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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.

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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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Start writing fiction

Course description

Course content, course reviews.

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 setting s. You will also be able to look at the different genre s for fiction.

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After studying this course, you should be able to:

• identify strengths and weaknesses as a writer of fiction
• demonstrate a general awareness of fiction writing
• discuss fiction using basic vocabulary.

First Published: 09/08/2012

Updated: 14/05/2018

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• Bodleian Libraries
• Oxford LibGuides
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• Free Online Resources

Creative Writing: Free Online Resources

Introduction.

In addition to resources the Bodleian Libraries purchases, there are a number of alternative free online resources to support the study of Creative Writing. If you have any suggestions to help us expand this page, please contact [email protected].

Free online resources

• Open Educational Resources (OERs)
• Websites of useful organisations
• Audio resources

OERs are any type of teaching and/or learning materials that are freely available in the public domain, published under open licenses. Those listed below are applicable to the study of philosophy.

• Future Learn A diverse selection of courses from leading universities and cultural institutions from around the world. Includes several courses relating to Creative Writing.
• MERLOT The MERLOT system provides access to curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools, led by an international community of educators, learners and researchers.
• open.conted The gateway to Open Educational Resources and other freely available resources created or selected by tutors of the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education.
• Open Culture An aggregator of free, downloadable courses from the world's leading universities, including many courses relating to Creative Writing.
• Open Learn Free online courses and resources provided by the Open University. Covers many subjects, including Creative Writing.
• The Oxford Centre for Life-Writing The Centre is committed to outreach, collaboration, and fostering research into life-writing. It promotes a lively, cross-disciplinary dialogue on the full range of life-writing, including biography, memoir and social media forms, through a busy programme of events, including lunch talks, performances, panel discussions, seminars and full-day workshops.
• The Poetry Society Membership organisation providing events, publications, competitions and education to support poets and poetry audiences. The Society supports small local groups around the country called "Stanzas".
• BBC Writers Room Training, advice and opportunities for script writers. Includes the Script Library, where you can read BBC film, TV and radio scripts in full.
• Oxford Playhouse residencies Oxford's local theatre supports playwrights through two residencies: the Playhouse Playmaker programme for playwrights at any stage of their career, and The Plot for later career playwrights.
• Writing Lives: biography and beyond Interviews with leading biographers, writers, and scholars about life writing in all its forms.
• Oxford Writers House Talks A series of talks exploring writing mediums, methods, interests, and approaches, produced by the Faculty of English Language and Literature at Oxford University.
• Writers in Dialogue Peter D. McDonald, Professor of English and Related Literature in the Faculty of English and Fellow of St Hugh's College, talks to contemporary writers about their work.
• BBC Writers Room Podcast Writers of popular BBC shows answer listeners' questions

The Poetry Archive exists to help make poetry accessible, relevant and enjoyable to a wide audience. It came into being as a result of a meeting, in a recording studio, between Andrew Motion, soon after he became U.K. Poet Laureate in 1999, and the recording producer, Richard Carrington. They agreed about how enjoyable and illuminating it is to hear poets reading their work and about how regrettable it was that, even in the recent past, many important poets had not been properly recorded.

The Archive is a not-for-profit organisation with charitable status. It is run by a small staff, supported by a distinguished board of trustees and a panel of specialist advisers. We depend for our existence on funding from public bodies, charitable trusts and generous individuals. The money we earn from sales of Poetry Archive CDs goes towards making more recordings.

• LibriVox Public domain audiobooks, including both fiction and non-fiction.

We accept no responsibility for the content of these external websites, which may have their own terms and conditions.

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• Last Updated: Feb 16, 2024 1:25 PM
• URL: https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/creative-writing

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