Free Creative Writing Courses
Creative writing requires the application of hard work, discipline and much practice. Use these free creative writing courses online to hone your skills and become a better writer.
Open University
Open University offers a plethora of writing courses, on topics such as poetry and fiction. Read through these lessons on the website or download them as a single eBook.
- Writing What You Know
- Start Writing Fiction
- Approaching Prose Fiction
- What is Poetry
- Approaching Poetry
- What is Good Writing
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
MIT offers courses in fiction, editing and publishing, in addition to courses on writing essays. The fiction course has required reading with titles like Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Textbooks for the writing and editing course include Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers by Maasik, Sonia and Jack Solomon and Easy Writer: A Pocket Guide by Lunsford, Andrea and Frank Horowitz. The advanced essay workshop entails readings from literary magazines and the science essay course assigns eight sets of readings on topics like literary techniques and public health.
- Introduction to Fiction
- Writing, Editing and Publishing in Cyberspace
- Advanced Essay Workshop
- The Science Essay
Purdue Global
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers free online writing lessons. Subjects include poetry and proofreading. These quick lessons can be downloaded and printed.
Yale University
Yale University offers a free online course in modern poetry. Texts include The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Vol. 1, Modern Poetry, in addition to selections from the course packet, with readings from The Complete Poems of Elizabeth Bishop and Selected Poems from Ezra Pound. Students can choose from 25 audio lectures, on poets like Williams Carlos Williams, Hart Crane, Langston Hughes, and more.
The Crafty Writer
This free online tutorial offers individuals text lessons in the form of an article on topics like writing short stories, character development, poetry, and more. Lessons also recommend books for purchase.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing
This science fiction and fantasy writing course is offered online for free by science fiction writer, Jeffrey A. Carter. A multitude of lessons are available, in a variety of subjects like language and style, creating characters, rewriting, alien creatures, conflict and plot, and much more.
Creative Writing Prompts
This website offers free writing prompts. Use this as a resource to get your writing started.
WritingClasses.com
This website offers two questionnaires for writers. Answer questions about characters in order to help your development process for writing.
Free Online Creative Writing Courses At a Glance
| Course & School | Program Level | Format | Assignments | Quizzes & Exams | Downloadable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing What You Know course from Open University | Beginner | Text lessons | Yes | No | Yes |
| Start Writing Fiction course from Open University | Beginner | Text lessons | Yes | No | Yes |
| Approaching Prose Fiction course from Open University | Intermediate | Text lessons | Yes | No | Yes |
| What is Poetry course from Open University | Beginner | Text lessons | Yes | No | Yes |
| Approaching Poetry course from Open University | Intermediate | Text lessons | Yes | No | Yes |
| What is Good Writing course from Open University | Beginner | Text lessons | Yes | No | Yes |
| Introduction to Fiction course from MIT | Undergraduate | Text | Yes | No | Yes |
| Writing, Editing and Publishing in Cyberspace course from MIT | Undergraduate | Textbooks | Yes | No | Yes |
| Advanced Essay Workshop course from MIT | Undergraduate | Workshop | Yes | No | Yes |
| The Science Essay course from MIT | Undergraduate | Readings/writing essays | Yes | No | Yes |
| Pattern and Variation in Poetry course from Purdue Global | Undergraduate | Text lesson | No | No | Yes |
| Proofreading Your Writing course from Purdue Global | Undergraduate | Text lesson | No | No | Yes |
| Modern Poetry course from Yale University | Undergraduate | Text/audiovideo lectures | Yes | No | Yes |
| Intro to Creative Writing course from The Crafty Writer | Beginner | Text lessons | Yes | No | No |
| Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy course from Writesf.com | Beginner | Text lessons | No | No | Yes |
| 200 Creative Writing Prompts from CreativeWritingPrompts.com | Beginner-advanced | Writing prompts | Yes | No | No |
| Character Questionnaires from Fiction Writing Workshop | Beginner | Questionnaire | Yes | No | No |
