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Creative Writing Classes for Adults: Everything to Know Before You Enroll

Sean Glatch  |  July 30, 2024  |  Leave a Comment

There are hundreds of creative writing classes for adults, both online and in a city near you. Adult learners looking to work on their writing skills will find no shortage of options around them. But, which courses are right for you? What are creative writing classes for adults like? How do you get the most out of them?

This article answers those questions and plenty more. Whether you’re writing poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or something in-between, this article guides you through the world of creative writing education. Here’s everything you need to know about creative writing classes for adults.

Creative Writing Classes for Adults: Contents

The Best Places for In-Person and Online Creative Writing Classes for Adults

What do creative writing classes for adults include, what are creative writing classes for adults like, how writing classes for adults are different from school, other reasons to look forward to adult learning, why you are already ready for your class, you’re never too old for a writing class, things to think about before taking creative writing classes for adults, how to get the most out of online writing classes for adults, more resources for learning creative writing.

To start, where can you take online writing classes for adults?

We can’t recommend ourselves enough as a great place for writers of all stripes to hone their craft. Writers.com has been in the business of online creative writing classes for adults since 1995, and in that time, we’ve helped thousands of writers find, sharpen, and share their voices with the world. Whether you want to write for your own wellbeing, get into an MFA program, or publish with the Big 5, our online writing classes for adults are sure to help.

That said, there are plenty of creative writing programs, both online and in-person in plenty of U.S. cities. Here are some schools that offer online creative writing classes for adults:

• Writers.com
• Gotham Writers
• Writing Co-Lab
• The Writing Salon
• Writing Pad
• Loft Literary
• Writing Workshops
• Story Studio
• The Writers’ Center

If you’re looking to weigh your options, take a look at our ever-growing list of MFA, in-person, and online writing programs:

https://writers.com/creative-writing-programs#best-writing-programs

While it depends on the writing program and the syllabus for the class, you can expect most creative writing classes for adults to include the following:

• Weekly lectures and readings.
• Generative writing prompts and assignments.
• Opportunities to read and critique other students’ work.
• Opportunities to get your work read and critiqued by both the instructor and the other students.

If the class has an in-person or Zoom component, then you can expect some or all of these elements to take place live.

Your class experience will obviously depend on a number of factors, including the genre of writing, the course instructor, and even the other students who enroll.

That said, most creative writing classes for adults are:

• Supportive: Your work will receive the care and attention it deserves no matter what stage it’s in.
• Constructive: Other writers will point out opportunities to help your piece get more closely aligned with your vision for it.
• Creatively nurturing: Creative writing classes for adults provide loads of inspiration, ideas, and doorways into writing and editing your work.
• Community-oriented: You’re more likely than not to leave your course with new friends, connections, and writing partners.

Some classes are more challenging than others, and a good writing program will mention what experience, if any, a student should have before enrolling in a class. That said, the best creative writing classes for adults aren’t necessarily the most challenging ones—it’s the classes that help you write what you need to write.

Some students worry that taking a creative writing course will have the same feeling as taking a class in high school or college. That fear is valid—but, luckily, creative writing classes for adults are nothing like English Class.

For one thing, you’re choosing to be in the class, as is every other student. For another, nobody is trying to punish you, correct your behavior, or tell you how wrong you are about something.

However, the most important distinction to be made is that you’re in the class learning what you want to learn, not what anyone else thinks you need to learn. In the best classes, you can respond to the lectures and assignments in whatever ways make sense for your own writing projects and interests. And, you’re in the class with other people who share your passion and excitement for writing.

As a result, the energy of a creative writing classroom is probably nothing like any class you’ve taken in the past.

The differences between high school and writing classes for adults cannot be overstated. Here are some other reasons to get excited for whichever courses you end up taking:

• Everyone wants to be there: Being in a room of people who share your passion is hard to find. Creative writing classes for adults make it easier.
• Everyone is more interesting: As you grow older, you become more specific as a person. You have more unique life experiences and a stronger sense of self, which isn’t the case in high school or even college. As a result, everyone can learn from each other in a writing course.
• There’s no grade at the end: So you don’t have to worry about whether you’re good enough, slacking behind, or getting into college.
• You don’t have to deal with any real hierarchies: In high school, the teachers and administrators have more power than you; so do the upperclassmen. That’s not the case in writing courses—often, the teacher speaks to you like you’re on the same level as them, which they often are.
• You’re there for yourself: Whether it’s to work on your writing skills or work towards a project, your class is for your development, not for you to keep busy on useless information.
• The class isn’t meant to overwhelm you: Most adult learners have other obligations—children, family expectations, full-time jobs, etc. While you certainly need to make time and be diligent in your class, you don’t need to rearrange your entire life like you would for an MFA program.
• The learning is more targeted: You are learning only what you intend to learn for your own writing goals and projects.

You are also more primed for success in creative writing classes for adults than you might think, because:

• You have more depth and life experience : In other words, you already have a ton of material to work with in your class. A good instructor simply gives you the tools and prompts to bring that experience onto the page.
• You have excitement around your writing: Learning is a whole lot easier when you actually care about the topic.
• You are more up to the challenge than you may realize: Writers have a tendency to not believe in themselves, even when they’re good at what they do and are pursuing an artistic vision. Yes, even NYT bestsellers. Yes, even tenured professors.

Some writers might talk themselves out of taking a class simply because of their age. Perhaps they feel like they were last in school so long ago, how can they expect to learn anything now? Or, why try to catch up on learning creative writing, when there are so many people who are younger and more ahead of the game?

It might also feel disheartening, in a way, to take up a skill you wanted to learn so many years ago, but never had the chance to. Is it worth trying to learn creative writing at this stage in life?

Absolutely, yes. Writers.com has students taking our classes well into their 70s and 80s; a few are even older.

More importantly, worrying about whether you’re good enough, smart enough, talented enough, young enough, or anything else are simply manifestations of the feeling that your words don’t matter. They do. Everyone has a story that deserves to be told, and everyone deserves to learn how to tell their stories.

If anything, it’s brave and inspiring to learn new skills later in life. We can always grow and develop as people. Besides, there are plenty of people who know how to write well, but have nothing to write about. Now that you’ve been alive for a while, you probably have much more to say than someone in their 20s or 30s—which is not to say that their stories are unimportant, only that they don’t have as much depth and life experience.

Again, if you’re considering enrolling in creative writing classes for adults, take the plunge. You will find yourself getting excited and comfortable much sooner than you think, and once you start writing, you probably won’t be able to stop.

Of course, creative writing classes still involve work—even if it’s work you want to do. So there are a few things to think about before you enroll to make classes you take truly beneficial towards your writing journey.

First, ask yourself: what is it that I want to get out of a class? Some options include:

• Writing a large portion of a writing project, such as a novel, memoir, or poetry collection.
• Strengthening my abilities as a writer and learning new skills.
• Getting feedback on work that I want to eventually publish.
• Finding inspiration and new ideas to write towards.
• Developing community with writers who share my passion and interests.

There are other reasons to join creative writing classes for adults, but these ones stand out as the most common. Not every class will meet every need, so you want to consider what it is you’re hoping to gain from a class so that you enroll in the right one for you.

Once you enroll, you can ensure you get the most out of the class by having a consistent writing practice and dedicating enough time for the class.

While online writing classes for adults are a lot of fun, they can also be a lot of work. Setting aside a consistent amount of time to read the lectures, write towards the assignments, and respond to other students’ work is essential to learning what you enrolled to learn. Be prepared to focus—and, if you need to, be prepared to create the space you need to focus, whether that’s in your house, at a coffee shop or library, or even out in nature.

And, once your class ends, treat that time you carved out as sacred. When you have a consistent writing practice, you’ll be amazed at how much work you can get done.

Here are some additional guides we’ve put together on getting the most out of online creative writing classes for adults:

• 8 Things to Know About Taking Fiction Classes Online
• 8 Things to Know About Taking Creative Nonfiction Fiction Classes Online
• 8 Things to Know About Taking Poetry Classes Online
• 12 Things to Look For in the Best Online Writing Classes
• Creative Writing Programs

Take Your Next Course at Writers.com!

Whether you’re new to writing poetry or finishing the Next Great American Novel, Writers.com has a class for you. Take a look at our upcoming online courses , where you’ll receive expert instruction and feedback on everything you write.

Sean Glatch

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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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