7 Online Writing Courses for Crafting Great Stories From Scratch

Unleash your inner writer and discover the key components of drafting a novel with our beginners’ writing courses

Writing is an exercise that enables you to connect with yourself and with others. Through the written word, we can convey our thoughts and emotions without being limited by space and time. Stories and narratives are a powerful way of packaging our ideas so that they resonate with others.

If you are looking for resources to help you overcome writer’s block, you have come to the right place. Below, we have curated a list of seven online courses that will motivate you to start writing stories, whether they be novels, short stories, imaginary, or nonfiction. To learn more about each course, click on the titles in red and discover top tips from professional writers.

Creative Writing for Beginners: Bringing Your Story to Life, a course by Shaun Levin

Aside from being passionate about literature, writer and artist Shaun Levin loves running, a hobby that has inspired a number of his writing projects.

If you want to learn how to write stories but don't know where to start, his online course is for you. He will teach you how to identify a theme that excites you and which serves as a starting point to build a well-rounded story. He'll also explain why it's important to carry a notebook with you everywhere you go.

Writing a Novel Step by Step, a course by Cristina López Barrio

The novel is the most popular literary genre of recent times. Thanks to it being a longer format, it allows authors to explore themes in greater depth, bring imaginary worlds to life, and transports the reader to distant times.

In this course by Spanish writer and winner of the 2009 Planeta prize, Cristina López Barrio, you will learn how to write a novel, step by step. You will finish the course having outlined the characters, plot, narrators, time frame, setting, and tone of your first novel.

Introduction to Narrative Writing, a course by Alberto Chimal

The short story is considered a go-to narrative format. To keep a good story concise, the author must present the characters and the situation in just a few lines of text, adhere to a clear structure, and conclude with a strong ending (that usually requires a gripping twist!).

In this course, Mexican writer Alberto Chimal will teach you to build a short story using two of the basic pillars of storytelling: structure and plot. You will begin by outlining your initial idea before moving on to developing and concluding your story. By the end, you will have produced a short story worth sharing with the world.

Writing for Dialogues: Give Voice to Your Characters, a course by Jimena Eme Vázquez

If you have always wanted to write stories that move the reader and a narrative they can identify with, your characters must have a voice. For this, great dialogue is the key to create lively characters that help you tell your story.

Writer and playwright Jimena Eme Vázquez is an expert in crafting conversations that allow readers to really get to know characters and present problems without the need of a narrator. In her course, she will teach you basic techniques for writing four scenes of dialogue that you can later adapt to incorporate into your story, novel, or screenplay.

Writing a Young Adult Novel, a course by Carola Martínez Arroyo

Our late childhood and adolescent years have a big influence on our development as individuals. Not only are they a time during which we begin to define our interests and aspirations, but it is also when we establish a taste for reading.

For those interested in learning how to write stories for children and teenagers, Chilean editor and writer Carola Martínez Arroyo is an expert in what this demographic likes. In this course, she will share her specialist knowledge and teach you to develop characters and conflicts that will appeal to the interests of younger readers. As a final project, you will draw up an outline for your next story or novel.

Nonfiction Writing: Tell Your Unique Story, a course by Eileen Truax

We are surrounded by valuable sources of inspiration: real-life events are one of them. While breaking news journalists focus on reporting these events in a timely and objective manner, there are non-fiction stories that relate facts through a literary lens.

In this course taught by Mexican writer and journalist Eileen Truax, you will combine tools used in traditional journalism with narrative resources to build a non-fiction story that transports your reader to the scene of an event. By the end of the course, you will have the basics for writing a three-to-five-page story.

Short Story Writing: Create Fiction from Personal Experience, a course by Shaun Levin

South African writer Shaun Levin is convinced that, whatever your age, nationality, or background, everyone has an interesting story to share.

For him, your life experience can be a starting point for developing a more complex story that incorporates fictional elements. He will show you exactly how to do this in this course. You will begin by creating a brainstorm to choose a theme and key storyline. You will then add elements from your imagination. Finally, you will create a twist that will leave a lasting impression on your reader.

What did you make of these writing courses? If you want to learn about how to produce texts for film, television, or social media, check out this selection of writing and narrative courses.

English version by @eloise_edgington.

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