Online Writing Courses

Has anyone ever taken a paid online writing course? Either through a college or other institution? I was browsing around and found Gotham Writers' Workshop at www.writingclasses.com. From further search, they do seem legitimate. I'm wondering if it's worth the money to take something like that--any opinions?

Hmm, never done an online one. I'm currently attending a BA in English Lit and Creative Writing. I'm not sure if those things are for absolute beginngers or not...

I took a creative writing course as part of my English minor back in college. It was stifling! Two days on themes, and so much time spent on the truly boring stuff like structuring and even poetry, which I had no interest in.
I had written a few poems in high school- raw, teen angst- but I wanted to learn how to write novels!

You may well come away from a course, (either online or at the local college) with more useful info than I did, so it really is a subjective thing.

The first thing that really helped my writing was too much reading. How did he handle this? Were her characters sympathetic, or merely pathetic? The next major help to my writing was (wait for it...) Writing!

Finally, I found a writing website, chock full of advice and pointers. After some time, I realized that the most help was coming from the same 3 people, who also seemed to value my opinion.
This may seem self-serving, but those three broke off from that site and asked me to join them on a new one. Those people were Knorrasky, Gezza and the Dark Avenger, and they have done the most to help me grow as a writer.
But none of us will claim that the IFWG is the "be-all, end-all", and Gotham is a legit program, and you should take advantage of all legit sources of info, time and finances permitting. If you do choose a course, please let the rest of us know how it went!

I may still try it, though finances are tight, and I'm stingy...and paranoid. Looking into other free options as well. I liked my experience on Storywrite with Valkyrie, though the instructor of the other class I took went AWOL and has not graded my last assignment that I submitted back in November.

I would definitely like something with a quicker turnaround for feedback. Though I don't expect same day results, comments within a week or two would be nice.

I have signed up for the fiction writing 101 class at Gotham. The 10 week course begins Jan. 26. I will let you know how it goes and keep you updated.

I for one will be interested in your opinion of the class. I hope you enjoy it!

I certainly am interested as well. It is good to know where value can be found, in every quarter.

My Fiction Writing 1 Class started Tuesday. There are 16 people signed up from all across the USA and world. Our first assignment was to make a journal with at least five categories and to write at least two things in each category--things that could spark writing ideas, like news/current events, dreams, etc.

No feedback yet, but I'm liking the layout of the website so far.

Sounds like just the thing to get the ideas from your head to a page. If that's how they start you, it already seems worthwhile! Good luck.

Last week, we covered character and our assignment was a simple character sketch. We discussed character detail and plot vs. character driven stories. We're on week 3 now, involving plot. The instructor gave us a simple plot outline suggestion and I used it to write a short scene of the Civil War romance novel I've been planning.

Every week, we have optional class chats on Wed nights. The only thing so far is I'm a little disappointed with instructor feedback. The written lectures are great, but I'd like to see her more active on the comment boards and post more specific details on assignment feedback. There are still seven weeks left, so we'll see how it goes.

Sounds similar to my BA course!

It's on with week 5 now--halfway through. This week is about description.

I've started submitting homework assignments that revolve around my latest novel idea, so that's helping me get ideas flowing for that.

I'm starting to see some of my weaknesses--flat characters, weak words, cliched phrases, etc, but also some strengths. All the students (4 each week) submit short stories or portions of stories to the "booth" for all the other students to critique. That is a helpful process.

If our homework assignments are especially good, we are asked to put those on the week's "blackboard" for all to see and comment on. I'm enjoying getting feedback and also seeing other writers' styles.

So far, so good.

Funnily enough, I have in front of me right now "Writing Fiction: A practical guide from New York's acclaimed creative writing school" - The Gotham Writers' Workshop.

The advantage of a book is I get to pick all the bits I want, and skip the bits I don't. I'm about 3/4 the way through the book and it seems to mirror your correspondence course. What I lack, of course, is tutor feedback, but it seems you do too.

I especially like the frequent examples from published fiction quoted to show exactly what is meant by the main text. Each chapter is written by a different teacher and the quality is correspondingly variable. Some are totally inflexible and lean strongly toward literary fiction, whereas the chapters on Character and Plot I found to be excellent, giving me several useful pointers that I will no doubt have forgotten by the time I write my next piece.

Heh, that book is available on their website. I'm finding the advantage of an actual class is that it keeps me accountable for working on things and scheduling time. Also, comparing and talking to other students, seeing their styles, their struggles, etc. Still, it was much cheaper than grad school was going to be...

Fair point. The book is full of writing exercises and I haven't done any of them. But then, that's why I wouldn't sign up to a correspondence course just now. I write what I want, not what other people tell me to. For other students, I have this site of course

We're almost to week 9, only one week left after that! I've tailored my assignments to the historical romance novel I've started. It's helped me work out several scenes and develop the characters.

After I submitted my first chapter to the "booth", my instructor seemed to think that the story has real publishing potential and thinks I ought to be looking for an agent already. She suggested getting a synopsis and 3 chapters ready and start submitting. I'm not sure I'll do that until I have a full manuscript, but I'm definitely encouraged to keep working on it. Research is a bit daunting, but interesting at the same time. I'll have to keep you posted on its progress.

So, based on just the fact that I've been able to actually start a real book project, I think the class has been really successful so far. If I had started with no ideas for a story in mind, it might have been less helpful, but would probably still have given me good exercises.

I've also contacted several of my classmates and many are interested in forming our own "writing circle" to read each other's work. Hopefully, that will prove beneficial as well.

Wow, well done!

Outstanding, Mcat! You're right to wait until you have a complete ms, at least according to all the advice I've been able to glean (some of which is actually from agents). They'll want to see how well you can handle your mid- and end-game before they'll offer to rep you. After you're an established moneymaker for the pub house, then you get to send in an idea with 3 chaps and get a contract.

That's what I was thinking. I even emailed an established romance author and that was her advice as well. I could see that happening when you've already had an agent and a good rep with them.