As most established writers will tell you, creative writing classes are invaluable, if not indispensable. As with any craft or trade, we all have to learn writing skills somewhere, and online writing courses are a brilliant option, allowing you to access world-class advice from the comfort of your home, wherever that may be!
Online writing courses aren’t just for beginners; they’re a great way to tighten your process, get handy feedback, brush up on your writing skills or get up-to-date insight into industry trends even for experienced writers.
What’s more, there are great online courses whatever kind of writing you’re into – from literary to genre fiction writing, to popular creative writing courses, non-fiction, plays, scripts, short stories, personal essays...
If you can write it, you can bet there’s a writing course designed to support you.
To help you find the best online creative writing classes for you, we’ve compared a few of the top contenders to find the best online writing courses available right now.
We’ve included some free online writing courses, online creative writing classes you can take at your own pace, some that explore the basic building blocks of story and others that span topics from character development and writing style to how to overcome writer’s block or manage social media for writers.
There are comprehensive courses and quick online writing classes. Whatever you’re in the market for, this article should help you discover the best writing course for you.
So if you’re looking to hone your creative writing skills with one of the best creative writing courses out there, read on!
How we assessed the creative writing classes
Before we delve into our top online writing courses for 2023, we’ll explain our criteria and rationale.
To compare the best online writing classes, we looked at practical criteria and these key student success factors:
- Price
- Duration
- Flexibility
- Certification
- Opportunity for professional feedback on your writing
- Writing community
- Instructor experience
- How prepared graduates are for professional success
Plus, if a writing course has a standout pro or con that’s not part of that list, we’ll let you know!
So without any further ado, here are our picks for the best online writing courses this year.
Best in class for online creative writing courses: The Novelry
The clue’s in the title! If you’re writing a novel, The Novelry is the school dedicated to the form, and recognized by the publishing industry for its leading expertise. Beginners are warmly welcomed too.
You’ll enjoy the program of live online writing classes, one-on-one book coaching and the outstanding level of professional editing from book editors, publishing professionals formerly of Penguin Random House and the Big Five.
Regarded as better than an MFA at a fraction of the price, you’ll be working with current and quite famous bestselling authors, one on one. The coaching team are natural enthusiasts, taking pride in their students’ achievements and include New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling authors in every genre of fiction.
Every writer is welcomed as an individual regardless of their experience and has the chance to develop a compelling story with self paced lessons created by a Booker-listed author, as well as in-depth, personalised guidance from your very own writing mentor.
Unlike in many of the writing courses we found, The Novelry will engage directly and deeply with your writing style and your story, to make it the best it can be from the get-go saving you years of time and frustrated efforts. It’s a game changer motivationally, knowing you’re writing a great story every time you sit down at the desk!
Rather than focusing on other people’s prose in (what can often be disheartening) workshop-style, or completing generic writing assignments, you’ll be supported in your own writing personally with expert guidance. Unlike other courses, you won’t be required to spend your valuable time critiquing other writers’ work!
There is a true treasure trove of course material available on demand, tailored to differing levels of writing experience. The classes cover everything creative writers need to know, from getting a great idea to honing your pitch, specific writing techniques to the best practices for editing your own work.
Another thing that sets The Novelry aside from other popular creative writing courses is the strong relationships with the leading literary agencies in the world. The Novelry has earned the trust of discerning agents, and had many graduates secure representation and go onto successful publication – just take a look at some of the success stories!
In their glowing reviews writers often mention how they came for a course and stayed for the community. While The Novelry won’t make you read your first draft out loud during workshops, they have a lively, warm-hearted community offering a space with kindly rules of engagement. The live classes every week are great fun and hosted by brilliant authors and editors. The community is a source of new friendships for fiction writers from all over the world, over 75% of whom are in the USA. They share advice, articles, support and massive cheers when another of our group hits a writing goal – be it finishing a chapter or hitting a bestseller list. And when you’re ready, you can share later drafts of your work and receive thoughtful and detailed feedback from your peers as well as your editor.
What makes The Novelry the best?
It’s the only course offering the complete career path to becoming a published author with direct fast-track submission to leading literary agencies.
Take a look over the writing courses to find the one that best suits your needs here.
- PRICE: FROM $169/m
- DURATION: 1 year
- FORMAT/CONTENT: Courses with daily lessons, live classes, 1-2-1 coaching
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: Yes
- COMMUNITY: Yes
- CERTIFICATE: Yes
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: Suitable for all fiction writers
- FREE TRIAL? Yes
- MONEY BACK GUARANTEE? Yes
Best for a quick introduction: the Secret Sauce of Great Writing on Udemy
If you want a quick, introductory online writing course to all things writing, this 40-minute online writing class is free and you can sign up here.
It’s taught by Shani Raja, a former Wall Street Journal editor, so you’re in safe hands. In just over half an hour, the writing class promises to teach you four crucial ingredients of good writing:
- Simplicity
- Clarity
- Elegance
- Evocativeness
This is one of the best online writing courses if your goal isn’t solely to write fiction.
The tips and techniques Raja goes through apply not only to creative nonfiction but also business writing. In fact, the online course promises to upgrade your corporate communications, helping with everything from cover letters to press releases, marketing copy to sales emails and it can help with something like a narrative personal essay too.
And though this writing class is brief, it is one of the free creative writing courses we’re including, so there’s no harm in trying it out!
Of course, bear in mind that you won’t get any interaction with any instructor or fellow students, any feedback on your writing or that coveted course certificate – it’s just 16 lectures amounting to 40 minutes of video for you to watch.
- PRICE: Free
- DURATION: 40 minutes
- FORMAT/CONTENT: Pre-recorded video
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: None
Best broad strokes writing course: Writing with Flair on Udemy
If you’re ready to dive into a slightly more comprehensive course, you can also buy Shani Raja’s full course on Udemy.
There’s no fiction writing specialization here or information on how to build a writing career per se, but instead lots of guidance on how to write impactfully whatever your form and genre.
So if you’re interested in freelance writing in a professional setting or working on a narrative essay, if you’re a budding journalist, a passionate copywriter or looking to sharpen up your business writing generally, this is definitely an online course worth considering. Which, of course, is not to say that if novel writing or memoir writing are your bag you won’t learn lots of useful stuff from these online writing classes, too! But this course is less focused on developing long-form story ideas or crafting compelling characters, and more focused on your overall writing style and communication skills.
The paid course brings more than 6 hours of additional material compared to the free taster, as well as three downloadable resources, five articles and that precious certificate. If you’re looking for a good program to learn broadly applicable writing skills, these online classes are a good bet.
Again, there isn’t any opportunity for feedback on your work, any community, or any direct interaction with an instructor. It’s all pre-recorded and waiting for you – which does have the benefit of making it fully self paced.
These online classes cost $99 or £55 as a standalone purchase, or as with many online education companies you can sign up to Udemy for $14.99 or £15 per month and access other courses too.
- PRICE: $99 or £55 as a standalone of monthly membership
- DURATION: 7 hours
- FORMAT: Pre-recorded video, downloadable resources, articles
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- PROFESSIONALFEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: Yes
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: None
Best course for perfecting your grammar: Grammar Lion Refresher
Another good writing course that can help improve people in every form and genre, Grammar Lion is useful for sharpening up your grammar. It’s a wise move to master clear communication and accurate punctuation for your professional use of the Egnlish language.
The course is self paced, but you have only 12 weeks of access.
You get lots of lessons with written assignments, quizzes and downloadable resources to ensure you become a confident writer in the world of grammar.
While you won’t get any feedback on your writing or personalised guidance, you can ask the instructor grammar questions on the forum or via email and buy editorial services at an extra cost. You might also be able to engage with other students in the discussion forum, although how the level of engagement depends on the other students enrolled. Some students like to sign up with people they already know (colleagues, partners, parent/child) and engage with each other.
Although it’s limited to questions of grammar rather than the writing process or creative writing techniques, it is one of the cheaper online courses on the list, coming in at just $67.
- PRICE: $67
- DURATION: 12 weeks access
- FORMAT: lessons, downloadable resources, quizzes, assignments
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: Discussion forum
- CERTIFICATE: Yes
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: None
Best online writing course if you’re not writing a novel: Creative Writing Specialization by Wesleyan University on Coursera
This Coursera writing course is a great bet if you’re interested in memoir writing, short stories or personal essays. The course is made up of four modules, centred around:
- Story
- Character development
- Setting
- Style
You can take those in whichever order you like; they aren’t sequential or linked. Throughout the course, you’ll learn through recorded lessons and analysis of your peers’ writing. There’s also a Capstone project in which you have to complete an original piece of writing in your chosen genre, whether you write fiction, that’s a short story, memoir based on your own life or someone else’s, or an extended essay.
If all you’re after is a quick writing assignment, this probably isn’t the one for you, as they’re looking for students to plan, draft, rewrite and edit their work quite extensively. The finished product should total around 8–15 pages.
These are courses taught by professors from Wesleyan University, so the instructor credentials are good.
The course is available year-round, on demand, but the Capstone is only offered four times per year (and is necessary if you want the certificate!).
They estimate that it will take you 6 months to complete, taking a pace of one hour per week. You can, of course, go faster or slower according to your schedule – it’s another great self paced option.
- PRICE: $49/month
- DURATION: Estimated 3-6 months (6 months @ 1h/week)
- FORMAT of course material: lessons, peer critique, assignments
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: Peer critique
- CERTIFICATE: Yes
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: memoir, short story, essay
Best course for memoirists: Writing Your Story
If you really want to focus in on the art of writing memoir, you might want to consider Writing Your Story.
The online writing course is taught by the veteran author Joyce Maynard, who is best known for her account of her affair with J.D. Salinger, At Home in the World. She’s written several other books of an autobiographical nature, along with 11 novels.
Through the lessons, Maynard helps you identify your own story and how best to tell it, covering core elements like language, story structure, tension, dialogue, description and editing.
Unlike other courses, she also spends some time on helping you navigate the writing life more broadly, with tips on productivity, writing spaces, handling rejection and finding your audience.
Of course, for those keen for more personalised, one-to-one guidance, and a broader understanding of the secret sauce of storytelling, The Novelry may still be your best bet with a dedicated Memoir writing course department – and you can have award-winning ghostwriting memoirist Alice Kuipers as your very own writing mentor.
Maynard’s course, on the other hand, doesn’t have the opportunity for feedback on your writing. It is self paced, though, and you can start whenever you like as all the videos are pre-recorded.
You can access it through Creative Live, either buying the class as a standalone for $149, or paying upwards of $13 per month for membership.
- PRICE: $149 standalone class or $13+ per month for membership
- DURATION: 5 hours 19 minutes of class content spread across 26 lessons
- FORMAT: videos
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: memoir
Best free writing course: the Open University
If you want to taste what makes creative writing courses worth investing in, you might want to put a toe in the water and check out some of the free creative writing courses out there like these offered by the Open University.
It doesn’t require a big investment of your time, either, as it’s just 2 hours and 28 minutes of recorded audio, spit into 17 tracks on different subjects and by different instructors. And because it’s audio only, you can treat them a bit like a writing podcast and listen to them as you go about your day, doubling up your productivity!
Of course, there are sacrifices, too, when you opt for a free product. You won’t get any feedback on any of your work, or contact with an instructor or a community of fellow writers.
The material is also quite a bit older than you’d get on a paid course, with the recordings being at least 14 years old. That being said, you do get great insights from celebrated novelists, playwrights and poets like Ian McMillan, Hilary Mantel, Jane Rogers, Dorothy Sheridan and Tanika Gupta.
So if you want to learn broadly about fiction writing from experts, it’s a good starting point.
- PRICE: free
- DURATION: 2 hours and 28 minutes of recorded audio, split into 17
- FORMAT: recorded audio
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: None
Best free introduction to writing fantasy: Brandon Sanderson’s Writing Lectures at Brigham Young University
For fantasy fiction writers looking for a free introduction that’s a little more specific, Brandon Sanderson’s lecture series is a good starting point.
Plus, you get over 12 hours of material, spread over 12 lectures, so you can get pretty deep into different SFF topics.
Again, you won’t have any interactive elements like online writing assignments or feedback on your work, and there’s no real community – these are just a series of lectures that have been recorded and posted on YouTube. Sanderson himself has published several SFF novels.
(If it’s a SFF community you’re after, and the potential career path to becoming a published author, consider The Novelry with a specialist Science Fiction and Fantasy department with global bestselling and award-winning science fiction writers and fantasy novelists inlcuding Andrea Stewart, Tasha Suri and L.R. Lam. The Classic Class at The Novelry priced $599 with membership for a year is the classic course for writers seeking to create an ambitious speculative fiction story!)
Brandon Sanderson Lectures:
- PRICE: free
- DURATION: 12+ hours of recorded lectures, split into 12
- FORMAT: recorded video
- FLEXIBILITY: Self paced
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: None
Best for workshop style: Gotham Writers Fiction Writing I
While we at The Novelry are not very fond of writing workshops where writers have to share their first drafts and spend their precious time critiquing (and sometimes demolishing!) each other’s work, there are some who are keen on a workshop format.
If that’s you, then you’d be hard-pressed to find a more iconic option than Gotham Writers, especially if you're looking for a writing course in NYC!
Of course, opting for a workshop brings a few restrictions.
Firstly, you’ll be sacrificing flexibility, because of course people have to start at the same point, and meet at set times.
While there are some on-demand options from Gotham, you’d still need to complete set pieces of work within a week, so you’d need to be very confident in the structure of your schedule.
There aren’t any pre-recorded videos for you to work from. Instead, lectures are live and you’ll also learn from writing exercises and critiquing each other’s work. Each writer typically gets two opportunities to present their work during the ten-week course.
And because everyone does need a good chance to have their work critiqued, availability for these courses is tight: only 16 spaces for each group.
Prices for these ten-week courses are higher if you decide to attend the in person writing course in New York, but if you opt for the anytime session or the real-time videoconferencing option, tuition is $419.
- PRICE: $419 remote/$445 in person + $25 registration fee
- DURATION: 10 weeks with one weekly meeting
- FORMAT: lectures, peer critique, writing exercises
- FLEXIBILITY: No
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: Yes
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: fiction (short stories and novels)
Best for a general introduction to writing for children: Children’s Book University
Fiction writers looking to specialise in writing for children are also well-catered for.
Again, The Novelry is a great option here if you're looking for a career path with an expert team who’ve published bestselling and award-winning children’s books and can guide you to make your story the very best it can be and was awarded Best Course for Children’s Literature Worldwide by Intelligent.
The children’s fiction department at The Novelry has professional editors who’ve worked in world-famous children’s editorial departments and with household-name children’s authors too.
But there are, of course, other cheaper options if you are aiming to write for young readers. One children’s fiction course that’s quite good value for money is Children’s Book University -- a good bet if you want to spend less time on storytelling, writing and editing techniques, and instead get guidance on illustrating and navigating the industry.
The course is divided into 9 modules:
- Story idea
- Writing and editing
- Illustrating
- Book covers
- Pre-launch marketing
- Formatting
- Uploading your book and ebook
- Book launch
- Post-launch marketing
It’s taught by Eevi Jones, who is a young and fun children’s book author and has some insight on all these areas.
It takes a minimum of three months to complete, but it’s entirely flexible so you can take longer if you need. However, you won’t get a strong writing community or any interaction with Jones unless you pay extra for one-to-one support, which is still limited to email exchanges rather than any live conversations or feedback, and only lasts for one year.
- PRICE: 3 payments of $179 or 1 payment of $497. If you want email support for a year, it’s $1497.
- DURATION: Minimum three months
- FORMAT: Videos, templates, scripts
- FLEXIBILITY: Yes
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: children’s fiction
Best for screenwriters: Storylogue
If you want to learn more about writing scripts for television or films, then take a look at Storylogue! It’s run by Robert McKee, who’s a screenwriter, story consultant, author, and instructor/lecturer. While his background is very much in screenwriting, McKee has a firm understanding of storytelling and how important it is across the board -- he’s even consulted on business storytelling for companies like Time Warner, Nike, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and Siemens. And remember that many accomplished writers use elements and principles for screenwriting even in other forms, so don’t write it off if penning a script isn’t your ultimate goal.
Storylogue is more of a library of resources than a structured course, so if you’re looking for a clearly demarcated path with a clear end goal and plenty of milestones and guidance along the way, it may not be right for you. Equally, if you’d really like feedback on your work, or a strong sense of community with fellow writers, this won’t really fit the bill. On the other hand, that does mean it’s very flexible, as you can explore all the resources at will, as and when you like and with no deadlines or assignments. There is even flexibility in the payment plans, as you can opt for the monthly fee of $19.97, or annual payments of $197.
- PRICE: $19.97 monthly or $197 annually
- DURATION: As long as you pay for membership
- FORMAT: Recorded videos, interviews and Q&As, written material
- FLEXIBILITY: Yes
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: screenwriting
Best for short stories: One Story
Writing great short stories takes a particular set of skills often relying more heavily on a unique writing voice. While general storytelling principles and lots of the same techniques might apply, you wouldn’t be wrong to consider some specialised training. That’s where writing courses designed especially for short story writers comes in, and One Story is a good course.
There’s lots of variety on offer at this online writing school, so you can take the approach that works for you. If you like workshops and live classes, you can opt for those. If you want a self-guided, self-paced bundle, that’s available too.
Typically, the individual classes with workshops and instructors are centred around more specific topics, like editing or the best ways to end short stories. But you can purchase bundles to get a broader education into the short fiction form!
Because there’s so much variety, there isn’t one set duration or price. For the most part, though, unless you opt for the self-guided bundle, the courses aren’t flexible and they have set start dates and deadlines. They are usually online, though, so – time zones allowing – you can enrol from anywhere!
A bundle you might consider is the Craft Lecture Bundle. You get on-demand access to seven craft lectures and one author talk, recorded during their 2022 virtual conference. It features:
- Susanna Daniel on beginnings
- Susan Perabo on dialogue
- Lena Valencia on how to submit to literary magazines
- Ayşe Papatya Bucak on building context
- Pitchaya Sudbanthad on setting and place
- Lillian Li on set pieces
- Jai Chakrabarti on time
- A conversation between One Story Editor-in-Chief Patrick Ryan and author Don Lee
It’ll set you back $60, so it’s fairly affordable as online courses go – though not free like other pre-recorded videos and lecture series.
As an example of the live classes, you could look at Write with One Story. It ran from 19th-24th January, and each day one of the editors led a fiction writing practice or exercise designed to help create new scenes, characters, or sketches. The instructor could chat with students about the exercise and about the writing process in general using message boards. These kinds of classes are designed to be done on your own time and at your own pace, and editors can answer questions during just one day of the class period. This course would cost $75.
- PRICE: Varies (self-guided bundle for $60; Write with One Story for $75)
- DURATION: Varies, typically a few days
- FORMAT: Writing exercises; lectures
- FLEXIBILITY: Yes but set start dates and deadlines
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- CREATIVE WRITING SPECIALIZATION: short story
Best Masterclass: Margaret Atwood
Most people have come across Masterclass at some point. Our favourite for an all-round education in novel writing is Margaret Atwood’s.
It’s made up of 23 video lessons, amounting to 3 hours and 43 minutes of content covering the former college professor and literary phenomenon’s process for developing strong structures and nuanced characters, handling research and historical context in fiction, and how to revise and edit your writing.
As with any Masterclass course, there are drawbacks when it comes to interactivity, feedback and community. These are all pre-recorded videos, so it’s generic guidance without any opportunity for feedback from either your peers or an instructor. As a result, there’s no sense of community, or accountability.
You need a Masterclass membership to access the course.
- PRICE: Masterclass membership begins at $10 /month or £14/month billed annually
- DURATION: As long as you pay for membership
- FORMAT: Recorded videos
- FLEXIBILITY: Yes
- PROFESSIONAL FEEDBACK: No
- COMMUNITY: No
- CERTIFICATE: No
- WRITING SPECIALIZATION: novel-writing
Other options?
If you just want to start a book: Litreactor
If you want a tried-and-tested story structure template: Save the Cat Writes a Novel
If you want very focused mini-courses: Writers.com
If you don’t enjoy live classes: Ed2Go Beginning Writer’s Workshop
