Marylee MacDonald's Blog: Writing and Caregiving - Posts Tagged "creative-writing-classes"

Online writing classes can save you from a world of hurt. Rejection from agents. Bong letters from publishers. Or, if you’re self-pubbing it, no sales on Amazon. Aspiring writers have passion and desire. However, it’s often hard for a new writers to put their stories into words. So, how do you learn to write? Well, first you study.

In the old days writers learned from older writers or picked apart novels and tried to figure out the craft. Some studied writing in school.

In a 1941 Paris Review interview with Steven Marcus, author Normal Mailer said this:

When I first began to write again at Harvard. I wasn’t very good. I was doing short stories all the time, but I wasn’t good. If there were fifty people in the class, let’s say I was somewhere in the top ten. My teachers thought I was fair, but I don’t believe they ever thought for a moment that I was really talented. Then in the middle of my sophomore year I started getting better. I got on the Harvard Advocate, and that gave me confidence, and about this time I did a couple of fairly good short stories for English A-1, one of which won Story magazine’s college contest for that year. I must say that Robert Gorham Davis, who was my instructor then, picked the story to submit for the contest and was confident it would win.

After World War II, writers took correspondence courses. Newly released from nearly freezing to death in a Siberian gulag, Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, a mathematician by training, took a correspondence course in literature from Moscow University. While working on that course, he wrote his short novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, a book that sent shock waves through post-Stalinist Russia. Solzhenitsyn launched a career that eventually led to a Nobel Prize.

Online Classes in Creative Writing
Today, instead of correspondence courses, universities in North America offer online classes in Creative Writing. Those classes cost a lot of money.

That’s why I am thrilled to tell you about online writing classes you can afford. These online writing classes are free or cheap. You don’t even need to be a high school or university graduate to enroll. If there is a cost, it will be modest, and you can apply for financial aid.

Online Writing Classes Offered Through MOOCs
A MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course that delivers free content, via the internet, to an audience of unlimited size. MOOCs are online classes designed for a worldwide audience, including people in developing countries.

Although the emphasis in MOOCs is on computer and business skills, you can find great values and topnotch instruction in creative writing.

For writing courses, it’s obviously an advantage to have feedback from faculty and peers, so there’s sometimes a very small fee, but nothing like what you’d pay if you were to enroll in a university’s online course. Financial aid is available to those who need it.

Totally Free Online Classes at FutureLearn
www.FutureLearn.com

FutureLearn’s classes are free. These are a couple of examples, but more come online all the time, so check back.

Start Writing Fiction – This 8-week class begins October 2017 and it’s FREE. The hands-on course helps you to get started with your own fiction writing. You’ll focus on the central skill of creating characters.

An Introduction to Screenwriting – This 2-week class is also FREE. You’ll explore the key concepts and fundamental principles involved in the process of screenwriting.

Online Classes Offered Through Coursera
www.Coursera.com

Go the the main site and type “writing” in the search box.

You’ll learn that Coursera offers a 5-course “Creative Writing Specialization.” The Specialization covers elements of three major creative writing genres: short story, narrative essay, and memoir. If you opt for the short story track, you’d spend four weeks each on plot, character, setting and description, and style. Each class in the sequence costs $295; however, you can easily apply for financial aid. At the end, you will do a 7-week “Capstone project,” meaning you will write a complete short story and revise it.

“You will master the techniques that good writers use to compose a bracing story, populated with memorable characters in an interesting setting, written in a fresh descriptive style. You will analyze and constructively evaluate peer writing. In the Capstone, you will draft, rewrite, and complete a substantial original story in the genre of your choosing.

Our courses are designed for anyone from the aspiring short story writer to established novelist. Whether you have a finished novel sitting on your desk calling for a fresh look or have had the germ of an idea for a decade, this Specialization gives you tools to achieve your goal. Through 4 courses focused on a key aspect of writing, and taken in any order you choose, you will develop a stronger ability to not only refine your writing, but critique writing in general and find inspiration in the works you are already reading.”

The Faculty Makes This a Standout Program
What’s amazing to me–and what could be a real opportunity for you–is the outstanding Faculty: Salvatore Scibona, Amy Bloom, Brando Skyhorse, and Amity Gaige. These are all well known writers. When you reach the Capstone level, presumably these folks will have a look at your work.

Goodies for Those Who Do the Work
But learning how to write and revise a short story isn’t the only benefit. When you complete your first assignment, you’ll get big discounts from the program’s sponsors. Write-Bros screenwriting software comes with an 80% discount. You can also get a 30% discount from Scrivener. This is the software I use to write my novels.

For more info like this, please visit my website: www.maryleemacdonaldauthor.com/online-writing-classes-enroll-free/