WRITING COURSES FOR EVERY BUDGET

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Submitted Date 09/30/2019
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Nowadays, you don't need to enroll at a university to access guidance and insights from top professionals in your field. There are several online platforms that connect students and teachers all around the world. I love online courses, as they make education more accessbile for those who can't afford a college degree, do not have access to a choice of distinguished professors in their field, or have a special niche they'd like to learn about. I've enrolled in courses to learn to teach ESL, improve communication in personal relationships, and to begin speaking Polish. Lately I've been seeing advertisements from a platform called MasterClass, which got me investigating writing courses in different price ranges.

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Head over to Skillshare to sign up for free classes that feature interactive educational videos. You can also get a 15 dollar monthly subscription for access to more than 20,000 classes in their catalog. "Writing for Online Engagement: Fiction in a Digital World" and "The Creative Writer's Toolkit" are just two of the classes being offered for free. For each class, you can see a preview of the lessons, student reviews, a community forum, and projects and resources.

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On Coursera, you can actually take courses from universities, and in some cases, receive a certification. For example, Duke University offers an "English Composition" course and Wesleyan offers a "Creative Writing Specialization". You can pay $49 to receive a certificate of completion aftering passing the assignments, or you can access the course material for free and go at your own pace. As the courses are provided by university professors, there are often related assigments and peer review - a great motivations for those of us who like to be held accountable. Coursera also allows you to connect to your LinkedIn profile and share your accomplishments.

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On Udemy, among their many options, you can take a "Complete Book Writing Course From Idea To Published Book", "Foundations of Fiction", and "Writing Productivity Hacks for Writers." These courses are usually around $75, but Udemy often has special promotions and disounts. It's very easy to choose the right course for you, as you can see a summary of the number of lectures, hours of content, and suggested level (Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, All Levels). The website also lets you search by price, features, and ratings.

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I'm sure, like me, you've seen MasterClass advertisements popping up all over the place. The greatest appeal of MasterClass is its exclusivity to only offer lessons from the most successful artists and athletes in the nation. There are several writing classes bringing from these big names to the comfort of your living room. You can sign up for $180 a year (all-access pass) or $90 per class. The writing classes currently offered are: Writing with Malcom Gladwell, Writing with James Patterson, Writing with Judy Blume, Creative Writing with Margaret Atwood, Mystery and Thriller Writing with David Baldacci, Screenwriting with Aaron Sorkin, Writing Thrillers with Dan Brown, Writing for Television with Shonda Rhimes, Reading and Writing Poetry with Billy Collins, Dramatic Writing with David Mamet, and Writing for Young Audiences with R. L. Stine.

*You can use most of the sites mentioned above (Skillshare, Coursera, Udemy) to look up additional courses with different price ranges. (In the case of MasterClass, the prices are the same for any course.)*

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