Writing Workshop Online
Online classes draw together writers from across the globe. Our Online writing classes offer the same quality of instruction as our NYC classes, and, as much as possible, our Online classes replicate the experience of being together in a classroom with a teacher and fellow students.
writing workshop online
You can take an Online writing class from anywhere in the world, as long as you have an Internet connection. The majority of our Online students are located in the U.S. but we also draw students from practically every country in the world, which is part of what makes the Online classes so interesting.
Fiction Writing I (10-week Workshop)Screenwriting I (10-week Workshop) Feature Article Writing I (10-week Workshop) Creative Writing 101 (6-week Class) Hit Send: Publishing Short Nonfiction (4-week Seminar)
Creative Writing: The Craft of Character led by Wesleyan University via Coursera teaches how to build and bring to life complex, vivid, and unforgettable characters. Written exercises aim to improve a variety of writing and pre-writing techniques for creating well-imagined characters. Students will study the choices a writer makes to bring characters to life on the page.
Creative Writing: The Craft of Style led by Wesleyan University via Coursera focuses on creating a personal style through the use of metaphor and imagery. Taught by Salvatore Scibona, the workshop syllabus includes putting pressure on your words so that they mean what you intend, writing with nouns and verbs, balancing the drive to get at ideas and feelings, and other basic but important skills.
Creative Writing for All: A 10-Day Journaling Challenge is a paid workshop that offers a 1-month free trial. This is a workshop via Skillshare with Emily Gould. Creative Writing for All provides examples, observation prompts, and revision tricks to help improve and develop your writing prowess.
Led by Manchester University, How To Make A Poem is a workshop to help students create their own poetry by exploring different poetic techniques and styles. It is available via FutureLearn. The workshop, taught by Michael Symmons Roberts, will guide you through the process of writing your own poetic work step by step.
Start Writing Fiction is a workshop via FutureLearn. The workshop is led by The Open University and is a hands-on course focusing on the central skill of creating characters.The likes of Louis de Bernières, Patricia Duncker, Alex Garland, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Tim Pears, Michèle Roberts, and Monique Roffey make their appearances in this workshop. Students in this workshop will have the opportunity to review the work of fellow writers and receive comments on their own, learning to read as a writer and respond to feedback.
Led by Daniel José Older, Storytelling Fundamentals: Character, Conflict, Context, Craft is a 40-minute dive into the fundamentals of narrative storytelling. It is a paid workshop available via Skillshare which offers a 1-month free trial. It is a self-paced workshop to help give life to your story-telling.
The Writers Studio offers a series of workshops in fiction and poetry for beginning and experienced writers. The faculty for Writers Studio go through a three-year training program and have experience in both fiction and poetry. Students are encouraged to complete four levels. However, you can take as few or as many as you choose.
Advanced Writing is a workshop via Coursera. It centers on planning and writing a more sophisticated argument essay, including identifying and preventing plagiarism. The workshop is led by the University of California, Irvine.
The Adventures of Writing workshop by Stanford University via Stanford OpenEdx is a series of graphic-novel style learning modules. The workshop is designed to help students learn more about and practice a range of effective written communication skills.
We might think that we are fully equipped when it comes to grammar and sentence construction, but there is no harm in brushing up, especially when starting a new book or other writing venture. Led by the University of Queensland via edX, English Grammar and Style discusses key concepts and strategies in grammar and style to help improve your writing.
Tell Your Story in English: Reading & Writing Skills for Language Learners is a workshop via Canvas Network. This workshop, by the University of Oregon, is aimed at developing English language skills through reading and writing personal stories. Some of the objectives of the course: to read and discuss short stories, increase vocabulary, improve accuracy in sentence structure and past tense use, and learn how to write and revise a story.
Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest is a writing workshop via Coursera, It guides students with a combination of video lectures, online readings, and peer reviews. This workshop is led by Commonwealth Education Trust and also involves some appearances from famous writers.
Doing Journalism with Data: First Steps, Skills, and Tools is led by the European Journalism Centre via Canvas Network. this workshop is a 5-module online introductory course that gives you the essential concepts, techniques, and skills to effectively work with data and produce compelling data stories. It is a paid workshop with a free introductory course.
How to Write an Essay is led by the University of California, Berkeley via edX. It focuses on essay development, grammatical correctness, and self-editing. The course materials include readings and videos. The five-week course includes a review of basic grammar terminology and understanding, writing effective sentences and paragraphs, introductions and conclusions, strategies for writing longer texts, and thesis statements.
Journalism for Social Change is a workshop led by the University of California, Berkeley via edX. The workshop aims to use solution-based journalism to impel positive social change. The goal of this online course is first to teach you how to use journalism and media as an instrument of social change, and second to allow you to become an effective agent of change.
Writing in First Person Point of View is a workshop focused on writing a memoir, first-person essay, or any other form of autobiographical non-fiction led by Wesleyan University via Coursera. In this workshop, students will learn how successful first-person writing is structured to offer the reader a sense of dynamic motion and is guided by a narrator who is purposefully written.
Content Marketing: Blogging for Growth is a paid workshop with a 1-month free trial. This workshop is available via Skillshare. It is an 80-minute deep dive class about step-by-step structure for creating compelling blog content led by Eric Siu.
The Media Writing and Editing workshop is led by Ohio State University via Canvas Network. It focuses on reporting, writing, researching, and multimedia techniques for all news media platforms. It digs deeper into how social media, community-centered journalism, and multimedia elements can enhance coverage.
Transmedia Writing is a workshop by Michigan State University via Coursera. Transmedia Writing is focused on developing your own, original, intellectual property (IP) into a transmedia project containing written versions of your IP on various platforms.
Inked Voices is a community of small online writing groups. You can search for and join a group that meets your needs, then get feedback on your pieces and provide critiques to others in your group. This is a great way to share ideas and learn from your peers.
Tom Corson-Knowles is the founder of TCK Publishing, and the bestselling author of 27 books including Secrets of the Six-Figure author. He is also the host of the Publishing Profits Podcast show where we interview successful authors and publishing industry experts to share their tips for creating a successful writing career.
Disclaimer: TCK Publishing and its website, TCKPublishing.com, provides information on writing, publishing, books, and advice to help you live a better and more successful life. The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, tax, or legal advice.
The best online writing courses offer you the chance to take your natural writing skills and shape them into a form that will open the doors in your chosen field. Whether you want to pen tv sitcom scripts or write the next great American novel, the best online writing course for you will take you further than you would be able to go on your own, helping you develop professional-level skills that will allow you to obtain the job of your choice. We based our decisions for the best courses on the following criteria.
Certificate of completion. A certificate of completion is not standard for writing courses. However, if one is available, it is often a plus to add the certificate to your resume and LinkedIn profile.
Our top pick from MasterClass is Shonda Rhimes MasterClass on writing for television, although there are a number of excellent options for writers, including courses taught by Neil Gaiman, David Sedaris, and Joyce Carol Oates. Rhimes packs a lot into her 30 lessons, including how to create a compelling character, script structure, and writing authentic dialogue. But she also takes it beyond writing instruction, discussing editing, breaking into the industry, and showrunning, among other TV-centric topics. Your annual membership to MasterClass also gives you access to a pdf workbook and the opportunity to download the classes and watch them offline. Rhimes is one of the biggest names in television today and an engaging speaker who seems to relish letting learners in on all the secrets that got her to where she is today.
Gotham Writers Workshop has made a name for itself in the NYC region with in-person and Zoom classes, but it also offers well-regarded online classes. Level I classes, such as Fiction Writing I, max out with 16 students per class, so you are guaranteed personal attention from the instructor. Level II and III classes (which include the continuation of the Fiction Writing series), have a maximum of 14 students. You can access each class and do the accompanying exercises anytime during the week for the 10 week workshops. The online interface makes it easy to submit work and read critiques from instructors and fellow students. Lessons are text-based rather than video, and there is a wealth of accompanying materials, such as reading lists and podcasts, to help you extend your learning experience.