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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot by Wesleyan University

4.7
stars
4,532 ratings

About the Course

In this course aspiring writers will be introduced to perhaps the most elemental and often the most challenging element of story: plot. We will learn what keeps it moving, how it manipulates our feelings, expectations, and desires. We will examine the choices storytellers make to snag our imaginations, drag them into a fictional world, and keep them there. We will learn how to outline and structure a plot, discuss narrative arc, pacing and reversals and reveal the inevitable surprise: connecting the beginning, middle and end....

Top reviews

LB

Nov 15, 2018

Great information about plot and scene structure. The information about revision was entirely new to me - thank you! The exercises were good and difficult in a good way that helped me hone my writing.

BM

Nov 4, 2019

The course was informative on how to build, structure and develop the plot of our own stories. It was also very helpful in guiding us through the editing process. A useful course for aspiring writers.

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101 - 125 of 1,519 Reviews for Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot

By Suyash G

Jun 1, 2020

This course is absolutely amazing. All you need as a pre-requisite is the interest in fiction writing. This is a very basic course that tells you so much about fiction writing. I was interested in writing fiction, and this course helped me a lot. The instructor is absolutely brilliant, and this course offers various key insights into the structure of fiction. Even if you are remotely interested in fiction writing, you should try out this course.

By Roni K

Aug 11, 2020

Very simple and easy to follow instructions. The use of videos with the written scripts available for reading means anyone can follow through the assignment properly. You can take your time with assignments while notifications remind you of deadlines to keep you on track. Fellow students give feedback, therefore the stress (at least in my case) was lessened; peers grading each other seems to go easier on the stress. Overall, wonderful course :)

By Natalia G

Sep 28, 2017

Thank you. This was very helpful in getting me unstuck in the novel I am writing. There's still a lot for me to practice but this helped me massively! I hope I do get to finish and publish my novel. And when I do, I would love to thank you guys and Brando in my acknowledgments. This is a great course because plot is my ultimate weakness. This helped me understand the basics and helped me have a better concept for my novel. Thank you again!

By Марія П

Feb 19, 2022

Great course! I was afraid that this course would be too difficult for me, because I'm not a native English speaker, and I have never write stories in English before. But I'm happy that I tried. I got a lot of fun and satisfaction doing assessments. Learning videos were not too long, and the teacher explained everything easily. I understood all the material. Now I'm going to take next courses of this specialization. Thank you very much!

By Jessie S

Jun 17, 2020

The way the creating writing was explain was clear and easy to understand, I would recommend this course to any person who is in love with writing, but doesn't know how to start. I enjoyed how the interview with well known experts made me feel comfortable and in the right path. This was a great experience for me in all senses, I'm pleased and grateful with Brando Skyhorse and partners, keep make knowledge universal I appreciate.

Jessica

By Akmaral

May 28, 2017

I really liked the course! It was exactly what I needed. All the topics are in place, mapping out all the white spots, feeling gaps with knowledge on how to draft your story, how to build rising action to finally end up with self-fullfilling denouement. The video lectures are compiled logically, bit by bit they help you through your own creative chaos and nail your story so that it contents intrigue, tension and empathy potential.

By Vidya S

Sep 1, 2020

This course has helped me with sourcing ideas, organizing my writing and developing a keener eye for structure in my stories. This course gave me an understanding of what a right and interesting book should look like. The course not only clearly reads how a writer should design his book, but also what thoughts should be in his head. Thank you for this wonderful course!

cture in my stories. Thank you so much for this opportunity,

By Alicia C

Jul 21, 2020

I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to all the people behind this course and who made it possible for us students whose interest is in creative writing. It was indeed a great course, meaty and relevant. Personally, the course has taught me a lot. It gave me the realization that I can write. I hope I could be enrolled in another course related to this subject matter in the future. Congratulations and again, thank you.

By Laura D

Jan 19, 2021

I thoroughly enjoyed this course on the craft of plot. The instructor, Brando Skyhorse, was engaging, and I liked his direct lectures on technique that were filled with helpful point lists and plenty of illustrative examples. The homework assignments were manageable and a good way to test out some of the instruction through practice. Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in developing their skills in fiction writing.

By Lori B

Sep 14, 2021

Brando is a fantastic creative writing teacher! He is so organized and easy to follow. I'm thankful for his willingness to share all that he's learned from experience like the 21-Point Checklist. That is pure gold! Learning to start each scene with something active, the ABDCE structure, and how to "show" vs. "tell" are life-changing lessons I wish I had known years ago! Thank you so much, Brando, Wesleyan, & Coursera!!!

By Kavin P

Jul 9, 2020

This course has been the pioneer to my journey as a Hobby Writer - earlier my writings just felt random thoughts written down on a page; after this course, I can really feel a sense of flow and a path they lead to! Moreover, I also loved the Shop Talks with other experienced novelists, where they gave tips about writing - refined after their years of experience as writers!

Thank you so much Wesleyan University and Coursera!

By Shoshin

Oct 7, 2019

As a Creative Writing blogger and aspiring writer keen to learn more about the craft, this course exceeded my expectations. I feel better equipped to draft my next story now that I have gained insight into the technique of developing a plot. Also, exchanging peer review has enabled me to assess any piece of writing by a published or an amateur writer with deeper understanding of what goes into effective storytelling.

By Rachana G

Jan 7, 2020

Wonderful course! It makes creative writing so much easier for beginners. The assignments were significant and well designed for the students to dive deeper into their thoughts and come up with original stories. I especially loved the chapters with five-act structure and copy editing. I even used this knowledge in my novel. I sincerely thank the professor Mr. Brando Skyhorse for making it so simple for the learners!

By Urmila B

Sep 5, 2021

Fantastic course. Helped me gain complete insight into the nuances of writing. Had remained just so clueless before with all the other courses I've taken. This one was detailed and wholesome. Helped me hone my skill to present writing pieces I'm comfortable putting out! The step by step detailed explanations were so helpful and the chats with renowned writers as well. The reviews were eye openers!

Thanks immensely!

By Sanika D

Aug 3, 2020

This was the first academic course I enrolled for creative writing and it did complete justice to what I expected to learn. The instructors are really good in explaining the concepts and they surely helped me to explore my imagination as well as writing skills. The assignments were challenging yet fun at the same time ! Overall a very detailed course for those who wish to indulge and improve their creative writing.

By Abhishek N

Nov 14, 2019

The course has helped me a lot in giving structure to my thoughts while putting them on paper. It is enlightening to understand how a narration can be interesting to a reader and to get to try the tested method by writers was a interesting experience. Mr. Brando Skyhorse is a great teacher, I love his examples which flowed with every explanation. In the end, the readers are intelligent, hence "show, don't tell".

By Michael S

Mar 26, 2018

This was a good primer for starting out with creative writing. I wish there was a better format for the peer grading of assignments. especially if someone needs to resubmit. Begging people to look at your work seems silly given that most of it is subjective. If people give a non passing review they should then get a notification to re-edit a reposted revision. Either way it was a stressful part of the course.

By Beckie M

Sep 14, 2017

This was a great start to the creative writing specialization! The videos only took up about 30 minutes per week and most of the time was focused on writing and doing peer reviews. That was good in the sense that it didn't take up too much of my time and felt very do-able, but I think the course could benefit from some more instruction or learning content (even if it's not required). The instructor was great!

By Mr. L R A

Aug 3, 2020

It's so great to be part of this course in Creative writing: The Craft of Plot. I appreciate Brando Skyhorse for sharing his knowledge and skill on how to write the plot. Its so exciting to know that I am honored to have an opportunity to listen to profound teachers an award winning novelists Amy B and Salvatore Scibona during their shop talk. Happy to have received a certificate from Wesleyan University.

By Elena F H

Jun 26, 2020

This course was really informative and useful. I was surprised by how much I learned and how good is for advising writers-to-be. Before this course I had done one in another oganisation, and I can't believe how well this course is structred and how approchable it is. The lecturer was really good. I'm really happy with this course, and would recommend it to anyone wanting to dive deep into creative writing.

By Tere F

Feb 10, 2016

The instructor really gives the nitty-gritty of how to write a plot that will intrigue readers. He explains what a plot is (and it may not be what you think! The assignment is much harder than it looks! Believe me, it took three days for me to get mine done, sign of a good assignment as I can typically write 250 words in a snap (this review for example!). If you want to write, this is a good beginning.

By Sandra M

Oct 27, 2020

This was a great introductory course in creative writing. It taught me some of the techniques that authors use to construct a well-paced story that is interesting to the reader. The videos were interesting, particularly the "Shop Talk" segments with published authors, and the writing assignments were carefully constructed to force students to grapple with the concepts from the module in their writing.

By Ekta S

Jul 28, 2022

Excellent course! Someone like me with zero skills in writing fiction/stories is now able to draft interesting stories by simply following the instructions in this course. The course is very well structured, good explanations, good examples, and very useful tips. Many thanks to course instructor and guest faculty. It was my dream to learn to write fiction. Am so gald I took this course, thank you!

By Rian M

Oct 27, 2020

I love how the course helps you come to understand developing a novel. I would say reviewing peers is difficult, because in some ways, your peers do the assignment, but they don't always do it correctly. I think if it is a one point assessment, then that should be based on completing the assignment. There should be opportunity to assign more points based on the quality of the assignment.

By Nicole F

Nov 11, 2019

Before taking this course, I had no idea how stories were structured. Brandon Skyhorse is a wonderful professor who comes off as professional and knowledgeable. The videos are interesting, and I love it when he interviews actual writers and draws on his own personal writing experience. I am actually writing pieces whereas before I had all these ideas but no knowledge of how to express them!