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520 Best Creative Writing Classes in 2025

Showing 520 courses that match your search.

Poetry Basics: Writing Sestinas

The Loft Literary Center

This course teaches the sestina poetic form, focusing on repetition, diction, and description. Participants will brainstorm ideas, learn the 'rules,' and analyze successful sestinas, with guidance for starting their own.

Website: https://loft.org/classes/poetry-basics-writing-sestinas

Categories: Poetry

Start date:

August, 2025

Price:

$56.00

Online course

Level: Any

Length: 1 session

Class size: Unlimited

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

The course teaches plotting and executing branching narratives for video games, writing in different interactive genres, and building a portfolio. It focuses on understanding non-linear storytelling and developing a vocabulary for interactive fiction.

Website: https://www.uclaextension.edu/

Categories: Fiction, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

Start date:

June, 2025

Price:

$720.00

Online course

Level: Intermediate

Length: 10 weeks

Class size: 15

Book Publishing Accelerators Program

Lucinda Literary Academy

This program includes 8 weekly classes with guided lessons, interactive coaching, exclusive assignments, case studies, and video interviews with publishing insiders. Participants will also gain access to a community channel and options for private coaching sessions.

Website: https://lucindaliterary.com/

Categories: Fiction and Nonfiction

Start date:

September, 2025

Price:

$1,582.00

Online course

Level: Any

Length: 8 weeks, with 8 classes of 75 minutes each.

Class size: Limited

Prerequisites: None

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Finding Your Voice

Writing Workshops

This course is designed to help writers discover and refine their unique voice through various writing exercises and feedback. It focuses on facilitating personal expression and developing a distinctive style.

Website: https://writingworkshops.com/

Categories: Fiction

Start date:

June, 2025

Price:

$299.00

Online course

Level: Beginner

Length: 6 weeks

Class size: Unlimited

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

This workshop focuses on flash nonfiction, a compressed form of true-to-life writing. Participants read exemplary works, develop new pieces, and workshop their writing with peers, aiming to submit for publication.

Website: https://atticinstitute.com/

Categories: Fiction and Nonfiction

Start date:

May, 2025

Price:

$275.00

Online course

Level: Any

Length: 5 weeks

Class size: 16

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Simply Writing Online

Amsterdam Writing Workshops

The course focuses on making writing a more natural process, providing guidelines for beginners and productivity tips for those already writing. Participants will create a personal writing plan, learn techniques for drafting, and receive a curated book list and professional writing techniques.

Website: https://www.amsterdamwriting.com/workshops

Categories: Book, Fiction, and Nonfiction

Start date:

July, 2025

Price:

€150.00

Online course

Level: Any

Length: 2 days (4 hours per day)

Class size: Unlimited

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

A two-day online event focused on getting published, with sessions on pitching, publishing avenues, and storytelling techniques. Includes personal critiques and optional one-on-one meetings with agents.

Website: https://thenewenglandwritingworkshop.com/

Categories: Publishing, Fiction, and Nonfiction

Start date:

July, 2025

Price:

$189.00

Based in Kansas City

Level: Intermediate

Length: 2 full days

Class size: 200

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

2025 I Love to Write Camp

Kansas City Writers

This is a creative writing process workshop for students entering grades 2-8, focused on free writing and techniques to enhance writing skills.

Website: https://www.kansascitywriters.com/workshops-for-kids.html

Categories: Fiction and Kids

Start date:

June, 2025

Price:

$95.00

Based in Kansas City

Level: Beginner

Length: 4 days (2 hours per day)

Class size: Unlimited

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Participants will learn about world-building, character creation, and genre techniques. The course includes exercises for writing speculative fiction and discussions on current publishing trends. Price in AUD.

Website: https://writingnsw.org.au/whats-on/courses/writing-specul...

Categories: Fiction

Start date:

August, 2025

Price:

$225.00

Based in Sydney

Level: Beginner

Length: 1 day, 10am to 4pm

Class size: 20

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

This interactive course covers author marketing, social media strategies, pitching to publishers, and launching books. Participants explore their books' market positioning and build relationships with readers and authors. Price in AUD.

Website: https://writingnsw.org.au/whats-on/courses/preparing-for-...

Categories: Fiction and Publishing

Start date:

July, 2025

Price:

$225.00

Based in Sydney

Level: Beginner

Length: 1 day (6 hours)

Class size: 19 seats max

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Writing Memoir

Writing NSW

This course includes weekly discussions, writing exercises, peer feedback, and limited tutor feedback. Key topics cover memoir introduction, writing techniques, ethical issues, and editing. Price in AUD.

Website: https://writingnsw.org.au/whats-on/courses/online-writing...

Categories: Memoir and Nonfiction

Start date:

August, 2025

Price:

$690.00

Online course

Level: Beginner

Length: 6 weeks

Class size: Limited

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

This online seminar focuses on refining pitches for non-fiction writing, including essays and reviews. Participants will gain skills to articulate memorable pitches, boost editing confidence, and understand Australian literary journals better. Price in AUD.

Website: https://writingnsw.org.au/whats-on/courses/seminar-pitchi...

Categories: Short Story and Nonfiction

Start date:

August, 2025

Price:

$55.00

Based in Sydney

Level: Beginner

Length: 2 hours, single session

Class size: 50

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

What is creative writing?

Creative writing is often best understood through a description of what it’s not: it is not business, journalistic, academic, or technical writing. 

Here is what creative writing is: it is the art of telling stories through written mediums. To many people, the novel is the most obvious form of creative writing, but it can also be found in essays, screenplays, poetry, memoirs, and much more. 

As you can imagine, one of the common threads that connects all forms of creative writing is, well, imagination. In fiction, this is embodied in the creation of the story itself; in nonfiction, it’s inherent in the way that the author chooses to present (and engage with) facts and real events to create a compelling narrative. 

Why is creative writing important?

We might as easily ask: why is it important to tell stories? Because that’s just what people do. It’s our way to make sense of the world and ourselves, and share it with others. History abounds with the art of the story. Look anywhere on a world timeline, and you’ll find examples of creative writing fulfilling our need for creative expression, from Homer’s epics in 800 B.C. to Dante’s inferno to modern essays shared on the Internet today. 

Nothing suggests that it will ever disappear, either! In fact, creative writing is arguably even more important in the age of AI, in which we must continue to tell powerful human stories instead of outsourcing such a fundamental task to soulless machines. 

How do creative writing courses teach creative writing?

If you’ve decided that you want to invest in your own creative writing, that’s great! Get ready to embark on a lifelong learning path. Like all art forms, creative writing is a skill that you must constantly train in order to improve. 

Learning creative writing, of course, can be as simple as you want. All you need is pen and paper — or, these days, a computer with a writing app. 

You can also take a creative writing class if you’re interested in a certain writing topic, or if you simply want an experienced instructor to point out the way for you. A course can fast-track your writing progress by teaching you something about the art of writing in one day that might otherwise take a year for you to pick up by yourself. They also often specialize in a specific area of creative writing, for instance:

  • Character development, i.e. the way that characters change from beginning to end of a story.
  • Genre conventions and tropes, i.e. what conventions you should write to in a certain genre — and what you can (and perhaps should) subvert.
  • Story structure, i.e. the order of plot points and key events that a story should take in order to be compelling.
  • Writing voice, i.e. the unique writing style that only you can bring to a story. 

Because there are thousands of aspects to creative writing, there are thousands of creative writing classes. That’s why we built this directory of the best creative writing courses. We’ve made it filterable by genre, price, and more to make it easier for you to find the perfect class for your needs. 

But what are the best creative writing classes?

The best creative writing course depends on you, and your own profile! We always recommend that you thoroughly do your research to personalize your choice for yourselves. 

With that said, below are some recommendations to kick you off. 

The best creative writing classes for beginners

If you’ve got a book idea, and you’re willing to invest some money to write it, then Reedsy’s How to Write a Novel could be a great place for you to start. Over three months, this full-fledged course will take you step-by-step from your idea to your first draft — and give you a supportive writing community to boot. 

💲 Cost: $1,000+ 
👨‍🏫 Type: Video

The best in-person creative writing classes 

Gotham Writers, the biggest adult-education writing school in the US, is based in New York City and offers in-person classes. With self-paced courses, write-ins, and several free events per term, it emulates the university feel wherever possible.

💲 Cost: $165 - $450 
👨‍🏫 Type: In-person

The best free creative writing classes 

Reedsy Learning is composed of bite-sized modules that are emailed to you once a day for ten days. They can be read in five minutes — and best of all, they’re free! Each module is packed with practical tips, additional resources, and exercises to sharpen your skills. 

💲 Cost: Free 
👨‍🏫 Type: Email

 

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