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How to Write a Novel (Premium)

Write a novel in three months in this premium course led by author and ghostwriter Tom Bromley. Join our next class, May 2024.

Taught by Tom Bromley

Poetry: How to Spark Creativity with Verse

Curious about poetry but don’t know where to start? Join us for 10 days of easy poetry exercises and get your creative juices flowing.

Taught by Emma Murf

How to Write Mind-Blowing Fantasy Fiction

Want to become the next Frank Herbert or N.K. Jemisin? With this free 10-day course, you can learn the basics of writing fantasy.

Taught by Campfire

How to Master the 'Show, Don't Tell' Rule

Learn how to follow the golden writing rule in this free 10-day course from the Reedsy team.

Taught by Reedsy

How to Turn Up the Heat in Your Romance

Ready to steam up your romance? Kelly Palmer's free course takes you through the essentials of hot writing: from creating tension to writing appealing sex scenes!

Taught by Kelly Palmer

How to Write an Irresistible Romance

Romance editor Kate Studer presents this amazing course that will get you started on of the most popular genres in publishing.

Taught by Kate Studer

How to Write YA That Sells

In this free 10-day course, YA author and editor Blair Thornburgh will take you through how to write YA that you can actually sell to a publisher.

Taught by Blair Thornburgh

How to Write for Middle-Grade Readers

Learn how to write for middle-grade readers from Judy Goldschmidt, a YA and MG editor whose credits include numerous NYT best-sellers and prize-winners.

Taught by Judy Goldschmidt

Understanding Point of View

Learn how to master each of the major points of view. With the help of writing exercises, you'll hone your ability to write from every possible perspective.

Taught by Gabriela Pereira

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Our online writing courses are taught by professionals, including bestselling fantasy author Ben Galley and former Simon & Schuster editor Kate Angelella. Topics include:

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• Using dialogue to further your plot and develop your characters
• Creating an iron-clad writing routine

We’ve got you covered on all these topics and more. Each 10-part course is delivered to your inbox, making these the most convenient creative writing courses on the internet. By saving both time and money, you’ll be able to reinvest in your dreams and get one step closer toward making them a reality.

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• Online Courses /

10 Free Creative Writing Courses Online with a Certificate 

• Updated on  
• Feb 6, 2024

Anyone can take creative writing courses online. These courses are meant for beginners who want to give a chance to their creative flair. After completing a creative writing course, students can find career opportunities in journalism , editorial, copywriting , blogging, advertising , proofreading, ghostwriting, screenwriting , and book writing. Most of the creative writing courses can be completed in a day or a few weeks. Moreover, they are available free of cost. The virtual lessons cover tips and tricks that can be useful in the creative journey of an individual. Keep reading to learn more about free creative writing courses online. 

This Blog Includes:

Sharpened visions: a poetry workshop, creative writing specialization, national centre for writing online courses , the craft of storytelling, how to write a novel: structure & outline, script writing: write a pilot episode for a tv or web series , skillshare online creative writing classes, oxford online courses in creative writing, start writing fiction, free online creative writing courses, top 10 free creative writing courses online.

Here is a list of the 10 free creative writing courses online. Some of these courses come with certifications and others do not. We have provided the fee details, course level, etc for your reference.

CalArts is offering one of the leading creative writing courses online. This Poetry Workshop covers a total of 6 modules in which students will learn about metaphor and other formulas of difference, abstraction, image, rhyme, rhythm, poetic lines, and revision strategies. The course is meant for beginners and can be completed within 8 hours. A certificate is available. However, payment has to be made for the same.

Website: https://www.coursera.org/learn/poetry-workshop

Check out the top universities for creative writing courses 

Wesleyan University ’s Creative writing course is one of the top creative writing courses online. This is a 5 module series that consists of topics such as Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot, The Craft of Character: The Craft of Setting and Description, Craft of Style, etc. The course ends with a capstone project that students must complete. The course is meant for beginners. The drawback? The certificate is only available post-payment.

Website: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/creative-writing

The National Centre for Writing is offering one of the finest creative writing course online. All of these courses are self-paced and can be completed within a short period. Some of the free courses available on this platform are First Steps in Short Form Poetry, New Ways with Short Form Poetry, How to Write Unreliable Narrators, How to Write Young Adult Fiction: Characters and Conflicts, and Writing Science Fiction: World Building. The drawback? These courses do not come with a certificate.

Website: https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/

The University of Alaska is offering another excellent free creative writing course online. This a 4-week course that helps a student learn to tell stories that the audience wants. The curriculum includes topics such as Finding good stories, Using The “Ice Road Trucker” effect, Building the dramatic arc, Designing story structures, Strategizing delivery, ending the story, etc. The course is self-paced and its audit is available for free.

Website: https://www.edx.org/learn/storytelling

Check Out These Book Writing Courses that Will Make Your Imagination Flow! 

The University of British Columbia is offering the course ‘How to Write a Novel: Structure & Outline’ The program is best for those who want to learn the fundamentals of story structure. The curriculum includes topics such as Character and World-Building, The Big Architecture: Story and Structure,  Three-Act Structure and Scene Design, Troubleshooting Common Problems, and Transition to Writing. The program includes a writing assignment and a final task that students must complete.

Website: https://www.edx.org/learn/novels/

Michigan State University is also offering a free creative writing course online. The course is best for those who want to learn scriptwriting skills for a TV or web series. A total of 5 modules are available in this course. Students will learn everything from developing a TV concept and writing the pilot episode to polishing their script. Any basic word processor is sufficient to take this course. Students will need to dedicate 1-2 hours of study, and  30+ hours of active project work.

Website: https://www.coursera.org/learn/script-writing

Skillshare is another great platform offering free creative writing course online. People can choose a creative writing class based on their interests. All of these courses are taught by experts in the field. Some of the available courses include Copywriting For Beginners: How To Write Web Copy That Sells Without Being Cheesy, Character-Driven Story Development for Your Novel or Screenplay, and Storytelling 101: Character, Conflict, Context & Craft, among others. No certificate is available after course completion. 

Website: https://www.skillshare.com/en/browse/creative-writing?sort=popular&page=1

Want to learn business writing skills? Read About the 7 Free Online Business Writing Courses with Certifications 

The Oxford University Department of Continuing Education is offering one of the best free creative writing course online. Students can choose from a short online course in creative writing and a Diploma in Creative Writing. The short courses have live-time weekly classes. The credit earned from this course is transferable toward the  Certificate of Higher Education – a part-time undergraduate course. On the other hand, the Diploma in Creative Writing can be completed in 2 years. It covers 4 areas of literary activity. For example, prose, drama, etc. 

Website: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/online-courses-in-creative-writing

The Open University Start Writing Fiction course is a free creative writing course online. The program is meant for those who want to learn the strategies for writing fiction. The curriculum includes topics such as character development, setting, and genre. This is an introductory course that requires 12 hours of study. A certificate of participation is available post-completion of the course.

Website: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/creative-writing/start-writing-fiction/

Alison is one of the top websites offering free creative writing course online. These courses are meant for beginners and can be completed in a few hours. Some of the creative writing courses available on this platform include Understanding Poetry Writing, How to Write and Publish a Novel, Creative Nonfiction Writing, Screenwriting, and Writing for Young Readers. The course comes with free certifications.

Website: https://alison.com/tag/creative-writing

Related Articles:

The British Council is offering a course called ‘Creative Writing for Adults – Module I’. This course is completely online and can be completed within 9 weeks. A B2 English level is needed to take this course. The fee is INR 10,000.

There are several free writing courses for beginners. For example, Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop by CalArts, and Wesleyan University’s Creative Writing course. Alison also offers several free writing courses for beginners.

Harvard University only offers 1 free online creative writing course. This is called the ‘Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking’. This is an introductory course that requires the student to dedicate  2 – 3 hours per week. The course audit is free. 

Hope this blog provides you with all the important details, for more information about such courses, visit our online courses page .

Blessy George

Blessy George works as a Content Marketing Associate at Leverage Edu. She has completed her M.A. in Political Science and has experience working as an Intern with CashKaro. She has written extensively on studying abroad, English Test preparation, visas, and online courses. During her free time, she likes to read and write poetry, and songs.

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Free online English Literature / Creative Writing courses

Creative writing and critical reading

This free course, Creative writing and critical reading, explores the importance of reading as part of a creative writer’s development at the postgraduate level. You will gain inspiration and ideas from examining other writers’ methods, as well as enhancing your critical reading skills. Examples will cover the genres of fiction, creative ...

Free course

Level: 3 Advanced

Writing what you know

Do you want to improve your descriptive writing? This free course, Writing what you know, will help you to develop your perception of the world about you and enable you to see the familiar things in everyday life in a new light. You will also learn how authors use their own personal histories to form the basis of their work.

Level: 1 Introductory

Start writing fiction

Have you always wanted to write, but never quite had the courage to start? This free course, Start writing fiction, will give you an insight into how authors create their characters and settings. You will also be able to look at the different genres for fiction.

Exploring books for children: words and pictures

Many people have fond memories of the stories they encountered in childhood, perhaps especially of those wonderful picture books and illustrated tales which fired our young imaginations and transported us to magical worlds. To an adult’s eye, some picture books may seem remarkably simple, even oversimplified. However, in this free course, ...

Level: 2 Intermediate

Reading Shakespeare's As You Like It

Do you enjoy watching Shakespeare's plays and like the idea of finding out more about them? This free course, Reading Shakespeare's As You Like It, will guide you through some of the most important speeches and scenes from one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies.

Icarus: entering the world of myth

This free course, Icarus: entering the world of myth, will introduce you to one of the best-known myths from classical antiquity and its various re-tellings in later periods. You will begin by examining how the Icarus story connects with a number of other ancient myths, such as that of Theseus and the Minotaur. You will then be guided through an...

Sam Selvon, The Lonely Londoners

This free course concentrates on Sam Selvon's twentieth-century novel, The Lonely Londoners. It considers the depiction of migration in the text as well as Selvon's treatment of memory as a vital part of the migrant's experience.

Introducing Virgil’s Aeneid

This free course offers an introduction to the Aeneid. Virgil’s Latin epic, written in the 1st century BCE, tells the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his journey to Italy, where he would become the ancestor of the Romans. Here, you will focus on the characterisation of this legendary hero, and learn why he was so important to the Romans of ...

Exploring Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd

This free course, Exploring Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, is designed to tell you something about Hardy's background, and to introduce you to the pleasures of reading a nineteenth-century novel. Why do we believe in fictional characters and care about what happens to them? You will discover some of the techniques that Hardy ...

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

This free course, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, concentrates on Acts 1 and 2 of John Webster's Renaissance tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi. It focuses on the representation of marriage for love and the social conflicts to which it gives rise. The course is designed to hone your skills of textual analysis.

Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus

What does Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus tell us about the author and the time at which the play was written? This free course, Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, will help you to discover the intricacies of the play and recognise how a knowledge of the historical and political background of the time can lead to a very different ...

Approaching poetry

Do you want to get more out of your reading of poetry? This free course, Approaching poetry, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You will learn about rhythm, alliteration, rhyme, poetic inversion, voice and line lengths and endings. You will examine poems that do not rhyme and learn ...

Approaching prose fiction

Do you want to get more out of your reading? This free course, Approaching prose fiction, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You will learn about narrative events and perspectives, the setting of novels, types of characterisation and genre.

Approaching plays

Do you want to get more out of drama? This free course, Approaching plays, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary plays. You will learn about dialogue, stage directions, blank verse, dramatic structure and conventions and aspects of performance.

Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations

This free course, Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations, considers some of the different ways of reading Great Expectations, based on the type of genre the book belongs to. This is one of the most familiar and fundamental ways of approaching literary texts. The novel broadens the scope of study of a realist novel, in both literary ...

The poetry of Sorley MacLean

Sorley MacLean (1911-1996) is regarded as one of the greatest Scottish poets of the twentieth century. This free course, The poetry of Sorley MacLean, will introduce you to his poetry and give you an insight into the cultural, historical and political contexts that inform his work. MacLean wrote in Gaelic and the importance of the language to ...

Exploring Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts

This free course introduces Virginia Woolf’s last novel, Between the Acts (1941), with the aim of understanding how she writes about time, memory, and ideas about identity. It also considers why Woolf’s fiction is often considered difficult. Selected extracts from her essays on writing help to clarify some of these perceived difficulties, ...

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7 free online creative writing courses that you can enrol in right now

By Megha Sharma

As a form of expression , a means to escape the reality, and a medium to communicate a larger ideology, the act of writing can serve different purposes. And no matter what your reason to put pen to paper, or keys to screen, these virtual lessons could help you develop the techniques you will require on your creative journey. Here, find out all the free online courses you can join to begin now.

Creative Writing Specialisation

Covering three major creative writing genres—short story, narrative essay and memoir—the course will help you master the techniques of putting your ideas on paper as clearly as possible. So if you’ve been meaning to work some engrossing features in your already existing plot, or better highlight the setting of your story, or simply articulate in a stronger fashion, let this lesson be on your shortlist. In case you’re just starting out, the course is equally rewarding.

Write Your First Novel

Have you been wanting to pen down your thoughts and weave them into a well-written novel? Go for this virtual course where you will learn an end-to-end approach to producing a work of fiction. Through a stepwise process that will culminate in your individual production of a 50,000-word book, the learning course will provide you all the important pointers right from the top.

Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest

Complete with video lectures, online readings, peer reviews and guest appearances from renowned authors, the course will offer an all-inclusive guide to creative writing for students and young aspirers. Apart from that, you will also explore the cultural significance of notable works , analyse the ways in which art and words interact, and become familiar with standard elements of a narrative, that include dialogue, point of view, theme, plot and so on.  

Write A Feature Length Screenplay for Film or Television

Whether your point of interest is serious dramas, romantic comedies or thrillers , the free virtual course will zoom in on every aspect of screenplay writing so you’re able to pursue the genre you want. Following in a well-structured process, you will have produced a pitch-ready script by the time the four-week programme is over. Along with learning how to create a basic idea and write loglines, you will be studying the Three Act Story Arc, and much more.

By Tatiana Dias

By Vogue Staff

By Elle Turner

Memoir and Personal Essay: Write About Yourself Specialisation

Here, four published memoirists and essayists let you in on the tricks and tools of writing about yourself. Be prepared for professional tips, prompts, reading challenges and exercises among other interactive activities. Unlike many other courses where you will be producing a large body of work at the completion of the programme, here, you will be constructing a portfolio of work to use as valuable components later.

Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop

These lessons support the school of thought that poetry isn’t just a means of expression. Rather, using it for just that, is like “using the internet just for email”. If you too are willing to think beyond that, and take up the art to bring about a change in people’s thought and ideologies, the course is for you. Learn to use the several tools of poetic composition, study the works of contemporary poets and, of course, try your own hand at the skill.

Transmedia Storytelling: Narrative worlds, emerging technologies, and global audiences

In a world that believes in not just up-skilling, but also cross-skilling, this transmedia course serves to be an extremely well-rounded one. The description on the website states, “Transmedia storytelling is the practice of designing , sharing, and participating in a cohesive story experience across multiple traditional and digital delivery platforms - for entertainment, advertising and marketing, or social change.” So learn to develop expansive narratives and optimise your writing for mobile devices, social media communities, virtual and augmented realities and more.

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10 Online Creative Writing Courses For Every Kind Of Writer

• by Robert Wood
• December 1, 2014
• 10 Comments

Standout Books is supported by its audience, if you click and purchase from any of the links on this page, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we have personally vetted. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Whether you’re just starting out or already published , there’s always something you can do to improve your craft. Writing is made up of many components that have to be learned and practiced, and there are a lot of online courses available to help hone your talents.

In this article, I’ll be listing 10 of the best, and describing their areas of focus, strengths, and weaknesses to help you make a choice. In my choices, I’ve aimed to provide at least one course which will be useful to every kind of creative writer. From beginner to published author, there is something here that will help you no matter your existing skills and no matter your budget.

10. The Crafty Writer – The Crafty Writer’s Creative Writing Course

A basic, free course, The Crafty Writer offers exercises and advice but no feedback on individual work. For those who want a course that goes at their own pace and doesn’t cost a cent – this is ideal.

While I wouldn’t recommend this as the only course a writer should take – it lacks the community feedback which is so crucial to improvement – it’s a great way to get started on improving your writing. For those who feel a formal course isn’t for them, whether due to financial, time, or confidence constraints, The Crafty Writer offers a lot of great advice while frequently recommending other resources which provide participants with many avenues to follow once they finish the course.

You can find the course here .

9. The Writers Bureau – Comprehensive Creative Writing Course

The Writers Bureau is a trusted source of resources for authors, and they offer a variety of courses on a wide range of subjects including writing for competition , article writing, poetry, and memoirs.

Their Comprehensive Creative Writing Course is notable because of the confidence they place in it, offering a free fifteen day trial and a full refund guarantee based on participant satisfaction. The course is aimed both at improving your work and writing to a professional standard, including advice on editors and publishers, and how to manage a freelance creative writing career (such as how blogging can help sell your book).

You can find more information here .

8 . The University of Toronto – Writing the Novel II

The Writing the Novel II course is great for writers looking to get from an outline, or beginning, of a novel to something more substantial. This intensive course requires eight hours of work a week, and involves active participation in the course’s Discussion Forum. By the end of the course, students will have completed two chapters of their novel-in-progress, with feedback from the class and instructor, as well as having engaged in lessons on writing craft. See more here .

Where the University of Toronto really stands out is in their impressive and diverse instructors. They have a plethora of successful writers ready and waiting to help students develop their own work, so with a little research you’ll be able to select the best instructor for you. You can learn more about their staff here .

The University of Toronto offers a wide range of classes, from memoirs to screenwriting. What’s more, they have specialist courses for those hoping to work freelance. You can find a full list of courses here .

7-4. The Gotham Writers

The Gotham Writers offer a variety of courses for all stages of a writer’s career. Small class sizes provide a manageable, friendly learning experience, and they place a high importance on understanding, using, and providing peer feedback.

You can find more information on all the courses discussed below here .

7. Jumpstart your writing

A class for those who genuinely don’t know where to start, this course stands out from the pack as one for real beginners. Topics include generating ideas, finding and honing your own voice, and learning to write without the constant drag of your inner critic.

Though the focus is firmly on learning how to write, rather than what to write, there are still writing exercises , and two graded projects. If you think you have a story in you, but have no idea how to get it out, this is the course for you. Find out more here .

6. Creative Writing 101

A step on from their Jumpstart class, this six week course covers inspiration and cultivation of technique. The ‘no pressure’ course aims to make you more aware of your strengths, weaknesses, and habits while providing a pool of peer support and tutor feedback.

During the course, students submit work to ‘The Booth’. Here classmates provide feedback on each piece of work, before receiving a tutor critique which takes into account the peer discussion that has taken place. This fairly common way of receiving feedback is all the experience you’ll need to join an online writers’ circle, and while it’s not a stated goal of the course this is something that will be valuable to writers looking to improve themselves online.

The course also acts as a springboard to more focused courses such as Article Writing, Memoir Writing, Personal Essay Writing, Travel Writing, Romance Writing, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing , and even Food Writing , all of which are offered by The Gotham Writers.

A short but high-quality course aimed at new writers, you can find out more here .

5 . Fiction writing (level I course)

Gotham Writers offer a lot of great level I courses, aimed at improving specific skills and preparing writers for the more gruelling, and more rewarding, second level of courses. Fiction writing shines because of its flexibility, allowing writers to begin work on one to two short stories or a novel-length work.

Over the ten week workshop, writers are provided with writing exercises and the opportunity to present their work for tutor and class critique. The fundamentals of plot , structure, character development , point of view , and dialogue are explored, and the student should end the course genuinely prepared to start writing publishable short or long fiction. More information on the course can be found here .

4. Novel writing (level II course)

Building on Fiction I , this ten week class is geared towards helping students complete a novel-length work at publishable standard. There are multiple opportunities to present work for in-depth critique, alongside lessons that focus on crafting fiction and the novel form.

To apply you’ll need to have passed a level I course with the Gotham Writers, but it’s worth the effort. Novel writing can add a huge amount to your finished work, to the extent that it’s not uncommon for authors to take the course multiple times to get sustained, high-quality feedback on their work.

You can find out more here .

3-2. Writer’s Digest University

The Writer’s Digest University cover everything from blogging to mystery writing, and when they describe their selection of courses as a library, they’re not kidding. They have all the essentials for good workshops; peer and tutor review, a well-structured discussion forum, and expert lecturers, and use those resources to offer a wide and eclectic range that has something for every writer.

3. Revision and Self-Editing

Self-editing is an essential skill, and one which many courses claim to be able to teach. The difference is that while most courses tell you what to edit for, the Revision and Self-Editing course tells you how to do so. Focusing on ‘specific strategies for revising and polishing your work’ this course isn’t a list of the grammar and spelling you need to watch out for, but a one-stop place to learn how to be both a writer and an editor.

2. Agent One-on-One: First Ten Pages Boot Camp

The first ten pages of your book are what will sell it to agents and publishers, so in this course the Writer’s Digest University gives you one-to-one contact with an agent and editor for an intense workshop that will turn out the most saleable ten pages possible. The course only takes a weekend, and while claims that ‘any [agent] may ask for additional pages if the initial submission shows serious promise’ should be taken with a pinch of salt, this is certainly an unparalleled opportunity to make sure your work is as ready as possible for pitching to agents and publishers.

1. LitReactor.com / Chuck Palahniuk – The Cult Workshop

The Cult Workshop is for confident writers who want to enhance their craft. It’s a sort of non-course but one that has more to offer than most established courses you can find.

Run by bestselling author Chuck Palahniuk, the course first came into existence in 2004 and included essays, homework assignments, regular Q&As with the author, and a vibrant forum where writers worked together to improve their work. This iteration of the course was widely praised, and resulted in the anthology Burnt Tongues in which Palahniuk lent his fame to a collection of the best stories that emerged from the course.

The course’s current form is, unfortunately, a little less involved however Palahniuk is still posting in-depth craft essays to LitReactor.com and the forum remains a dedicated place of self-improvement for writers. Their writer’s workshop, which you can join for a fee, is not run by Palahniuk but is impressive in its own right and allows you to submit work for feedback.

Palahniuk is a true master of the craft essay, and writes with the authority and creativity of someone whose work is praised worldwide. He covers material that other courses don’t, and approaches it from an angle that will get even the best writers thinking in new ways.

You can find out more about the course here , or click here for an essay on writing characters who are trying to cope with events in the narrative, complete with homework.

Some of these courses have competing subjects (I wouldn’t recommend taking more than one beginner course – or perhaps two if you still need help) and some don’t (every writer out there should check out The Cult Workshop .) The key to getting the most out of any creative writing course is recognizing what you do well and what you could do better, and then making choices based on that information. Keep doing that, day after day and year after year, and your work will never stop improving.

Do you have a course you personally recommend, or just some exercises that have been helpful to you in your own writing? Let me know in the comments.

• Writing courses

Five More Books On Writing That’ll Make You A Better Writer

Robert Wood

10 thoughts on “10 online creative writing courses for every kind of writer”.

Great list. I’ve been participating in the Saturday Scenes writing community at Google+ Writers are sharing excerpts from works in progress, and giving each other feedback. It is giving me the structure that I need for making a lot of progress with my first novel.

The online class that I found most helpful was Rhetorical Composing offered by professors at Ohio State University through coursera.org. It is free, has active discussion forums, and lead me to great resources including wonderful writing friends.

I hope that someone finds these ideas useful.

Thanks very much for sharing your experiences. Communities like Google+ are a great way for authors to build professional networks.

Bob you make me angry not to be born american or english! 😉

Hi boostwriter,

Sorry about that, but don’t despair! Most of these courses will accept entrants from anywhere in the world.

Good list! However, I bought the Comprehensive Writing Course from WB and failed miserably. In four years I wrote only one assignment and my tutor wasn’t critical at all. I think the school is good although they sent me only the first three books. I paid all my monthly installments but they decided to keep money and books. So I would recommend paying upfront to get all books at once. Even if you drop out in future you will have all your books. I left with only 3 books.

Thanks for sharing your experience – hopefully this will be useful for future readers deciding on a course.

please make a connection with I need seriously to improve my writing skill as professional writer

Hi mirwais,

No problem – you can just click the blue ‘START’ button in the top right of the screen to begin that process.

Great list! I would also recommend Meditative Writing at meditativewriting.org it has been the best workshop with stuff that I use now on all my projects. Especially for my screenwriting.

Thanks for the recommendation, John.

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11 Free Online Writing Courses & Classes [Updated in 2024]

Carlos Eduardo

November 27, 2023

Certain links on our site are affiliated. When you buy through these links, we might receive a commission without any extra cost to you. This commission helps sustain our work, maintain our website, and ensures our reviews stay impartial despite any affiliate relationships. Learn more .

Last Updated on April, 2024

Various writing specializations exist because you need different communication styles to approach different audiences. Imagine the disaster of writing a business proposal guided by your creative or songwriting skills.

Each writing specialization represents a sense of professionalism for the respective field. Mastering different skills based on the field you are in or want to get into will help your work to flow more smoothly.

So here’s a list of free online writing classess categorized into several writing specializations. You will find the class you are looking for in our reviews below.

Quick Summary

There are a variety of free online writing classes available for different writing specializations.

Skillshare is a platform offering a wide range of writing classes but requires an annual subscription.

Practicing and making the best use of course materials are essential for improving writing skills.

1. Copywriting

2. creative writing, 3. impactful writing, 4. essay/academic writing, 5. business writing, 6. journalist writing, 7. song writing, 8. visual writing, 9. technical writing, 10. freelance writing, 11. skillshare, are there any free online writing courses, are online writing courses worth it, was this article helpful, reviews of top free online writing classes.

If you want to write words and texts to persuade your reader, this class is what you seek. 

The Basic Concepts And Techniques For Copywriting course Alison offers is specially created for those wanting to start in the copywriting field and those already in marketing/ copywriting roles.

You don’t need foundation knowledge to follow this online writing course.

This course teaches you persuasive writing skills to craft compelling and engaging marketing copies in whatever capacity you desire.

This writing course is structured into 3 modules where you will learn essential concepts and see how it is applied in real-world scenarios.

In addition, Writing Ad Copy , an intermediate-level online writing course offered by LinkedIn, will be helpful for those who want to transition into a specialization in marketing or advertising.

This course covers significant areas like rules of writing ad copies for different platforms, changing message and tone based on target audience and personality, creating ad copies to effectively convey the brand and increase traffic converting into sales and do’s and don’ts on ad copywriting. 

The course also entails a section briefing the future of copywriters in advertising. You can try this 59 minutes long online writing course by taking advantage of LinkedIn’s 1-month free trial.

If you are looking for free creative writing courses, check out the beginner-level Creative Writing Specialization course. Wesleyan University offers this free writing course through the Coursera online learning platform.

This free online writing course suits anyone from aspiring short story writers to well-established novelists. This course will teach you the techniques required to create a memorable story, as any good creative writer does. 

This online creative writing course includes three essential elements of creative writing genres: short story, memoir and narrative essay. The course covers critical topics like the craft of plot, the craft of character, setting and description and craft of style. 

Through this course, you will learn how to keep the story moving, how your writing can manipulate the reader’s feelings, expectations and desires, and the choices storytellers make to grab the reader’s imagination, creating a fictional world and keeping the readers sucked into.

This writing course is structured into HD-quality video lessons, practice quizzes, graded assignments with peer feedback, quizzes with feedback and programming assignments to facilitate self-paced learning for all students. 

LinkedIn offers an intermediate-level free online writing course for those looking to write impactful pieces. The Writing With Impact course will help you convert your basic writing to the next level, regardless of the purpose and intended audience.

The key topics covered in this free online writing class include the meaning of writing with impact, learning about your readers, understanding how people read and how to write short, clearly and right.

The course instructor, Tom Geller, a writer/ journalist, will help you figure out why you are writing. For these reasons, he will teach you how to write by choosing a suitable tone and impactful words to structure your writing.

This 1-hour online writing course comprises 19 video lessons classed into 6 chapters. And each of these chapters comes with a short quiz that will help you test your knowledge of the content you learned. 

You can also check out the Secret Sauce of Great writing course . This online writing course accessible through Udemy explores 4 essential concepts of good writing: simplicity, clarity, elegance and evocativeness.

The course will guide you to use these concepts in your writing skillfully.

This class addresses a range of topics, including the secret sauce of flair, the four crucial ingredients, how the instructor discovered the sauce, the power of simplicity and exercises, the power of clarity and exercises, the power of elegance and exercises, and the power of evocativeness and exercises.

This 1-hour short course is a composition of 14-on-demand videos. At the end of this course, you will learn how to write a powerful and impactful piece. You will also learn to identify your weaknesses and correct them to improve significantly.

Suppose you are a student looking to polish your essay writing to produce top-notch academic assignments, projects or a thesis. In that case, you will find a free online writing class in this section to help nurture your academic writing skills.

The How To Write An Essay class by the University of California, Berkeley , introduces academic writing. This free online course focuses on essay development, grammatical correctness and self-editing.

By following this course on the EdX platform , you can learn basic grammar terminology and understanding, how to write effective sentences and paragraphs, tackle writing introductions and conclusions, and strategies to write long texts and statements.

The 5-week long course allows self-paced learning through videos and reading materials. You can also go for the optional course e-workbook for additional writing work.

This writing class aims to get students to complete an essay, which is then put up for online discussions and peer review.

You can also check out the Essay Essentials: Improve Your Academic Writing offered by Udemy. This online class will help you learn and practice essential writing skills step-by-step.

This class covers many essential topics, including understanding how the writing situation, process and classroom resources impact you, brainstorming and creating ideas to develop an essay, developing and structuring introduction and conclusion paragraphs, writing a clear, specific, and well-connected thesis, understanding the organization of essay paragraphs and many more.

This free online class is a 1 hour 14 minutes on-demand video class.

Yes, there is a particular style of writing you should follow if you expect to present your writing to a business-related audience. You know, like writing a proposal or research summaries.

Business Writing Techniques is a free writing course offered by Doane University and is available through the EdX platform . This course teaches you the art of professional writing required in the business world. 

This online writing course covers the different communication styles, etiquettes in business writing and best practices for modern business writing. This course targets the improvement of business message writing through the 6 C’s.

This 4-week long free writing course. It is set to be followed at your own pace by spending around 5-8 hours per week; you can go through the entire course.

Journalism is a tough field to be in. Because the audience is the general population itself. And as a part of the general population, I believe journalism writing should be PERFECT. Here’s what you can check out on journalism to cultivate your English writing skills.

For those looking to kick-start in this field, you can start with the Become A Journalist: Report The News! Specialization class.

This course is made available through Coursera by Michigan State University . This course will give you an understanding of the global field of journalism to help you launch your career.

Through this course, you can expect to learn the best practices and ethical standards of news gathering and compiling reports, journalism’s impact on societal issues and trends, and explore career opportunities in the magazine, social media, Internet multimedia, television, radio, corporate and community journalism.

This online class works on hands-on projects, peer-to-peer reviews, and issue exploration methods. This course will take approximately 6- months for you to finish.

The final assessment component of this class takes you through a journalistic portfolio process to help you conceptualize, report and complete a professional quality report.

Another course available on the EdX platform for journalistic writing is English For Journalists, Part 1 . Created by the University of California, Berkeley , this class is focused on nurturing grammar, vocabulary and writing skills through exciting topics in journalism and world news.

The class covers essential topics like a journalist’s job, ethics in journalism, inclusivity, local vs global journalism and citizen journalism. By studying these topics, you can understand the current issues journalists face, improve vocabulary and grammar to write effective stories and improve your communications skills for interviews and reports.

This free online class is a 5-week self-paced course which requires around 3-4 hours of your time per week.

That’s right! Although you can write whatever you want to cook up a song, following a course like Songwriting: Writing the Lyric offered by the Berklee College of Music will definitely help up your game.

The free online writing class will guide you to explore an effective and efficient way of reflecting your ideas and emotions onto your creative process of writing a song. This will help you take control and approach the process differently.

This online class is focused on both lyrical and musical aspects. Over the course duration, you will create lyrics and/or melodies which you can share for peer review.

Passionate about stirring up some serious drama?

The arts and entertainment industry means engaging and interesting stories. And to write engaging stories, you need to learn basic concepts and writing styles for dramatic writing.

Write A Feature Length Screenplay For Film Or Television is a beginner-level free online class for those passionate about writing a movie script. Available on Coursera, this course is offered by Michigan State University . 

This screenplay writing course will guide you to break down the creative writing process into segments to help you develop a polished and pitch-ready script.

Including many topics like creating the idea, logline and dramatic question, creating your character profile, beginning the screenplay, writing the final section and more, this course taps into your creativity to set the background. 

This course is set up on ‘active learning’. Like how it’s done in the real world, through the peer review process, you’ll feel like you are in a room full of professional writers who can share and receive feedback on your work. 

Building your screenplay is another screenwriting course by the University of Cambridge . This course will broaden you on how to become a professional screenplay writer.

You can learn to become a powerful storyteller, build an effective structure within your screenplay and develop professionally transferable communication skills and writing skills and much more by following this course.

Technical writing is important to clearly convey certain concepts or processes. Good technical writing will break down complex ideas into easy-to-understand explanations.

And that’s what you’ll learn by following the Technical Writing Essentials online class available on Alison. 

By following this class, you can learn the main conventions and characteristics of technical writing, the complex nature of the writing process, and the importance of knowing the audience and writing to cater to said audiences.

This free online writing class is set up on 33 video lessons classed into 6 modules. Within just 3 hours of viewing time, you can complete the course. 

The Complete Freelance Writing course available on Udemy is a broad set-up writing course for those who want to become freelance writers.

Through this course, you can learn different writing styles intended for different audiences, best practices for blog writing, screenwriting to tell a compelling story, methods to employ to stay productive as a writer, grant writing and many more on becoming a freelance writer. 

Now I know Skillshare is not a platform offering free online courses. You require an annual subscription to access their massive library of 35,000+ online courses. 

But this humongous collection covers an extensive number of writing specializations so is sure to have many online courses you could benefit from.

So use Skillshare’s 30-day free trial to explore and access some of the online writing courses. It will be like following free writing courses for at least that month. 

Most Skillshare courses are 30-minute long or short segmented lessons that won’t take up more than a day to finish. This gives you the opportunity to go through multiple online writing courses available on Skillshare before you exhaust the trial period.

Read my Skillshare experience if you want to know more about this platform.

Some of the online writing classes you can expect to find on Skillshare include the following;

• Editing and Proofreading
• Journalism 101:Introduction to News Writing
• Crafting Personal Essays With Impact
• Creative Writing Bootcamp: Start a Brand New Story
• Creating a Children’s Book
• Screenplay Writing
• Business Writing
• And much more to browse through

Trying out Skillshare for free will help you find out for yourself if it is worth paying for when the trial period is over.

Related article: Free Online Acting Classes

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, there are free online writing courses available for writers of all skill levels. These courses can help writers improve their writing skills and reach their goals.

Yes, online writing courses can be worth it, providing one with the opportunity to learn and develop their writing skills with the right class and commitment. There are also many additional resources available online to further aid learning.

The internet will flood you with many options for free online classes, there is no shortage of that. But writing can only be improved with practice and MORE PRACTICE. 

I have tried and covered a broad range of writing specializations. So I hope you find the class that you are looking for, and I hope you benefit from the class to improve your writing.

Also, make sure to make the best use of the course materials, whatever course you choose.

Keep working on your writing, and check out Skillshare to find more courses to keep developing your writing journey.

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