Online courses–also called distance learning courses–are an excellent way for a busy professional writer to brush up on his or her skills. If you’ve got deadlines to meet, clients to call and books to read, you might not have time to leave your office to go to class, and online creative writing courses allow you to meet your scholarly obligations at your own pace.
But where can you find online creative writing courses?
WritersWeekly University
WritersWeekly University offers interesting and convenient e-mail courses for freelance writers and aspiring novelists. Some of their courses include The Art of the Press Release, Finish Your Novel in 8 Weeks, How to Write a Cookbook and Sell It and Cash in On Teens and Tweens. Their e-mail creative writing courses are taught by published writers and editors and range from $25.00 to $745.00 based on the length of the course and the complexity.
Find It: www.writersweekly.com
Writers’ Village University
In operation since 1995 and offering more than 250 online creative writing courses for writers, Writers’ Village is one of the most popular sources of online writing courses. The interesting thing about this online university is you don’t have to actually pay for the online courses you take. Instead, you pay for a membership and thus have access to unlimited creative writing courses. It costs $69.00 per year or $10.99/month. They offer courses in fiction, comedy, literature, business writing, poetry, the basics of writing and more.
Find It: www.writersvillage.com
Writers Online Workshops
This is one of the online creative writing universities that I would definitely recommend. Run and facilitated by Writer’s Digest, these online courses are taught by the best in the business and range from fiction writing to business writing to poetry to grammar to composition. These online creative writing courses are a little more serious than the ones above, with tuition starting around $200.00. You’ll also need a textbook for each course.
Find It: www.writersonlineworkshops.com
Coffee House for Writers
If you are interested in a more laid-back and relaxed atmosphere, the online creative writing courses offered by the Coffee House for Writers might be your best bet. Most of their online creative writing courses cost less than $100.00, and are more focused than some of the above universities. They focus on the finer points of writing, such as style, focus, structure and viewpoint. They also have an online course in publishing for magazines.
Find It: www.coffeehouseforwriters.com
Writers College
If you’re looking for an extensive and diverse offering of online creative writing courses, you might want to check out the Writers College. They have courses in Gothic writing, technical writing, children’s fiction, book promotion, writing book reviews and just about everything else you can think of. None of their courses cost more than $200.00, and they have several that cost less than $50.00.
Find It: www.writerscollege.com
Gotham Writers Workshop
Hosted by WritingClasses.com, the Gotham Writers Workshop boasts more than 6,000 students each year and is based in New York City. They have regular “semesters” that coincide with normal universities, starting in January, May and September. They have more than thirty online creative writing courses that range from TV Writing to Romance Writing to Screenwriting to How to Freelance. They also offer different levels of online creative writing courses to suit different types of writers. However, their tuition is far more expensive than most other online creative writing courses, the majority being in the $500.00 area.
Find It:www.writingclasses.com
