The amount of internet resources for writers is inspiring, but it can be hard to know which ones are the most helpful. Here are some discoveries I’ve made from my recent searches for writing classes.
First, as you probably already know, anyone looking for resources needs to have specific needs and goals in mind. “Unfortunately”, I can usually see the potential of almost any new information I come across as I bounce down rabbit trails, so I find it hard to keep my focus. (Which isn’t completely a bad thing, I guess, since the whole experience is educational, and then I can share it with you!)
I love to learn, take courses and challenge myself, so looking for learning opportunities for me is like a being a kid in a candy shop. And when I am in a candy shop, it’s pretty easy to choose what I want. All I have to do is look for brown. Brown means chocolate, and I have very little use for any candy that isn’t chocolate.
It was pretty simple to choose courses, too, in a process of elimination. I didn’t want to take any classes in person, or as part of a college curriculum. Nor did I want to be restricted by any online courses that had very specific attendance or completion times, especially since the ones I ran across were usually evening courses. I love getting instructor feedback, but at this particular time it wasn’t a priority.
I also avoided online courses that required socializing with classmates online. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love people and visiting with them! But when I’m focused on learning a new skill from an expert, I don’t find it helpful to spend significant amounts of time with my fellow learners. I prefer (what I’m calling) the traditional model of education–tell me what I need to know, give me examples, let me try my hand at it, tell me what I did wrong, let me try again. It seems more efficient to me.
I needed a short course to help me identify what skills I most needed to work on, rather than a course spread over several months or a year. So once I decided on self-guided courses, rather than reading documents, my first choice was video courses.
Then to further narrow down the search, I decided to start with recent recommendations by other bloggers to see which online platforms and websites kept coming up, and this website was one of the most helpful. I liked the way the author offered categories of writing classes, like “Best Course for Writing Creative Non-fiction”. So I concentrated my efforts on MasterClass, Udemy and Reedsy.
I started by visiting each of these to get more information on what courses they offered, and what they cost. I’d seen a MasterClass ad on YouTube with a writing class (Joyce Carol Oates!) that made me salivate, and was surprised to find that they are actually affordable! So I put MasterClass in my back pocket while I searched the others. (I need to pit them against each other before I make a decision.)
Since I haven’t had a lot of time to devote to writing until recently, I am looking to brush up on my plotting and editing skills, and to get help in motivating myself to re-establish a writing routine. (Aargh! “Routine” is not one of my favorite things!)
In the end, I actually signed up for classes with Udemy and Reedsy, who have the specific courses I want, and some were an excellent price, FREE! (I usually start with free or low-cost anything, and then if that doesn’t get me what I need, I pay. And if the price isn’t right, I do without!)
I am quite happy with both Udemy and Reedsy, and recommend them. I love the variety they offer, so I can focus very specifically on what I want to learn.
Now, you need to know that Reedsy isn’t a course platform, it’s an author services organization based in the UK. And the courses are not on video. But they connected me to three courses I was interested in:
How to Stop Talking About Writing a Book and Actually Start Doing It (in my case it was how to stop thinking about writing a book…)
Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine
Novel Revision: Understanding the Craft
And they are teaching me what I want to know!
Then, I took my time researching Udemy courses, checking on:
- the background of the instructors
- how many hours of video content were included.
- how much additional material was available for download
- the content and ratings of students’ reviews
- how many people had taken the courses (I shied away from the ones with less than several thousand students who had taken their course), and
- how many ratings they had
- how old the course was, and
- watching some of the free lessons in the courses to see how the instructors deliver their lessons (immensely helpful!)
I love that they provide all the stats, ratings and comments on their courses up front! I find that Udemy has frequent sales where they discount courses by about 75%. Both of the times I searched for courses, they had amazing prices. Of the ones I purchased, the original prices were around $70-$100 for the courses, and after discounts I paid about $15-$18 (Canadian dollars). As a result, I signed up for more courses than I had time for, so I have only started one of them, which is going well.
These are the writing courses I have purchased (or signed up for, for free) from Udemy:
Short story masterclass: learn from a prizewinning author!
The Easy Way to Write Short Stories that Sell
Get Your Fiction Manuscript Past the Gatekeeper
Editing Mastery: How To Edit Writing To Perfection
I’ve still got that MasterClass dream class in my back pocket. One day I’ll treat myself to it. In the meantime, these will get me closer to my writing goals without monopolizing my time.
Have a look online! I’m sure you’ll find something that will increase your writing skills, productivity, or enjoyment! I’d love to hear about it if you do.
Have you taken online writing courses? Do you have any recommendations of other online course platforms? Do share!
Online course/computer image courtesy of PxFuel.com – thanks!
Happily Writing 