Online courses allow students and young professionals to cultivate a new interest, often opening up new vistas to creative careers. Going for Creative Writing courses through virtual learning platforms can help you unlock your problem-solving skills by sharpening your imagination and critical thinking.
What is Creative Writing?
Creative Writing involves all forms of writing excluding academic, professional, journalistic and technical write-ups. This form of creative pursuit is useful if you are interested in fields like copywriting, screenwriting and stand-up comedy.
Here are the top 10 online creative writing courses:
Introduction to Creative Writing for Adults — by the British Council, India.
This is a 50-hour course, which is spread over nine weeks with weekend online classes. You need upper-intermediate (B2) or advanced level (C1 and C2) proficiency in English to become eligible for this course, which covers key themes developing story ideas, blogging and social networking, travel writing and getting published. To enrol in this course, you need to pay Rs 10,000. However, if you’re a British Council library member, you would enjoy a 10% discount.
Creative Writing Specialization — by Coursera
This foundational specialisation course designed by Wesleyan University has a total of five modules spread over six months. It covers three major genres — short stories, memoirs and narrative essays. Here you’ll learn the techniques used by popular writers to weave a plot that teems with interesting characters. Before completion of this course, you’ll be given a capstone project in the genre of your choice.
Creative Writing Course — by Henry Harvin
This nine-module course has 50 hours of e-learning access in online mode. The course is priced at Rs 9,500 and is widely recognised in Southeast Asia. Here you’ll learn the art of writing short stories, creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry and drama pieces along with a complimentary module on resume writing. Internships and placements are provided after you complete the course.
Content Writing Master Course — by IIM Skills
This four-week course spreads over 16 hours of live online training, 60 hours of practical assignments. Priced at Rs 12,900 plus 18% GST, the course covers topics such as web development, freelance writing, social media marketing and SEO. Freelance opportunities and an optional three-month-long internship will be offered to you upon completion of the course.
Ruskin Bond teaches Creative Writing — by Unlu
This one-of-a-kind online course has 28 lessons, each of them lasting over three and a half hours. Priced at Rs 999, this course teaches you right from the master author’s mouth how to structure a book and perfect the writing style. The guidance provided by Ruskin Bond will help you improve your style and weed out the problems that you encounter as a writer.
Complete Creative Writing Course — by Udemy
This course has 12 hours of on-demand video lessons with 145 downloadable resources. This covers four main genres of creative writing — poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and drama. The course costs Rs.1,920 and is suitable for learners who want to learn about distinctive methods such as playwriting and the opportunity to get publishing opportunities.
Podcasting: Telling Stories In Sound — by University of California Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism Advanced Media Institute
This is a five-week course and may cost you around Rs 56,532. It’ll teach you valuable skills like storytelling techniques for an audience and professional editing using Adobe Audition, involving both synchronous and asynchronous instructions.
Copywriting For Beginners: How To Write Web Copy That Sells Without Being Cheesy — by Skillshare
This course comprises 17 hour-long lessons and is taught by an experienced copywriter. It teaches you how to write headlines, how to differentiate between content writing and copywriting, and how to engage with an online audience. Both beginners and experienced writers can make use of the course.
Stand Up!; Comedy Writing and Performance Poetry — by edX
This is a four-week course offered by the University of Cambridge. It is spread over eight to 10 hours each week and covers topics like dramaturgical and script-editing skills within a performed act and the contemporary narrative theories of a stand-up act. You need to pay Rs 14,796 for the certificate and other associated benefits.
Transmedia Storytelling: Narrative worlds, emerging technologies, and global audiences — by Coursera
This six-week course takes 26 hours to complete and is offered by UNSW, Sydney, Australia. This course teaches students to engage with different technological platforms to tell their stories and shape ideas into complex story worlds. The course is taught by a diverse faculty in the US, UK and Australia who share their experiences through case studies.