Creative writing course

[dreamingofgoodhair]

Has anyone done a creative writing course ? I like the look of OU A215 but it’s £££.
Any recommendations please ?

Have this moved to the Creative Writing board?

Thank you

I've done a course which was only 12 weeks so a lot cheaper but found it helpful to get some feedback and hear from other students.

I guess it depends what you are looking for, is it something to get you writing? Develop certain skills?

I did an MA. Theres funding through student finance, so you arent ever out of pocket, but you have to pay back 6% of all pre tax earnings over 21K once you graduate. Personally, I think it was worth it. I learned so much and am a much stronger writer because of it.

City Lit courses are very good -- in person if you're in London, and I see they now do some online. Also I'd echo doing an MA in creative writing, particularly if you are interested in honing your skills in a particular genre of writing.

To get me into writing , I’m a complete beginner with a lot of ideas.

I'd probably opt for something a bit cheaper then but that encourages you to write weekly (some courses give little homework exercises). Then you can decide if its worth investing more/look for local groups/just crack on by yourself.

There's loads of advice on line but they all agree that practising is the most important thing.

I looked at the OU one , they e mailed me back. The OU do some free courses on Future Learn so I’ll look into those.
A Masters is a very expensive commitment, especially if it turns out I’m no good at writing. Definitely something to consider in the future though.

Cruise Brown Creative online courses are great for dipping your toe in, especially the genre specific ones.

I’ve just started a two year course with the Creative Writing Programme, they run in-person courses in the South East as well as online. I did a ten week intro course in the spring which was brilliant.
I can recommend so far, all their tutors are published authors, lots have taught on masters courses. It’s just under £2000 for the two years, and you get individual tutorials, master classes and advice on agents/publishers etc.

I did a 10 week course which was meh and the only valuable thing about it was a chance to listen to and critique each others work.

If you write already, I would rather recommend finding or forming a writing group especially if you can find people in a similar place to you and ideally with some similarities of genre or at least a mix so people are presenting a variety of types of writing.

The best way to get better at writing is to...write.

My writing group has been a revelation. In 18 months I have gone from about 30k words of notes to 130k of a first draft of a whole trilogy and I'm accelerating. I've started half a dozen new projects too.

I'm very lucky as it's run by two published authors so we do get some excellent feedback and someone who gives the sessions structure.

OU freebie courses are good if ur a beginner x

Yes that’s what I’m going to do ti start with.

But I honestly think the single best thing you can do as a beginner writer is to read as much as possible. If you know it’s fiction you want to write, focus there, but otherwise add in poetry, essays, drama, non-fiction etc.

I've just completed the A215 course. It has a lot of emphasis on feedback from other writers as the basis for your reflection and improvement, and also teaches you to give good feedback yourself. There is a coursework book available you should be able to buy secondhand.
Due to that I would second the advice about joining a writers group and just writing! My BIL has been a member of a group for 5 years and they have just published their anthology of short stories which is the second he has contributed to. He has also written 3 other full length novels and self published them.
The website Writers' HQ is very good for prompts, inspiration, feedback, and support, if there isn't a writers group anywhere near you.
Good luck, my advice is write anywhere you can and as often as you can, note down everything that strikes you before you forget it, and spend more time editing than you do writing!

thanks , I do read a lot.