This Specialization covers elements of three major creative writing genres: short story, narrative essay, and memoir. You will master the techniques that good writers use to compose a bracing story, populated with memorable characters in an interesting setting, written in a fresh descriptive style. You will analyze and constructively evaluate peer writing. In the Capstone, you will draft, rewrite, and complete a substantial original story in the genre of your choosing. Our courses are designed for anyone from the aspiring short story writer to established novelist. Whether you have a finished novel sitting on your desk calling for a fresh look or have had the germ of an idea for a decade, this Specialization gives you tools to achieve your goal. Through 4 courses focused on a key aspect of writing, and taken in any order you choose, you will develop a stronger ability to not only refine your writing, but critique writing in general and find inspiration in the works you are already reading. Thanks to our sponsors, upon completion of their first assignment, learners in each course will receive up to an 80% discount from Write-Bros and a 30% discount off their first purchase from Scrivener to use on their writing software. Additionally, learners who complete an assignment will receive 30% off membership at the online writing community Scribophile. For more information about our partners, see the FAQ below.
I truly did enjoy the class and I intend to finish the entire series of courses! I just have to move on a slow pace which I'm very happy it is an available option as well as the discounts on classes.
Easy to understand and it give me confidence to write. Thanks for this amaging course. I learn something new in every lession about constructing a character to develop it . Its very helpful to me.
I really liked how the videos set up the assignments and enjoyed the assignments themselves. They worked really well for a couple different projects I'm working on -- so useful and versatile.
Lessons were well done, good mix of teaching and illuminating discussion between accomplished writers. Exercises are creative and well thought out. Feedback from classmates is generally helpful.
It was challenging and inspiring, one of the best courses I have taken. I took my writing to new places and learned quite a lot : ) Thank you so much for the opportunity and platform for learning.
It was a good course. It was a good grading method, I was a little opposed in the beginning but I now I understand the value of having more than a teacher read your work. It is very much worth it.
Excellent course. I didn't know what to expect when I started. I was very pleasantly surprised at both how challenging - and rewarding - I found it. Amy Bloom was brilliant. Thank you!
Very fun and helpful, thank you so much for the opportunity and the financial Aid. I feel this entire specialization has been great, demanding and inspiring. See you in the next course c :
Prof. Salvatore was very engaging and informative. I picked up many essential tools along the course which I can add to my arsenal and let it flow through my pen. Grateful.
Good opportunity to keep writing and get feedback. The only drawback is the quality of reviews you get on this site- everyone wants to BE reviewed, no one wants to do the reviewing!
The course videos are very instructive and useful, while the assignments put the wealth of knowledge into practice. They can be quite challenging but completing them is very rewarding experience.
I do not understand why these courses over lap. I finished #2 today, tried to start #3 but found that I had 10 hours to complete the first weeks assignment? Who is in charge out there?
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I recently completed the 5-course specialization in creative writing. For the most part the course material presented was good, especially the courses on plot, on setting, and on style. The course on characterization was a little vague. From the syllabus, it looked like it would be a good course, but the instructor did not follow the syllabus and was often very unfocussed in her presentation.
The weakness with this specialization is that all the feedback to the writer is provided by peers in the course. This I found very disappointing. Many of the other students were honestly very poor writers, and as a result, the feedback I received on my assignments was very superficial. In addition, rather than being able to learn from reading the writing of others, I found for the most part that the pieces submitted by others were very lacking.
If you take this course, know that it will provide you some good information about writing fiction, but the feedback you receive on your assignments will not help you learn. You will need to find another peer group of writers to help you with that.
I don't see the point of having other writings who are at the same skill level as me critique my work. It's like the blind leading the blind. I was expecting a professional to grade my work to provide insight and direction. Total waste of my money.
Very little content. It is useful, but definitely not worth paying for it. Also, the exercises aren't truly exercises to practice what has been taught: just writing exercises with different lenghts, with a slight focus on what's been spoken about through the week. It looks like they wanted to make money from a minimum input, and that is disappointing.
The material in the videos were very helpful, inspiring and informative. Unfortunately our assignments are graded and reviewed by our peers. I'm deeply disappointed because there appears to be no screening what so ever of the students who enroll. So my experience was extremely nerve wracking and upsetting because I had no idea if I'd pass because people kept failing me even though I certainly met all the assignment criteria. Often I would get feed back like "..." or "-" or "yes" and "no" meanwhile I had to attempt to review submissions like "t" for a 1000 story? They literally submitted one letter!!! The group I ended up in was so grossly incompetent (or full of people that plain didn't care) I'm extremely angry that I was charged $69 for this. Honestly if I'm to pay I'd expect a professional to grade our work. Peer reviews are fine, but for this to be worth it, someone who knows the craft should at least take a look.
Great course to take as the first step in the sequence of the "Creative Writing" certification. Exercises are fun, professor provides useful methodology, load is manageable for someone with a day job.
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.
I never received any feedback on my assignments. I have not gotten credit for submitting the final assignment. I see there are other people pleading for others to read their work as well. The instructors and videos give good ideas but there is no reason to pay for this course.
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.
Auditing is pretty useless with how this class is updated. I can't get peer reviews so my assignments get zero feedback. Coursera didn't used to be like this.
Asked about how to be more involved in class discussions and peer reviews a couple days ago and haven't received feedback.
It seems easy at the start; give it a week or two and you will be very surprised -- with yourself and your reaction to the feedback.
The instructions are easy to follow, the insights are priceless.
Felt very much like an exercise in writing-by-numbers. Assignment instructions were too vague and the pass/fail grading system meant lots of classmates were upset that their work was not appreciated or understood. So many people on the course do not have English as a first language that the marking is often erratic. Great that non-native speakers are trying to write in English, enriching the canon, but in those circumstances a pass/fail system seems misguided.
I found the wording of the assignments really difficult to follow so I didn't really understand what was expected of me. I spend a lot of time (and therefore money!) on this course but in the end I made a conscious decision to stop. I was taking it for personal pleasure and it was not worth the stress each week of trying to work out what was being asked. I have taken a number of other courses in creative writing elsewhere, and other courses on Coursera - this is the first one I have actively chosen to stop because I just wasn't engaging with it - either for education or for enjoyment.
The material isn't bad, and it does provide some interesting prompts to think and write about. But, the curriculum is not at all creative. It focuses on easily teachable and repeatable lessons that teach a certain, standard way of doing things. It tries to reduce creative writing down to a formula instead of acknowledging that many compelling and successful stories can have almost any imaginable form. If perhaps many types of structures had been emphasized or structures had been pointed out as optional, this would have been mitigated, but the time period is so short that there's no time. The result is a class that feels more like "Writing: How to Make a Formulaic, Sellable Book" than anything with "Creative" in the title.
I feel like each week's videos didn't go into great enough detail. The peer review experience was very poor too. I don't feel like I received any meaningful feedback and felt that the way the system is structured promoted lazy reviewing. Overall the biggest weakness of this course is a lack of example assignments. If there were example assignment for each module with detailed descriptions of how everything fit together, the poor peer review experience wouldn't have mattered nearly as much. I learned some valuable lessons here but I think I could haven gotten just as much from watching youtube videos.
The peer reviewed assignments are next to useless, as there is no oversight on them. I think there needs to be a basic comprehension assessment done first, before allowing fellow learners the ability to pass/fail students in the course.
This course got me off on the right foot in writing. It gives specific structure on elements of a good plot. There is no failing, just constructive review of your work by your peers. Very good course
This is not worth the money or time. There was too much of the course that involved teaching by the numbers. I don't think creative writing can be taught that wasy. Any 21 step process is absurd and that is only one phase of the course.
Great course for beginners. I must admit I was not sold at first with the peer graded review but seeing how seriously the great majority of students take the feedback portion of the course, I couldn't help but feel more motivated. I have learned to structure my ideas and tell a story properly using the least amount of words while keeping my readers interested. Highly recommendable for beginners.
Assignments felt forced and incongruous with the weekly lessons. The assignments did not feel like an opportunity to practice the skills focused on in the lessons.
I thought this course was very good in breaking down the basics. I learned a lot of helpful information. I highly recommend it, especially for those new to the writing craft.
As a suggestion, it would have been helpful to know all assignments are peer reviewed. Meaning you are responsible for not only writing your homework, but critiquing 3 others as well. Some how I missed this in the course description. You are not done until your reviews are done, then you can move on. If you are like me and don't have the type of job where you can write or even view your course while working, this can be time consuming. Especially when the reviews you need to submit have a deadline. Sometimes it doesn't take much time. Other times writers submit a thesis when the assignment limit was 500 words. Those take much longer. If you are pressed for time, it can be quite frustrating.