your writing. Be an active participant in these discussions by asking questions, sharing your thoughts, and listening to others. This will help you develop a deeper understanding of the writing process and improve your own writing skills.

3. Give and Receive Feedback

Feedback is an essential part of the creative writing process. Be open to receiving feedback from your classmates and instructors, and be willing to give constructive feedback in return. This will help you identify areas where you can improve your writing and develop a stronger sense of your own writing style.

4. Practice!

Of course  we believe in practice! The more you practice writing, the better you will become. Set aside time each day to write, even if it's just for a few minutes. Try different writing exercises and techniques to help you develop your skills and find your voice as a writer.

By following these tips, you can make the most of your creative writing classes and take your writing to the next level. Remember, writing is a journey, and every step you take along the way is an opportunity to learn and grow as a writer.

Ready to Become a Better Writer?

You  can  become a great writer  if  you practice deliberately. At The Write Practice, we want to help! Check out these resources below and start transforming from aspiring writer to published author today:

Learn more about The Write Practice's Writing Classes Join 100 Day Book: Finally Finish Your Book in this Online Writing Program Top Resources for Writers

How about you? Which creative writing classes have you gotten the most out of?  Let us know in the comments .

Today's post is all about choosing the best class for you. What happens when someone finds themselves in the wrong class? Set your timer for 15 minutes . Write a scene where a character thinks they've signed up for one course, and it turns out that it's not what they expected (in either a positive or a negative way). How will they react? What will they do? Write out the scene.

When your time is up, share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop here and give feedback to a few other writers. And I hope to see you in class!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

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Are you looking for the best online creative writing courses? You may have found some promising classes online, but you may also be unsure if the course is actually good. How can you know you’ll benefit from the course without spending your money first?

The good news is, there are creative writing courses out there for everyone, and they’re sure to improve your writing. Even better news, the best online creative writing courses share many of the same qualities.

If you want to learn how to write creatively, or if you simply want to improve your everyday writing, the best online creative writing courses can transform your writing abilities. Let’s explore what you might learn in creative writing classes, and how they help writers of all skill levels.

The Best Online Creative Writing Courses: Contents

What do you do in a creative writing class?

• Reputable Instructor
• Clear Course Description
• Promise of a Great Experience
• Constructive Feedback
• Focus on Craft
• Respect Your Creative Autonomy
• A Writing Community
• Motivate You to Write
• Jumpstart a Writing Habit
• Broaden Your Literary Horizons
• Offer a Healthy Creative Outlet
• Give You Next Steps

How to Make the Most of Online Creative Writing Courses

Every online creative writing class is unique, and different courses emphasize different things. We have classes that are entirely generative, meaning the focus is on writing new poems, essays, stories, or making headway into a novel or memoir project. Other courses might have more of a workshop component, in which you share your work with the class and receive feedback on how to improve your writing.

Some online writing courses also focus on specific skills or types of writing. You might take a class focused entirely on learning the tools for revision, or on learning the elements of fiction writing so you can later employ them in a story or novel.

In short, the best online writing courses typically include the following:

• Lectures and discussions on a topic of creative writing craft.
• Assignments that help you generate new work or revise old work.
• Opportunities to give and receive feedback with your fellow classmates.
• Feedback on your work from the instructor, who themselves is a successfully published author of the type of writing you’re producing.
• A weekly video call. Some courses, including ours, are entirely text-based and asynchronous, but many classes meet at least once a week on Zoom.

In addition to all of this, you will make new friends and connections in the best online creative writing classes. Writing is often a lonely experience for writers, and the bonds you make in creative writing workshops can last a lifetime.

12 Things to Look For In the Best Online Creative Writing Courses

The best online creative writing courses will sharpen your writing skills, help you find your confidence, and introduce you to new communities of writers. How do they do it? Here’s 12 things to look for to make sure you’re spending your money on the right online writing class. 

1. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Have a Reputable Instructor

Your course is only as good as the instructor who teaches it. For online writing classes to teach you the craft, they need to have reputable, trustworthy instructors. A great instructor will also be empathetic, community-oriented, adaptive to your writing needs, and a great writer themselves.

A great instructor will also be empathetic, community-oriented, adaptive to your writing needs, and a great writer themselves.

Do some research on the course instructor: they should have a terminal degree in their field (M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D., etc.), as well as a significant publication history. A reputable instructor will make all the difference in your course: as part of their education, the instructor should have undergone dozens of writing workshops, submitted to countless literary journals, and had their work scrutinized by critics and book lovers alike.

In order for an instructor to help you develop your creative writing skills, they need to be successful on their own. The best instructors are what make the best online creative writing courses.

2. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Have a Clear Course Description

What does the course teach you, and what will you learn week by week? In addition to listing a reputable instructor, the course description should tell you exactly what you’ll gain from taking the course.

In addition to listing a reputable instructor, the course description should tell you exactly what you’ll gain from taking the course.

Be sure you know exactly what you’re getting out of your online creative writing course, including what you might learn and write in the process. Consider what will help you the most as you embark on your writing journey: entering a course with certain goals or learning objectives will help you make the most of the course’s lectures and writing assignments.

There should be no ambiguity: if you’re paying for the course, you deserve to know exactly what you’re paying for. And, if you have questions, ask the program administrator before you enroll. They should be happy to hear from you!

3. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Promise a Great Experience

The best online creative writing courses prioritize one thing: YOU! Your learning, your goals, and your writing should be at the center of your experience. And, your course should guarantee that experience.

The best online creative writing courses prioritize your learning, your goals, and your writing.

Creative writing classes can be a risk, since they probably won’t confer university credit and you probably haven’t interacted with that instructor before. You want to be confident that your learning is guaranteed, otherwise you’ll only waste your time, money, and creativity.

Before you enroll in an online writing course, look to see if the program administrators have a student promise . Your experience in the course should be the number one priority of the instructor and administrators; otherwise, you’re better off looking elsewhere for the best online creative writing courses.

4. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Offer Constructive Feedback

In addition to useful lectures and assignments, creative writing courses give you access to helpful, instructional feedback. Most instructors hold Masters or Doctoral degrees in English or creative writing and, as a result, they have ample knowledge of what works in literature, as well as tons of experience in giving feedback.

Creative writing courses give you access to helpful, instructional feedback.

In the best online creative writing classes, an instructor will both inspire you to write and guide you towards being a better writer. Their feedback will cover the many aspects of great writing. For example, your instructor might comment on:

• Unclear language
• Ideas that need to be expanded
• Sentences that are too wordy or passive
• Opportunities to use more engaging vocabulary
• Places to improve writing structure
• Grammar and spelling corrections

Finally, an instructor will tell you what you are already doing well in your writing. When you write a really great metaphor , use interesting word choice, or find a moment of great insight, your instructor will tell you—highlighting the creative writing skills you have already mastered.

5. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Focus on Craft

You might be wondering how creative writing classes are different from high school English. The big difference is that, where a typical English class focuses on basic grammar and literacy skills, creative writing classes focus specifically on craft.

Creative writing classes focus specifically on craft: the elements of language and storytelling that make a work of prose or poetry successful.

What is creative writing craft? Craft involves the elements of language and storytelling that make a work of prose or poetry successful. Focusing on craft is how creative writing classes primarily improve your writing.

Your writing class might focus on the structure of a short story, the different types of literary devices , the importance of effective word choice , or the elements of storytelling . A writing class should break down successful works of literature into the components that make it work, giving you the tools to practice your own creative writing skills.

Additionally, craft-focused writing helps you with everyday writing. From improving your vocabulary to structuring an email, the creative writing practice translates to improved writing in every aspect of your life.

6. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Respect Your Creative Autonomy

One of the benefits of creative writing classes is the perspective you get from different writers. No two writers are working on the same projects, and in your course, you’re likely to work with students of different genres and writing styles.

your creative authority should be respected no matter how new you are to creative writing.

With so many different writing philosophies in one class, the new ideas you encounter can help strengthen your own writing. But in the worst-case scenario, a student or instructor might try to force their writing philosophy onto you. This is always unfair, as there is no one-size-fits-all writing advice, your creative authority should be respected no matter how new you are to creative writing .

For example, let’s say you’re writing a poem about your childhood cat, and the instructor thinks it should be a poem about your experiences growing up. No matter how many times you explain you want this poem to be about your cat, the instructor keeps telling you to write more about your childhood. By ignoring your goals for the poem, the instructor is not respecting your creative autonomy, because they think they know your writing needs better than you do.

No matter where you are in your writing journey, you are a writer, and you deserve respect and compassion as such. Every writer is on a constant journey of growth and discovery; your instructor and course should acknowledge and respect that. In your course, you will encounter many different ideas, but you should also encounter the freedom to accept or reject those ideas. It’s your writing: you get the final say!

7. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Foster a Writing Community

A creative writing course fosters a creative writing community . This community gives you the motivation to create, as it creates a safe environment to experiment, take risks, and grow in your writing practice.

A writing community gives you the motivation to create, as it creates a safe environment to experiment, take risks, and grow in your writing practice.

For even the most solitary of writers, writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Participating in a community of word enthusiasts can jog your creativity and give you useful feedback on your work. Additionally, the feedback you provide other writers in the community also helps you learn. It’s a self-fulfilling, self-sustaining process, where members of a writing group can continuously grow, improve, and fine-tune their love of the craft.

In fact, well-known authors throughout history have been a part of valuable writing communities, such as The Beat Poets, Stratford-on-Odeon, and other famous writing groups .

When you enroll in creative writing classes, you also take part in a writing community. Foster relationships, make new writing friends, and forge your own writing group—it may one day be famous, too!

8. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Motivate You to Write

Writing is a skill that you can only develop through practice. For anyone just starting on our writing journeys, the best online creative writing classes keep you motivated and accountable.

The best online creative writing classes keep you motivated and accountable.

Every instructor works differently, but you can expect the following in a creative writing class:

• Creative writing prompts
• Daily journaling assignments
• Helpful revisions
• Inspirational readings
• Ideas to combat writer’s block
• Different opinions on how to write creatively

Some courses are even designed to motivate you, such as our course Write Your Novel! The Workshop With Jack . Sometimes, the biggest struggle is simply to begin, and creative writing courses help you do that.

9. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Jumpstart a Writing Habit

The best online creative writing courses will get you into a writing habit. By combining lectures with thought-provoking assignments, one of the primary goals of a writing course is simply to get you writing.

You’ll gain the most from your creative writing courses if you block out the time to write every day.

To make the most of your creative writing classes, try to find time to write every day. It’s best to write at the same time every day, but if your schedule doesn’t allow this, sneak time where you can.

Here are some ways you can steal time as a writer:

• Journal for 15 minutes before you go to bed.
• Write while you wake up with your morning breakfast or coffee.
• Keep a journal on your phone during work and lunch breaks.
• Write on your commute to and from work. If you’re driving, consider keeping an audio journal, where you write by speaking into your phone’s recording device.
• Write on your phone while running on the treadmill.
• Put pen to paper while taking a bath.

These ideas won’t work for everyone, and it all depends on your schedule and lifestyle. Nonetheless, you’ll gain the most from your creative writing courses if you block out the time to write every day, no matter how brief that time is. And, your course should help you find the time to write!

10. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Broaden Your Literary Horizons

You need to read great writing to produce great writing. The best online creative writing courses will introduce you to great literature, giving you additional opportunities to explore the writing craft.

The best online creative writing courses will introduce you to great literature, giving you additional opportunities to explore the writing craft.

In creative writing classes, you might read both classic and contemporary literature. As writers, it’s good to have knowledge of both worlds. Classic literature introduces you to the bedrock of modern writing, including the devices and rhetorical strategies that make for effective poetry and prose.

Contemporary literature, on the other hand, gives you a glimpse into today’s literary zeitgeist. It’s important to understand today’s publishing landscape and the type of work that’s being published, even if you don’t intend to write like contemporary authors.

In fact, it’s better if you don’t try to write like anyone else! Reading other writers shows you what works in literature and what doesn’t, giving you opportunities to experiment with form and style. But, at the end of the day, your writing is for you, not for publishers or particular writing schools.

Use your creative writing classes as opportunities to explore literature, experiment with words, and discover what you’d like to write yourself.

11. The Best Online Creative Writing Classes Offer a Healthy Creative Outlet

Creative writing classes offer a healthy outlet for your creativity and emotions.

A healthy writing space can supplement your emotional health and wellbeing.

How is that so? With a space to put thoughts to paper, many writers inevitably reach breakthroughs about their own feelings and experiences. This is true regardless of whether you write poetry, fiction, plays, articles, or creative nonfiction.

Now, even the best online creative writing courses can’t replace the benefits of therapy. But, a healthy writing space can certainly supplement your emotional health and wellbeing. Between the prompts, community, and writing habits that a creative writing class fosters, you’re sure to come away from your course with renewed emotional health.

12. The Best Online Creative Writing Courses Give You Next Steps

Your education doesn’t end at the end of your course. If anything, the best online creative writing courses are only the beginning of your writing journey!

The best online creative writing courses are only the beginning of your writing journey!

The best online creative writing courses give you opportunities for continuous growth. Those opportunities can take many forms, such as: a list of literary journals to submit to, further readings on a topic of interest, future creative writing classes, or even simply the instructor’s email.

If you’re ready to move on to the next level of your career, your instructor should provide you with next steps. And if you crave more learning, ask the instructor!

A creative writing course is much like life: the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. Being an active participant will teach you as much about creative writing as the instructor will, because engaging with language is how you grow as a writer. Actively working with suggestions and ideas, keeping a daily writing practice, and offering other students constructive feedback will all boost your creative writing skills.

A creative writing course is much like life: the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

Additionally, do your research before you enroll in the course, or you might end up taking a class that isn’t suited to your needs. Look up the instructor for the course, their teaching style and previous publications, and how much experience they have as a writing coach. If they don’t seem well suited towards your learning style, they might develop your creative writing skills, and they won’t be worth the cost.

Find the Best Online Creative Writing Courses at Writers.com!

Are you looking for a writing community? Are you ready to get writing? Check out some of the upcoming courses at Writers.com , the oldest creative writing school on the internet.

Sean Glatch

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Whether you're a beginner or an advanced writer, we have courses in a broad range of disciplines, including fiction , poetry and memoir . You can learn the specifics of a specialism like crime writing , YA or short stories , or study on one of our more comprehensive novel writing and poetry courses. Courses range from the one-day to the year-long , with everything in between.

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I really felt part of the Faber family, and continue to do so. This literary experience will always sit with me, and I will always be grateful to Faber Academy

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Whether you’re looking to develop your own writing skills and editorial practice for your profession or for purely personal interest, our creative writing courses have much to offer you. Choose below from our range of qualifications.

Creative Writing Degrees  Degrees Also known as an undergraduate or bachelors degree. Internationally respected, universally understood. An essential requirement for many high-level jobs. Gain a thorough understanding of your subject – and the tools to investigate, think critically, form reasoned arguments, solve problems and communicate effectively in new contexts. Progress to higher level study, such as a postgraduate diploma or masters degree.

• Credits measure the student workload required for the successful completion of a module or qualification.
• One credit represents about 10 hours of study over the duration of the course.
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• For example, if you study a 60-credit module and successfully pass it, you will be awarded 60 credits.

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Creative Writing Diplomas  Diplomas Widely recognised qualification. Equivalent to the first two thirds of an honours degree. Enhance your professional and technical skills or extend your knowledge and understanding of a subject. Study for interest or career development. Top up to a full honours degree in just two years.

Creative writing certificates  certificates widely recognised qualification. equivalent to the first third of an honours degree. study for interest or career development. shows that you can study successfully at university level. count it towards further qualifications such as a diphe or honours degree., why study creative writing with the open university.

Since 2003, over 50,000 students have completed one of our critically acclaimed creative writing modules. 

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The majority of our modules can be studied by themselves, on a stand-alone basis. If you later choose to work towards a qualification, you may be able to count your study towards it.

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Introduction

There are lots of online creative writing courses to choose from. But, choosing the best online creative writing course for you can be challenging. This is because value is hard to compare as so many courses offer differing levels of expertise, tutor access and duration. Some will just be better than others. It may also be unclear what level of course you should choose.

This guide will help you choose the best online creative writing course by defining exactly what you want to achieve as well as offering guidance on trusted brands, on- vs offline and cost.

First, get a piece of paper or open a new document on your computer – and be ready to start making notes!

What do you want to achieve?

This may sound obvious, but there are so many courses available with particular focuses, that it’s easy to choose the wrong one.

First, write down what you are. For example:

• A complete beginner with no formal training
• An early career writer
• A lover of crime writing
• A professional writer (journalism, marketing)
• A ghostwriter.

Write down what you want to get out of your online creative writing course. Get really specific with what you want to achieve, from the emotional to the tangible.

For example:

• Are you a new writer looking for the foundational skills to get started?
• Do you have an established writing hobby and are looking for particular skills to build on your existing expertise?
• Do you just love learning and want to have some fun?
• Are you looking for feedback on your writing?
• Do you want to end up with a finished novel by the end?
• Do you want to feel like you’ve achieved something by the end of the course?
• Do you want to meet other people who are doing what you’re doing?
• Do you have a particular project that you need help with?
• Do you want to make money from writing and publishing?
• Are you a freelance writer who wants to develop better business writing skills?
• Are you a marketing professional who wants to improve your brand storytelling skills?
• Do you want to become proficient in a particular genre (for example: general fiction , crime , memoir , historical fiction , creative non-fiction , poetry , scriptwriting , etc.)

Add as many as occur to you to your list. This will guide you to specific courses that meet your specific needs. Companies will also use language in their marketing and this may resonate with your emotional desires: achievement, satisfaction, community etc.

First, you must define what level you are at. This can be more complex than it at first seems: for example, you may be an intermediate writer of one genre, but new to another.

• No writing experience at all
• Some writing experience, especially professional
• You may have taken a course
• You may have done lots of online research
• You may have self-published your own work
• You may have had a book published or be working on a finished manuscript that is in discussion with publishers
• You may already have an established career with multiple published books.

Add the answer to your list.

NCW Academy offers courses for writers at different stages of their career, for example: Kickstart Your Poetry (Beginner) and Develop Your Poetry (Intermediate) .

Course topic

Have you defined precisely what course you need to do in order achieve what you want?

There may not be a specific course for your exact needs, but start specific and get broader. A fiction writing course might be appropriate for crime writers or sci-fi writers alike, but if you want to write either of the latter, you may find specific courses for you.

Look at your objectives. If you could create your dream course, what would it be called?

• Epic feminist steampunk for beginners
• Young adult period romance
• Vampire novels for Stephen King fans

While there may not be a specific course for these, you will have an idea of what you want (sci-fi, YA, horror respectively) and you will certainly know what you don’t want – which can stop you from picking the wrong course.

For example, we have courses in the following genres:

• General fiction
• Crime fiction
• Screenwriting
• Creative non-fiction
• Romantic fiction

Course format

It is essential that the creative writing course you choose is delivered in a format that suits your situation. Courses come in two main formats, for example:

• Self-paced courses
• Guided courses.

Self-paced courses don’t have a face-to-face or ‘live’ element, though they may contain video lectures or sessions. As the description suggests, self-paced courses allow you to fit the course into your schedule, around work, children or other commitments. Explore examples of self-paced creative writing courses here .

Guided courses are usually led by a tutor and include a ‘real time’ or ‘live’ element such as webinars, seminars and/or workshops. This live element will tend to complement writing exercises and studying that happens in between sessions. For example, our 12-18-week online tutored courses include two weeks of exercises, followed by a feedback and discussion session with the course tutor. Guided courses tend to be in terms or semesters like schools and universities so you may not be able to start/finish with the flexibility of a self-paced course.

Do you have the time and flexibility to attend sessions at a fixed time? What are those fixed times?

Check your objectives. Write down how you want to do your course.

The amount of tutor time relates to the format point above.

Tutor time is frequently what makes a course cost more or less. The business model for many providers (such as Masterclass) is: create assets once and you can sell them a thousand times; all money over your setup costs is all profit. Online courses like this include no live sessions such as webinars, no access to tutors and no 1-2-1 feedback. This may be in line with what you want to achieve and therefore perfect for you.

Some courses have no tutor, they are simply information, guidance and exercises.

Tutored (recorded)

Some courses will include audio/video materials that feature a tutor.

Tutored (no 1-2-1 access)

Many courses include live sessions (for example lectures) but do not offer 1-2-1 access to the tutor.

Tutored (shared access)

There are courses where the tutor will host online sessions with everyone on the course, allowing people to ask questions.

Tutored (1-2-1 access)

Some courses, in addition to writing and exercises, will include 1-2-1 sessions which allow students to discuss their writing for a set period (usually 30-60 minutes).

Many of the tutor courses will include feedback, or the option to pay for specific feedback – usually in the form of a written report. If you have chosen a course with 1-2-1 time you will be able to discuss your written feedback with them.

Check your objectives. How much contact time – and of what type – do you need to ensure you get what you want?

Other formats

It is also worth considering other learning formats, such as mentorship. Look at your objectives, would mentorship suit you better? For example, have you been on web-based courses without tutor feedback and self-published one or more books? Do you need specific guidance on your projects or skills? If so, mentorship may be a better solution. Read more about how mentoring works .

Workshops can also offer a great way to learn. You can explore our workshops here to see what kinds of things on offer.

There are also some fun-looking writers retreats available for those who have the budget to stay at a venue and immerse themselves in courses with tutors and fellow writers.

Course location

This article is about online creative writing courses, but, depending on your objectives, a location-based in-person course may suit you as multiple options exist.

For example, is the course:

• In-the-flesh, location-based
• A combination of the two.

By choosing an online course you are widening your choices significantly. Even if you live in a big city, there is a larger choice of online courses – and this has been accelerated by the COVID pandemic, when demand for everything to be available online exploded.

However, you may still prefer a location-based course if your objective is to meet people or even ‘get me out of the house’.

If you do decide to take a location-based course, check how long it will take you to get to as this may influence your decision.

Add your preference to your list.

Course ‘home’

Where is the course based? This is important because it is easy to end up signing up for a course in another country (that speaks the same language). For example, if you are in the UK, you may not want to take a US-based course. Again, this will be guided by your objectives. For example: you might be a UK writer wanting to break into the US market or a US expat in the UK looking to study a US course. While the differences in language, style and a nation’s publishing industries may be small, they may be meaningful depending on your needs.

Conversely, the course’s home might not be relevant to your objectives. For example, a screenwriting or poetry course might be internationally universal.

Who created the course?

The online learning industry has exploded in recent years. But not all courses are created equal. Great writers may not be great teachers. And not all course vendors will have access to high-level expertise with which to build a great creative writing course.

As such it is important to see who created the course and how it’s delivered, for example many published writers offer courses but may lack the didactic skills and technology to deliver a course which truly helps different types of student get what they need to improve. Similarly, there are e-learning businesses who do not specialise in or understand creative writing or the publishing industry, and have invited an inappropriate person to create the course.

When researching courses, ensure that the provider matches the level of expertise you need and that they are credible in the area you need. For example, don’t take a poetry course from a crime writer.

To ensure students get a valuable and enjoyable learning experience, National Centre for Writing worked with the University of East Anglia’s School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing to build our online tutored courses . This delivers the expertise of both teaching and writing – and at the highest level.

This relates to the above point: you need to ensure that the tutor has the expertise you need, and that they are a good educator.

Is the tutor authoritative in the area you need? We italicise this as there are lots of talented writers, but they may not have the specific expertise you need, so ensure that the tutor has relevant expertise. How can you know this? Most course providers will have a section on tutor with a biography that includes what they’ve written and/or their academic credentials. You may decide that academic credentials are more likely to yield better learning that a celebrity writer with published works under their belt. Again this will depend on your objectives – a university lecturer may know less about the cut and  thrust of getting published than a published author, while a published author may have no idea how to teach, coach or mentor.

Generally, the more of a beginner you are, the more you should favour academia over publishing: a teacher will know how to support beginners, while a published writer may have valuable insights for more experienced writers.

If you want a course which includes tutor interaction you might also consider chemistry: do you think you will get on well with the tutor. Of course it’s unlikely that you’ll have the opportunity to meet the tutor(s) ahead of time, but the course provider may have audio, video or blogs with the tutor so you can decide whether you’re likely to get on with them. Are they friendly, down-to-earth, domineering, opinionated, supportive etc.?

There are many aspects of time that are important to consider when choosing an online course. This relates to the ability of a course to deliver what you want as well as its relative value.

• What is the course duration? For example, is it a one, two or three-month course?
• How much time will it take to complete the various elements of the course? For example, are there two hours of exercises to complete each week?
• How much tutor time (if relevant) do you get? For example, a one-hour lecture each fortnight; a one-hour lecture and 30-minutes of 1-2-1 time
• How many hours of video/audio tutelage is there?

As you research courses, make a note not only of the course duration, but of the total time you need to complete it, as well as the amount of contact time you will have with tutors. This will help ensure:

• You will get what you want from the course
• It is good value.

Cost, value and your budget

It is hard to compare course value across different providers as there is no uniformity of products. For example, a 12-week course from one provider might include 12 hours of exercises, while a 6-week course from another might include 24 hours of exercises.

Refer to the Time section above to work out exactly what you get for your money.

While time is a key consideration when it comes to the value of your creative writing course, for example quality. Lots of poor-quality assets or more time with a lower-quality tutor may not be as valuable as a smaller amount of time with better assets/tutors. Similarly, don’t choose a cheaper course if it’s less relevant than a more relevant, more expensive one. For example, you may be better off choosing a crime writing course than a generic fiction one if that’s your objective.

Bestselling US epic fantasy author Brandon Sanderson runs a writing course at Brigham Young University, Utah that focuses on fantasy and science fiction. Many of his lectures are available for free on YouTube, but this isn’t good value if you want to learn how to write crime fiction.

Create a shortlist of courses that look relevant first, then assess which is the best value. Include quality, expertise level, total time and access in your assessment.

Course output

Is there something in particular you want to create on the course?

This is worth noting as some courses specify that you will write a complete short story or even a whole novel.

Credibility

How do you know if a creative writing course will be any good? Even before a time of internet scams, there were fly-by-night businesses promising the world and delivering Hell. As such it is important that the course provider is reputable. While recognisable brands can be a safer bet, there may be great providers you haven’t heard of.

While researching online creative writing courses, look out for:

• Tutors with academic/commercial credentials – including university links (for example, our online tutored courses have been created in partnership with the University of East Anglia). Research the tutor on YouTube or they might have done podcasts (as many of our tutors have).
• Providers with links to publishing (for example book publishers and not-for-profits such as National Centre for Writing)
• Reviews around the web (including Google reviews)
• Testimonials and case studies on the website from people who have taken the course
• Well-established, longstanding and trusted brands.

Other things to consider

• Some providers of creative writing courses offer access to online communities to help students stay in touch and deliver peer support
• Many providers use off-the-shelf online teaching platforms and some will be better than others. Find out which platform a provider uses and research whether people like it or not. For example, Obby, Teachable, Thinkific and Baluu are four examples of good quality platforms.

It is also important that the provider helps you to use the platform, for example, this is the video guide to our platform, Teachable.

How is your list coming on? Hopefully you have built a picture of:

• Who you are and what you want to achieve
• The topic and format of the course you need – from length to amount and types of tutor time
• How to check that a provider will deliver high-quality tutors and assets.

While you’re hear, why not check out our courses, workshops and mentoring .

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Creative Writing Classes: Are They Really Worth It?

The rumors are true. You can become a successful author without a degree in creative writing .

In fact, it’s even possible to learn the craft on the cheap, scraping together insight from free articles, library books, and fellow writers. You don’t have to take a formal writing course at all .

So why do creative writing classes even exist?

Loads of reasons, actually. 

For one thing, many aspiring writers learn best in a structured classroom or workshop setting with personal attention from an instructor. 

Creative writing courses also provide opportunities to form relationships with other writers and even find a mentor. They often require you to share your writing and provide feedback on your classmates’ work, both of which teach you how to think more analytically about the craft and embrace constructive criticism .

You don’t even have to be an aspiring author to reap the benefits of these classes. 

You could be a college student looking to boost your communication skills. Or a senior hoping to share their story with future generations. Or a person who’s just looking for a fun hobby.

There are plenty of reasons to pursue formal instruction in writing. The trick is determining whether a class can help you meet your current goals and, if so, which course is right for you.

You and I are going to think through that together. We’ll talk about what you can learn in these courses, key considerations when choosing your class, and how to get the most out of it. 

You’ll even leave with some tips for overcoming the biggest challenges of writing workshops… like the part where you have to share your hot mess of a first draft with a room full of semi-strangers.

First, we need to get clear on what creative writing even is.

What Counts as Creative Writing?

Creative writing is a ridiculously broad term that can mean a lot of things. It basically covers all forms of writing that are creative, personal, and expressive rather than informative and objective.

Creative writing uses literary devices like metaphor and symbolism to create an emotional experience for the reader. In non-creative writing, factual clarity is the primary goal, which often means using direct language and avoiding emotion or bias.

For example, a novel is creative writing. A newspaper article is not.

A poem is creative writing. The user manual for your new smart toilet is not.

If you’re looking at a class that promises to teach you “creative writing,” take a close look at the description to make sure it fits your actual goals. That course could be covering any one of—or even all of—these things:

Forms of Creative Writing

There are three primary forms of creative writing. Each one has approximately half a billion sub-forms and genres , which is why it’s a good idea to be specific in your search for creative writing classes.

Here are the three main forms of creative writing:

Fiction - Any narrative that isn’t true or is even partially made up falls under the category of fiction. This includes novels, novellas , and short stories as well as scripted fiction like plays, screenplays, and teleplays.

Creative nonfiction - This includes anything that’s true but expressed creatively through the biased perspective of the author. In this category, you’ll find things like memoirs , personal essays, travel writing, nature writing, and literary journalism.  

Poetry - Poetry has so many subgenres it’s borderline impossible to define. Generally speaking, it’s an expression of abstract ideas or emotions, often using evocative sensory details and unconventional sentence structures. It may or may not have a deliberate rhythm, it may or may not rhyme, and it might even tell a true or made-up story, stepping its bold little foot into the territory of narrative essays or fiction.

Where to Find Creative Writing Classes

Once you know which specific creative writing skills you’d like to develop, how do you find the class that’s right for you?

Turns out, there are a ton of places to look. 

If you want to take an in-person course, you can see what the local community college has to offer. You might also be able to find creative writing classes at a local community center or attend a workshop hosted by a writers’ group.

There are also absolute buckets of online writing courses. Browse the options available on sites like Coursera , Udemy , MasterClass , and Gotham Writers Workshop . Or Google exactly what you’re looking for and see what comes up.

You’ll discover that you have a ton of options. The next challenge is narrowing them down.

How to Choose the Right Creative Writing Class

Once you realize just how many creative writing courses are out there, you may feel a bit overwhelmed. How are you supposed to know which one is right for you?

Start by asking yourself these seven easy-peasy questions:

1. What Do You Want to Write?

Do you want to write fiction? Nonfiction? Poetry?

Whichever one it is, are you able to narrow your preferences down even further? 

Let’s say you know you want to study fiction writing. Is it because you dream of being a novelist? Because you have a great screenplay idea? Or maybe you want to be a novelist, but you’d like to learn the fundamentals by writing a short story first.

Don’t be afraid to get even more specific. For example, if you’d love to learn how to write fantasy , see what fantasy writing courses are out there. 

You may find options that are too specific for where you are in your journey. If you’re still not clear on how to craft a character arc or create unforgettable characters , it might not be time to worry about developing magic systems . 

But maybe a class on fantasy story development will be more beneficial than a more generic fiction writing class.

On that note, if you want to focus on genre fiction (like fantasy, sci-fi , romance , horror … that kind of stuff), make sure you take a genre-friendly class. Some creative writing classes—especially in academia—focus on literary fiction and get a little snooty about the commercial stuff.

2. What are Your Goals?

Think about why you want to take a creative writing class in the first place. What do you hope to get out of this?

Common motivations include:

• Exploring creative writing as a hobby
• Building the skills necessary to become a successful author
• Unwinding and having fun through self-expression
• Leaving a legacy
• Learning how to write books that sell
• Becoming more involved in the writing community
• Sharpening specific creative writing skills, like character development or prose

Based on your goal, which writing courses are likely to help you the most?

Most class descriptions provide a breakdown of the objectives for the class, indicate what kind of assignments or major project you’ll complete, and lay out the topics you’ll cover. For many online courses, you can even read reviews from past students.

All this information can give you a clear indication of what the class can (or cannot) do to help you on your journey.    

3. Do You Want to Learn Online or in Person?

If you prefer online writing courses, you’ll have way more options to choose from. You can also learn from the comfort of your own home and enjoy the opportunity to connect with writers from all over the country… maybe even all over the world.

Depending on the way the class is set up, you might also have a flexible schedule. Some online courses feature pre-recorded video lectures and exercises you can do on your own time. The downside is that you can’t easily connect with your fellow learners and may not get feedback on your work.

Other online creative writing classes have live sessions and assignments with real deadlines, so there’s less flexibility but you can still enjoy the ease of a twenty-foot commute.

In-person classes are great because they help you build relationships with fellow writers in your community (or close enough). They also promote a deeper, more focused commitment. Not only do you have to block out the time and show up, you also physically remove yourself from the distractions of your personal life.

There are pros and cons to both options. Only you can decide what makes sense for you.

4. What Skill Level Does This Course Demand?

If you already have some knowledge of writing fundamentals, you’ll be bored senseless in a class that teaches you what symbolism is and how to use dialogue tags .

You’ll also be miserable in a class that’s way over your head.

Once again, the course description should help you deduce whether this course will be tough enough to advance your writing skills without being so challenging that you can’t keep up. When in doubt, email the instructor and ask if their class is right for someone of your experience level.

5. What Do You Know About the Instructor?

Is the instructor published or working professionally in your area of study? What are their strengths as a teacher? Does this seem like the right person to help you reach your writing goals?

Whenever possible check out reviews or ask previous students what they say about their class and teaching style. Just because an instructor gets great work out of their students, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re the best guide for everyone.

If your only objective is to have fun exploring a new hobby, you probably don’t need the “look to your left, look to your right, only one of you will survive this class” instructor.

6. What Do You Know About the Other Students?

You don’t need to get your hands on the class roster. I just mean, what do you know about the type of people who typically take this particular writing course?

What are their goals? How advanced are their creative writing skills? Are they creative writing majors in a competitive academic environment? Newbies who are just trying to get a sense of what the writing world is like? Aspiring indie authors eager to encourage one another?

Also, how many of them are there? Whether you’re hoping for more focused guidance from the instructor or kiiiiinda wanna blend into the crowd, class size is something to consider. 

7. How Much Does It Cost?

Depending on how extensive they are or where you find them, creative writing courses can cost anywhere from a little to a whole, whole lot. Before you get attached to any specific class, search your soul (and your bank account) and decide how much you’re ready to invest in building your writing skills.

The right answer is whatever answer is right for you .

What to Expect in a Creative Writing Course

Okay. You’ve enrolled, you bought a new notebook, you’ve got your four-color pen… now what? What can you expect from your creative writing course? 

Seeing as how this grand world of ours is full of so many different types of creative writing and different writing classes and different writing instructors, I can’t give you a super specific answer.

But I’ll do my best to provide a general overview of what you might experience in a very typical writing class.

What You’ll Learn

I know I seem pretty obsessed with course descriptions at this point, but that really is the best place to look if you want to know what topics your instructor will cover.

Other than that, here are some concepts that are commonly covered in the following creative writing classes:

In a standard fiction writing class, you’ll likely go over all the essential building blocks of a story. That includes plot structure , character development , conflict , setting , and theme .

You might also have an opportunity to dive into the prose itself, working to perfect more detailed skills like dialogue , scene description , and pacing .

If you study any form of script writing (playwriting, screenwriting, or teleplay writing), you may also learn formatting rules and how to write action, especially if it’s a beginner class.

You’ll have a lot of writing assignments. Some creative writing classes are structured to help you complete a project, in which case your assignments might build towards writing a script, novel, novella, short story, or children’s book.

You can probably expect a lot of reading assignments, too, as your instructor will want you to see how published authors have mastered the skills you’re learning.

Creative Nonfiction

In this type of course, you’ll most likely learn how to find the narrative arc in a true story, zero in on a theme, and tell a compelling tale without abandoning reality. 

In some classes, you might also explore ethical issues surrounding nonfiction writing or dive into advanced topics like incorporating research and blending personal stories with societal issues.

As for assignments, it’s the same deal as if you were learning fiction. You’ll probably read work by the greats, do some writing of your own, and end the class with at least one good personal essay or the beginnings of a great memoir.  

In a poetry class, you can expect to cover different poetic forms (haiku, sonnet, all that jazz) and learn a truckload of literary devices. You’ll probably dive into elements like meter, rhyme, and rhythm.

Try not to be too shocked when I tell you that you’ll also write poems—like, a ton of poems—and read even more. 

Class Structure

As for the way the class is structured, your course will land somewhere on the lecture-to-workshop spectrum. Allow me to explain.

In some creative writing classes, you mostly listen to the teacher teach, do some assigned reading, and turn your writing assignments in to be graded or critiqued by the instructor.

Actually, there are online creative writing classes where you don’t even do that much. 

MasterClass courses, for example, are completely self-directed, with pre-recorded video lectures and workbooks you go through on your own. You don’t share your work with the instructor because the instructors are people like Margaret Atwood, and Margaret Atwood is very busy doing other things.

On the other end of the spectrum are writing workshops, where there’s a lot less teaching and loads more writing. In this scenario, you and your fellow students spend most of your class time sharing and providing feedback on one another’s work.

Then, of course, there are creative writing courses that land somewhere between the two, with a little sharing, a little lecturing, and hopefully a lot of learning.

Specialized Creative Writing Courses

Another thing you might notice on your quest to find creative writing classes is that some of these courses get very specific. There are plenty of advanced skills you can learn to take your writing to the next level, boost your qualifications in a specific area, or improve your odds of making a living off your words.

Let’s take a quick look at the kind of specialized classes you might find as you search for creative writing courses. 

By Skill 

Rather than learning the basics of a particular form of writing, you can take classes that invite you to focus on a single skill or element.

You might learn how to craft a compelling plot, develop characters with psychological and emotional depth, or write for a specific audience .

You can also find a course that will help you develop non-writing skills that will still make you a better writer, like developmental or copy editing .

As I mentioned before, it may be worth looking for creative writing classes that are specific to your genre. Each genre comes with its own tropes, conventions, and reader expectations. You can embrace or subvert them, but you can’t do either if you don’t know them.

You might find more generalized courses like “How to Write Mysteries” or more specific ones like “How to Build Romantic Tension.” 

The Business

Then there are the courses that focus less on the craft of creative writing and more on the business of it .

If you hope to publish traditionally , you might look for classes on writing query letters , creating book proposals, or navigating the publishing industry as a whole.

If you plan to self-publish , you can find courses on writing to market , developing a marketing plan , the entire self-publishing process , or any of the other six thousand things indie authors have to think about.

This kind of education can be extremely helpful if you hope to make a living from your words.

Seizing the Opportunity to Build a Community

Writers need other writers. Your peers can inspire you to stay on course, share resources and opportunities, and possibly even connect you with gatekeepers when you’re ready to publish. 

Most importantly, they understand the journey you’re on. That might not seem like a big deal now, but you’ll see the benefit of it when you’re standing there in your salsa-stained sweatshirt, trying to explain to your helplessly confused spouse that you’re freaking out because your protagonist derailed your entire third act by making a choice that wasn’t in the outline .

Yeah. Writing gets weird. Your people can help you get through the weirdness, and writing courses present great opportunities for finding your community.

Here’s how to make it happen:

Connecting With Classmates

The tricks for making friends in a creative writing class are the same as in any other context. Make friendly conversation before and after class and during breaks. Share ideas or resources that might be helpful.

Focus on connecting with people you’d genuinely like to be friends with. The relationships that help you the most in the long term will always be the ones that start from a real connection.

Also keep in mind that a creative writing class is a vulnerable place, especially if it’s a workshop where everyone is sharing early drafts.

When you offer feedback to your fellow writers, be kind and constructive. On the flip side, notice which of your classmates know how to be helpful without scoffing at your efforts. That combination of positive and enriching is absolutely essential for a long-term writer friendship.

Staying Connected

The next challenge is staying in touch with these people after the course ends. There are many ways to do this.

Tell the person or people you want to stay in touch with that you want to stay in touch with them. Swap phone numbers or email addresses if you haven’t already.

You could also invite someone to meet up for lunch or coffee in the near future.

You could arrange to be critique partners for one another on your current project. Or simply agree to be accountability partners, checking in with each other once a week to see how things are going.

If you really clicked with your classmates, you might consider creating a writers’ group. This happened with an online essay writing class I took once. We continued sharing personal essays and giving feedback for about a year after the course ended.

If all of these options overwhelm you, start small. Become social media chums. Engage with their content. As you become more comfortable, send them a private message asking how their latest work in progress is going. Build the relationship actively but gradually.

Common Obstacles 

I promised to go over some of the trickier or more intimidating aspects of creative writing courses. These are the little obstacles that crop up when you’re suddenly in a position of having to share your work or craft masterful writing on someone else’s schedule.

It can be overwhelming, but it’s all survivable. And, as is the case with most overwhelming things, these challenges will build character and better prepare you for a writing career, if that’s what you’re after. 

Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is that thing where all your creative gears seem to come to a grinding halt. You can’t think of a single story idea or figure out what happens next or even write one coherent sentence.

It’s a frustrating problem that gets even tougher when you have to have ten pages ready to share with the class by Friday. 

So how do you get past it?

The best move is to first identify what’s really going on. Your imagination might be frozen because you’re afraid your story will suck. Or maybe you can’t quiet your inner critic or you’ve got a lot going on in your life and your brain can’t handle another job right now.

You can find a ton of exercises to work through these issues in this article . In the meantime, one of the best ways to get through writer’s block is to simply let it be bad. Let yourself write garbage, if that’s how it has to be. You can fix it once it’s on the page.

Fear of Feedback

Not exactly stoked to have a bunch of people you just met tell you what’s wrong with your story? None of us are, my friend. 

Nevertheless, receiving constructive criticism is crucial for improving your skills. Plus, if you plan to build a writing career, you’ll be receiving loads of feedback on your work for the rest of your life. Creative writing classes can help you ease into this jarring scenario so you can be a real pro about it when you receive notes from agents, editors, and readers.

We actually have a guide on managing this fear, too, so I’ll just give you the short version for now:

Focus on becoming a better writer rather than proving that you’re a good one.

You might already be fantastic. But you can always be better, and if that’s your goal, you’ll be able to appreciate feedback for the gift that it is.

Meeting Deadlines

Creative writing almost always takes longer than we think it should. In fact, the more you learn, the longer you’ll probably spend on your assignments. 

I recommend scheduling your writing time in advance. Block out writing sessions and stick to them.

Not only does this help you prioritize your writing rather than leaving it to the last minute, it also trains your brain to enter the creative zone when your official writing time rolls around. That helps you get the work done faster.

You can find more tips on creating an effective writing schedule here , advice for building a writing habit here , and tricks for writing faster here .

Keep Learning Beyond Creative Writing Classes

You won’t learn all the creative writing skills you need in a single class. You won’t even learn them in a single lifetime. 

Great writers pursue education continuously. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend all your walkin’ around money on online writing classes. 

You also learn the craft by reading the authors you admire, studying the way they structure their stories and shape their prose.

You learn by sharing your work with critique partners for feedback and by examining their work—an exercise that trains you to think more analytically about what makes a great story great.

You can read books and articles on writing. You can attend conferences and seminars and literary events.

And you can hang out with us here at Dabble.

We’ve got loads of free articles and other resources in DabbleU . We’ve got a free ebook that walks you through the entire process of writing a novel. We’ve got a free newsletter that delivers hot tips right to your inbox.

All of this is available to you even if you don’t use our super rad, all-in-one writing tool .

And if you do ?

So glad you asked. Premium Dabble subscribers also get access to a bonus, information-packed newsletter and exclusive workshops. (You can get a sneak peek of one here .)

Not a Dabbler yet, but always been a little curious? Click this link for a free trial. That gets you access to all Premium features for two weeks. You don’t even have to enter a credit card!

Consider it a free education.

Abi Wurdeman is the author of Cross-Section of a Human Heart: A Memoir of Early Adulthood, as well as the novella, Holiday Gifts for Insufferable People. She also writes for film and television with her brother and writing partner, Phil Wurdeman. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. When she’s not writing, Abi is most likely hiking, reading, or texting her mother pictures of her houseplants to ask why they look like that.

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• Creative Writing Programme (In-person)
• Creative Writing Programme (Online)
• The Life Writing Programme (In-person)
• Advanced Writing Workshops (In-person)
• Advanced Poetry Workshops (In-person)
• Advanced Poetry Workshops (Online)
• Creative Writing Programme (Blended)

Creative Writing Programme (In-person) 2024-2026

(two-years. one morning or evening a week for 25 weeks per year), to enrol on a course scroll to the bottom of this page.

The Creative Writing Programme has been carefully designed to develop your understanding of the craft of writing, to provide you with the support and structure you need to push your skills to another level and to complete a planned writing project. Your course tutors will teach you the writing techniques you need to complete your work, offer you focused written feedback and help you to set realistic deadlines.

In your first year you will reflect on the sources and themes of your own writing:

• develop a greater understanding of your own creativity and the creative process
• learn how to create dynamic fictional characters
• discover ways of enhancing the dramatic impact of your fiction and explore the different ways in which stories can be told.

In the second year the focus will shift from short scenes to longer narratives. You will:

• develop your understanding of plot, story structure and the ‘world of the story’
• explore the complex relationship between characters, narrators and readers
• discover the importance of theme, conflict and dramatic tension and gain further insights into language, technique and style.

Throughout the course you will deepen your understanding of the function and role of character as you move from short character sketches to multi-character scenes, to the complex interaction and character development of longer narratives.

You will hone your critical and editing skills and develop your eye for a good story. In the writing workshops, you will share, discuss and evaluate your work with the other writers in your writing group.

By the end the programme you will have developed a substantial body of work and have either finished your writing project or be in a position to bring it to completion.

What this creative writing course will do for you

This programme will help you:

• develop your confidence and ability as a writer
• organise and manage your work
• evolve a strong individual style.

It is an ideal programme for writers who want to write a novel, a collection of short stories or a challenging piece of prose and are looking for structure, encouragement and feedback to help them achieve this.

All you will need to bring to the programme is your imagination, a love of reading, a passion to write and the determination to succeed.

Jess’s perspective

‘I’d been secretly writing short stories for years but lacked the confidence to show anyone else my work. The creative writing programme is ideal for developing confidence – it’s a combination of giving and receiving feedback from peers, great tutors with fantastic writing exercises, knowledge of theory, technique, and the publishing industry. My tutor, encouraged me to send off stories in the first term, and as a result I ended up with seven short stories in print in different publications. By the end of the programme I had almost completed my novel Snake Ropes . Through the Agents and Publishers Day on the programme I met an agent who liked my work and I secured a two-book deal with Sceptre.   If I’d been asked a couple of months before starting the course if I’d ever feel able to write a novel, I’d have said no. Doing the Creative Writing Programme really helped me to realise my potential.

Jess Richards, author of Snake Ropes and Cooking with Bones

What is required of me?

Over the two years you will need to organise a minimum of twelve hours per week for classes and reading/ writing time.

You will need to have access to a computer with email and an internet connection as the programme uses an online learning platform to allow students to keep in touch outside of the taught sessions.

How our creative writing courses work

The programme follows a structure of four creative writing courses over two years. Weekly seminars of two and a half hours include a mix of practical writing exercises, discussions, group work, tutor-led feedback and taught sessions.

You will work closely with two of our experienced tutors, who will meet you for one-to-one tutorials. There are also options to take masterclasses with visiting tutors in the Easter and summer holidays – two masterclasses a year and included with your course fee.

At the end of the course is Publishing Day, an opportunity to find out about the publishing process and meet publishing professionals. That is also included in your course fee. 

 The in-person seminars are taught at the Friends Meeting House in Brighton which is accessible and central.

Once you have enrolled you will be taken to your course page on our website. When your course starts your tutor will add course outlines, supporting seminar notes, writing exercises and a Writers’ Forum where you can chat with other writers in your group.

Click here to read more about the content and structure of individual courses

Programme length:.

Two years. Maximum group size 15

The Friend’s Meeting House , Ship Street, Brighton BN1 1AF. The Friends Meeting House is an accessible venue.

You will be able to select one of these morning or evening groups on payment at the bottom of this page

Monday mornings: 10-12.30pm

Tuesday evenings: 6.30-9pm

Wednesday evenings: 6.30-9pm

Autumn term: 30th September – 13th  December (Reading Week 28th – 1st November)

Spring term: 6th January – 28th March (Reading Week 17th – 21st February)

Summer term: 28th April – 23rd May

Easter Holiday masterclasses: 4th, 5th and 6th April (in-person). 12th and 13th April (online)

Summer Holiday masterclasses: 13th, 14th and 15th June (in-person). 28th and 29th June (online)

Dates for the 2025-2026 year will be given in the summer term of 2025.

Entry requirements:

No formal qualifications are required but a love of reading and writing is essential.

Programme tutors:

Cathy Hayward (programme director), Bethan Roberts, Hannah Vincent, Mick Jackson, Tammye Huf and Laura Wilkinson 

Fee: £1,249.17 + VAT (total £1,499) per year

The fees include:

• Two-year programme. 25 weeks of taught classes per year. Pitched at graduate degree level
• Four one-to-one sessions with an experienced tutor over the two years
• Two one-day weekend masterclasses a year (with option to purchase additional ones
• Publishing Day and meeting with an agent at the end of the course
• Five student and alumni readings/ social events across the year (small fee applies for refreshments for the in-person events)

A 10% deposit (£149.99) is paid at the start of the first year by way of deposit for the second year. This is then taken off the second year’s fees.

Students can also pay in instalments: £949.49 (half the course fees plus the second year deposit plus £50 admin fee) at the start of the autumn term and then £749.50 at the start of the spring term.

The second year course fees will then be £1,350 including VAT.

To enrol: choose one of the payment links at the bottom of this page and click on it

Taster days:.

We run several taster sessions for our in-person and online courses in July and September. These two-hour workshops give you a flavour of how our courses work, allow you to explore your creativity and enable you to meet fellow writers and our programme director and tutors. Learn more and book your place .

Please ensure you have read our Terms and Conditions . For further information on this course or our other programmes contact

Cathy Hayward

[email protected]

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Building Fictional Worlds

Creative director, visual artist, writer, editor

The School of Visual Arts online courses are hosted in Canvas, our College-wide learning system. Most computers (5 years old or newer recommended) can access the course(s) without a problem. The courses work with Windows (Windows 7 and newer), Macintosh (Mac OSX 10.10 and newer), and Linux (chromeOS). Participants will need a minimum screen size of 800x600 (the average size of a netbook) and good broadband (Minimum of 512kbps) Internet connection to participate in the online courses.

One business day after completing registration, you will receive a confirmation email from the Registrar’s Office which includes a schedule, username and password .

Didn’t get the confirmation email?

• Search for an email with subject line: “Your SVA Class Schedule” - sometimes the email goes to spam or junk.
• Search an alternate email address that you might have used to register.
• Reach out to [email protected] to request for the confirmation email to be resent.

Steps to Access Your Online Course

• Login to myid.sva.edu
• Select the Canvas LMS icon
• The Canvas application is your online classroom. Here you can find your Zoom links and course materials such as supply lists, discussion boards, recorded lectures, etc. You will use Zoom for live video meetings. Your instructor will show you around how their particular course is organized.
• For more information on Canvas, please visit the online courses section of the SVAIT User Guide.

Don’t see your course in Canvas?

• You should see your course on your Canvas dashboard by 5:00 PM one day before the first class session.
• If you are still having trouble finding your course through Canvas, please reach out to [email protected]

Issues logging in?

• Reach out to [email protected] .

Trying to access the Adobe Creative Suite?

• Please reference the SVA User Guide here for further instruction.