Do you have a calling for creative writing? Do you fancy yourself as the next Stephen King or Agatha Christie? If so, you’re going to love this post of online resources for creative writing.
Basically, talent alone won’t get you published. If you want to write, presumably with the goal of publication, there’s a steep learning curve… and a lot of competition. The good news is, even if you don’t have the time or finances to enroll in full-time creative writing classes, there’s lots of online resources to help you in your quest.
And here are the best 7 chosen by acewriters:
- Bartleby
Bartleby.com is an online text archive considered to be the most extensive reference publisher in the World Wide Web. A great resource of free materials that are arranged into four categories: Reference, Verse, Fiction and Non-Fiction.
There you can even access William Strunk’s Elements of Style, a book every writer should have.
- Writing Apps
If you’re on a student’s budget, or simply don’t want to pay for an app before you’re sure that you’ll like it, try out some of these writing apps and tools. There’s something here to suit pretty much every angle of writing, from compiling research material to brainstorming to organizing the components of your novel.
- Scrivener
If the free online apps no longer meet your needs, then Scrivener is the premier word processor program for creative writers. Promoted as a manuscript and script writing tool, it also streamlines the processes for video and podcast scripts, blogging, sales copy and speeches.
Just one of its outstanding features is the “distraction free” mode for writing. Like a clean desk and a single sheet of paper, “distraction free” allows you to concentrate on writing. And only writing. Check it out and take Scrivener for a free trial before buying any other writing tool.
- 100 Best Websites for Writers – 2016
Rather than listing a somewhat subjective variety of online websites for creative writing, here’s a page from The Write Life with an up to date listing of the 100 Best Websites for Writers – 2016.
You can pick and choose for yourself which site to explore, based on your particular interests.
- The Writer’s Digest
Okay, I know I just said that I wasn’t going to list individual sites, but this one is the exception. Why? Because of its vast volume of outstanding material on everything about writing – it is the authoritative site for all things about creative writing, and much more. Thewritersdigest.com offers up the skinny on competitions, workshops and education, resources and community, editors, and a huge library of articles on everything from writing prompts to crafting memoirs.
A wealth of information for the creative writer, this site is definitely one you want in your kitbag.
- 6. National Novel Writing Month
If you really want to jump into the deep end of creative writing, consider participating in this year’s National Novel Writing Month. November is the chosen month for this crazily daft ambition of writing a novel in 30 days, and it’s never too soon to start mentally preparing for it.
With support forums, writers’ camps, progress tracking and pep talks, NaNoWriMo.org provides everything a writer needs to get that first draft down on paper. If you tend to procrastinate or let distractions get in the way of actually writing, the NaNoWriMo challenge is an excellent platform to bust through excuses.
- Free Online University Courses
From education-portal.com, here’s a list of 10 well known universities that offer free online writing courses offered through Open Course Ware (OCW). While valuable in themselves, it should be noted that these free online classes do not count towards college credits.
With instruction from universities such as Purdue and MIT, the courses cover topics such as Writing and Reading Short Stories, Principles of Research and Problem Solving, and Writing for Children. Well worth checking out.
And there you have a current list of 7 great (and mostly free) online resources to learn creative writing. All you have to do is take action. So click on a link, and get started!