Five Free Online Writing Courses

Having recently paid a year’s worth of hefty University fees, I’m pretty amazed that degree level Creative Writing courses are available online for free through The Open University’s Open Learn programme! 

Obviously these courses don’t give you tutor support, a real-life classroom experience or access to feedback on your writing, but the quality of the content is high and they’re certainly worth considering if you want to develop your writing and critical reading skills. Each course is interactive with plenty of exercises to practise what you’re learning, and written, audio and video materials are all provided.

OpenLearn is the home of free learning from The Open University. They offer a wide range of self-paced online courses, and a Statement of Participation is available on completion of each course.

Click the link to read more about Open Learn here OpenLearn – Open University

Or you can find out more about Open Learn in the video below. 

The Creative Writing classes are offered at Level 1 for beginners, Level 2 which is more advanced and Level 3 which is equivalent to Postgraduate standard. To access the courses, simply sign up for an account with Open Learn, choose the course or courses you’re interested in and you’re all set. Happy writing!

Level 1: Start Writing Fiction

12 hours of study

Click here for course details: Start Writing Fiction

If you’ve always wanted to write but have never quite had the courage to start, this introductory course will give you an insight into how authors create and portray their characters, as well as providing tips on character creation and settings. You’ll also get an introduction to the different categories of genre fiction, from psychological thriller to magic realism. 

On completion of the course you should be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses as a fiction writer, discuss fiction using basic vocabulary and demonstrate a general awareness of fiction writing. 

Level 1: Start Writing fiction: Characters and Stories 

24 hours study 

Click here for course details: Start Writing Fiction: Characters and Stories

This is a beginner level course, perfect for anyone interested in starting to write fiction or who already have some experience and are looking to improve their fiction writing. No previous experience is required, and the course offers a practical, hands-on approach, focusing on the central skill of creating characters.

You’ll have the opportunity to listen to established writers talk about how they started writing, and consider the rituals of writing and the importance of keeping a journal. 

The course will encourage you to develop your ideas as well as reflect on the writing and editing process. You’ll get the chance to hear other writers talking about their approaches to research, and consider ways of turning events into a plot.

On completion of the course, you should be able to create characters for your own stories, understand the importance of keeping a writer’s notebook, reflect on your writing and edit your work appropriately, generate and develop new ideas in writing your own fiction and analyse and discuss creative writing.

Level 1: Writing What you Know

8 hours study 

Click here for course details: Writing What You Know

Would you like to improve your descriptive writing? This course will help you develop your perception of the world around you and encourage you to see familiar everyday things in a new light. You’ll also learn how authors use their own personal histories to form the basis of their work.

The course modules include Writing What You Know, The Everyday, Memory and Narrative and The Senses.

On completion of the course, you should be able to articulate the notion of ‘write what you know’, write ‘blind’ descriptions of known objects and note new observations, have an enhanced ability to list sensory perceptions, and write short texts about a personal memory of either a place or a character.

Level 1: What Happens When You Read

3 hours study 

Click here for course details: What Happens to You When You Read?

Have you ever wondered about the psychology of literature or stories, or how a certain narrative might change our attitude or perspective? A good story can entertain us, develop our creativity and imagination, and transport us to different fictional worlds, but you’ll learn how stories can change us psychologically as well.

The course explores our relationship with books and the ways in which engaging with fiction in particular can change readers, as well as how the activity of reading can bring benefits to our wellbeing in challenging times. 

You’ll have the opportunity to carry out both reading and writing activities and experience for yourself what happens to you when you read.

On completion of the course, you should be able to understand some of the ways in which reading books can potentially transform you, understand more about the psychological processes happening when you read, and demonstrate familiarity with the positive impacts of reading on mental wellbeing in some distressing times in history.  

Level 2: Approaching Prose Fiction 

20 hours of study 

Click here for course details: Approaching Prose Fiction

Do you want to get more out of your reading? This intermediate level course is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You’ll learn about narrative events and perspectives, the setting of novels, types of characterisation and genre.

Course materials include extracts from novels Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, Portrait of an Artist by James Joyce and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and the short stories Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf and Gazebo by Raymond Carver. 

On completion of the course you should be able to recognise and discuss selected library texts from the Renaissance to the present, approach literary texts in terms of genre, gender and the canon, engage in close analysis of narrative and poetic language and apply technical analytical terms, engage in comparative work, draw general conclusions and use textual evidence to argue a case, and understand and use academic conventions: referencing and bibliography.

Level 3: Creative Writing and Critical Reading

8 hours study

Click here for course details: Creative writing and critical reading

This Advanced level course, Creative Writing and Critical reading, explores the importance of reading as part of a creative writer’s development. You’ll gain inspiration and ideas from examining other writers’ methods, as well as enhancing your own critical reading skills. 

The course covers point of view, character, style (including rhythm, sentence structure, imagery, idiosyncrasies), voice or tone, structure, plotting and themes.

A diverse range of examples will cover the genres of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and scriptwriting. You’ll have the opportunity to listen to professional writers discussing the creative process in relation to their reading habits, and apply the insights you have gleaned to your own writing by producing a short creative piece in your chosen genre.

On completion of the course, you’ll be able to understand the importance of reading as part of a creative writer’s development, engage analytically and critically with a range of literary and media texts, recognise how critical reading supplies writers with inspiration and ideas, understand through writing practice one or more of the taught genres of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and scriptwriting, and engage with postgraduate modes of reading and writing practice.This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course MA in Creative Writing.