creative writing classes online

Follow the call to write.

Writers.com is a warm, welcoming space for all writers. Explore the joy and craft of writing in our inclusive community, join our online courses and coaching for personal feedback from our award-winning instructors, and explore our writing tools and resources. Wherever you are in your journey, we’re here to help you.

Our Online Writing Courses Are...

Fully Digital

Join and participate from anywhere. A laptop or tablet is all you'll need.

Friendly and Welcoming

We can't wait to meet you and support your writing!

Open to All

We welcome writers of all backgrounds, experience levels, genres, and styles.

Online Writing Courses Starting Soon:

March courses, comics for people who can’t draw, with aubrey hirsch.

Can't draw? No problem! In this workshop, learn how to tell complete stories in publication-ready comics, no matter your artistic background. 

Lifestyle and Wellness , Personal Essay , Short Story

From Writing Circle to Poems in 6 Contemporary Forms

With susan vespoli.

Course full. Contact us to join waitlist.

From the sonnet to the villanelle, turn your journal entries into formal poetry in this 6 week writing circle workshop.

Lifestyle and Wellness , Poetry

Free Event: In Another Country with Andrea Jurjević

With andrea jurjević.

Join us for a free reading with Andrea Jurjević, who will be reading from her new poetry collection In Another Country, selected by Roberto Tejada for the Saturnalia Book Prize. The reading will conclude with a Q&A about Andrea’s poetry and process.  About In Another Country: Anchored by the desire to find a home in…

Free Community Event , Poetry

Poetic Prose: The Prose Poem

With barbara henning.

Only 2 seats left!

Explore the border between prose poetry and flash fiction. For writers of fiction, poetry, essay and memoir.

Fiction , Poetry , Short Story

Sing the Body Electric: Poetry of the Body

The human body is a continuous source of inspiration for poetry. Embody the poetic in this electric workshop. 

Write into Mystery: Writing Flash Memoir on Wonder and the Unexplained

With joanna penn cooper.

We often encounter wonder, mystery, and the unexplained in our everyday lives. Turn those experiences into flash essays in this community-centered course.

Creative Nonfiction , Personal Essay

Write Your Memoir in 12 Weeks

With blaise allysen kearsley.

Writing a full memoir takes energy, momentum, and moral support. Find all three in this memoir writing intensive.

Creative Nonfiction , Memoir

Writing Mindfulness: Sensual World/Poetry Mind

With marc olmsted.

A four-week class, melding the language mind with the sensual: How to turn detailed observation into a poem. With Marc Olmsted.

Get Your Book Noticed: Writing Loglines That Sell

With jeff lyons.

Your logline helps you query agents, market your book, and figure out the story itself. Hone your logline and set your book up for success in this Zoom workshop.

Creative Nonfiction , Fiction , Memoir , Novel , Personal Essay , Short Story , Stage and Broadcast

Crafting the Poetry Novel for Young Adults

With kelly bingham.

Even if you’ve never written poetry before, you can begin the rewarding process of crafting a poetry novel for Young Adults. Is there a market for novels written in verse? Are they well received? Yes, there is, and yes, they are!

Fiction , Novel , Poetry

Online Writing Course Categories

Lifestyle and Wellness

Short Story

Personal Essay

Stage and Broadcast

Student testimonials.

It was so fantastic working with other serious writers and getting their input. I have taken part in other writer critique groups, but I felt that the difference here is that everyone who came in is really serious about the craft.

I managed to revise and rewrite the first half of my novel during this course, and I have a plan for how to tackle the rest.

The ultimate success for me was that my husband could see a lot of improvement between the writing he saw in week 1 vs in week 10. Feeling inspired and empowered from this course!

-Nabila Zahur, novelist

This was my first course with Writers.com, and my first course in this global format (we had members from London, Australia, Denmark, and the US). It worked very well.

The course content was thoughtful, informative, and well-organized. The instructor was supportive and encouraging to all, and matched her level of critique to the level of the participant. I felt we were in the hands of a master and mentor, and it was a privilege to have her undivided attention eight times in two months.

-Fred Lindgren

Writers.com classes provide a great way to sharpen your writing skills and join a community of writers. Try a few- you won't be disappointed.

-Melissa DeCarlo, author of The Art Of Crash Landing (Harper Paperbacks/HarperCollins)

Browse More Testimonials

Arnold doyle – telling truth.

Ollie was very encouraging and supportive; they not only knew their stuff, but shared feedback in a non-critical manner. This course provided an intimate and challenging opportunity for me to learn about various poetry forms/styles, as well as the experience of writing and sharing unedited, first-draft poems based on prompts provided by the instructor. It forced me to work outside my comfort zone, and that was a benefit in and of itself, outside of the class material.

Nancy LaChance – Telling Truth

Ollie was a wonderful teacher. I think it was through their feedback that I gained the best understanding of how working in this kind of format can truly revolutionize your writing.

Techwashed – Aravinda Garimella

If you are a writer interested in the pervasive effects of tech on society, this course is a must-take. Shankar creates an inspiring space for creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and celebration of each other’s work. I found the generative prompts in this class inspiring. The students in this class were truly amazing people and the course has opened up a whole world of possibilities for my creative writing. Shankar is also extremely generous with resources, so you are learning for long after the class is over

Lori Posdal – Scene Study

Susan is a gifted teacher. She created an atmosphere of safety to express ourselves. Use of strongly written scenes along with lecture on technique was very helpful as a set up for our assignments. I especially enjoyed the break out sessions in class which allowed for time to meet classmates more intimately. I learned quite a bit!

Maria Warner – Scene Study

This class was great. Susan went above and beyond what I expected. Her feedback and workshopping with the other students was extremely helpful. Susan is a gem!

Chris Peterson – Scene Study

Susan Pohlman is very encouraging and her critiques of our work (not just suggestions but reasons for them) were most helpful. She’s warm, welcoming and obviously very knowledgeable and experienced in the writing field, as well as very talented. Her enthusiasm and love of sharing that knowledge is palpable and encouraging in itself.

Anne Samulevicius – Ordinary to Extraordinary

Excellent. Tina gave consistently thoughtful feedback – on various aspects of the poems, from structure to tempo to content – and was able to meet each writer where they are which is crucial, I feel. As a beginner I felt encouraged but also nudged to consider things I hadn’t before.

Joe Medeiros – The Joy of Poetry

Joy is a tremendous teacher and an enthusiastic person who has made me want to write at a time of my life when I wanted to be as far from pen and paper as possible. Her enthusiasm and love of poetry is truly infectious. She challenged us to write on the spot with no pressure or judgement. The way she analyzed poetry made it understandable and accessible. Without a doubt one of the best writing teachers I’ve ever had because she made me want to write.

About Writers.com

The first writing school on the internet.

Since 1995, writers from over two hundred countries have visited Writers.com and thousands have completed our online writing classes. We are accessible 24-7 from any Internet connection in the world, uniting far-flung students with renowned instructors - all published, working writers with teaching experience- who offer feedback and encouragement.

Writing can be a lonely road but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're just beginning to write or polishing your next piece for publication, we can help. Let us provide inspiration, direction, community and deadlines to start you writing and keep you working.

Support And Constructive Criticism

You're never just a face in a crowd at Writers.com. Small groups keep our online classes lively and intimate.

Each class provides written lectures, projects and assignments, and discussion forums where you'll share your work with the instructor and the other students.

Best of all, a teacher offers insights on every project you submit. These critiques help identify the patterns that can plague even the most talented and experienced writers. So whether you're dusting off a grade-school passion or breaking onto the bestseller list, we can boost you up the ladder a few rungs.

Can't bring yourself to share your work? We offer private classes,  just you - or just you and a friend or two - working with the instructor. Click on private classes in the navigation bar at the top of the page to read more.

We also offer one-to-one services such as coaching and editing but it's highly recommended you take one of our classes first.

Writers.com commits to providing the best online writing classes for creative writers available anywhere. (If you're interested in learning other kinds of writing, such as business or technical writing, you can start with Hidden Front Door or a similar site.)

Caring And Community

Writers.com remains a rock in a sea of audit-only and feedback-light classes. We've had decades to fine-tune our approach, recruit top instructors and build a supportive network of writers. When you send us an email, you'll always hear back from a real person, not an auto-responder. And while you're in class, we're available to help seven days a week if you run into a problem or have a question.

Over a third of our alumni return to take a second class with us, and some have been taking our classes for 20 years or more. That's the highest compliment we can imagine - and it inspires us daily to keep growing as writers' needs and the literary landscape shift.

We pioneered teaching online writing classes. And we still do it with pleasure every day.

Questions? Comments? Lavish praise? We want to hear it all! Please contact us through the form below. We'll be in touch ASAP.

Please note: many of our courses are completely text-based. If you're reaching out with a question about course meeting times, check the course description to see whether it has a live video component or not. For more information, check out how our courses work .

We do check email seven days a week. Please allow for some delay as chances are we're not in your time zone and, though the Internet never sleeps, we do.

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