Choosing a writing course
This page collates 4 different videos from TikTok, with written scripts, on the topic of choosing a writing course.
Up first: Part One.
Video script:
Hi, I’m Jess, a writer and careers advisor, and this is careers advice for writers. Today’s topic is about choosing a writing course...
...and before anything else: you don’t NEED to do a writing course. Even if you’re keen to learn more, there is so much information available for free on places like YouTube (I love Tale Foundry and Abbie Emmons, and Brandon Sanderson has been ridiculously generous with his writing advice online), and you can also learn plenty from writing friends or online writing groups as well.
I am fairly cynical about writing courses. There are so many writers who want to be published, and that means we’re a captive audience for unscrupulous individuals and companies who just want to package a bunch of generic, repetitive information you could absolutely get from a Google search, and then charge us obscene amounts of money for it.
Also, some courses act like their “method” is “the only way” to write, and that’s disingenuous honestly, because there isn’t “one correct way” to write, one perfect way to create.
Having said all that, I have actually done a bunch of writing courses. Some of them were much better than others, and a lot of that depended on what I needed to get out of the course at that specific time. Ultimately, I now ask myself 3 questions before signing up:
Does this represent good value for me right now?
What am I hoping to get out of this? (And is it clear the course can offer that?)
How do I know the course is good quality?
So, in the next 3 videos, I will look at each of those questions in turn.
Choosing a writing course [part two] - value for money.
Video script:
Hi, I’m Jess, a writer and careers advisor, and this is careers advice for writers. This is part of a mini-series about choosing a writing course...
...and specifically, is it worth the money? Personally, I’ve done some pretty cheap and some really expensive courses – aside from my degrees, I’d say the most expensive one cost me just under £1400, being £230 per month over a 6-month period. Interestingly, that course would be on my list of the most value for money of the courses I’ve done.
I say that because that particular course, which was called The Six-Month Novel, by Charlie and Amie at Urban Writer’s Retreat, was completely practical. There was goal setting and accountability, workshops to get and give feedback with other course participants, and loads of helpful worksheets that I can choose to use again if I want to. Some of the information wasn’t new to me, but because there was so much, I learned enough that I didn’t feel cheated.
So, what this tells me is that I value courses where there is live interaction from the course tutor rather than just a bunch of videos. I liked that it was stretched over half a year, because it kept me focused on writing for all that time, in specific times of the week that meant I could organise my time around it.
And, crucially, I learned new things, in the way I learn best: by trying stuff out.
Obviously, this might not be a good value course for you. Maybe you feel too much pressure if you have to log into a call at the same time every week. Maybe you just don’t have a spare £1400 right now (most people probably don’t, I was lucky that I’d just got a new job with a higher salary at the time) - so, how do you know if a course is good value for you?
If you can afford it (if anyone tries to pressure you to pay for something that’s beyond your means they do not have your best interests at heart)
If it’s designed in a way that suits your learning preferences
If you’re certain you’ll learn something valuable from it
Choosing a writing course [part three] - what do you want from a course?
Video script
Hi, I’m Jess, a writer and careers advisor, and this is careers advice for writers. This is part of a mini-series about choosing a writing course...
...and specifically, what do you even want from one? I kind of touched on this in the value for money video, and the lines do blur, but it’s important to recognise that what you’re looking for in a writing course will change based on your circumstances. Examples of things you might want at different times include...
Are you struggling to pick up a pen after a few weeks or months away from writing? You might want a short, practical course full of writing exercises, designed to just get you writing and spark inspiration. Adam Z. Robinson sometimes does really good examples of this kind of course.
Are you hoping to start writing the next great cyberpunk noir novel but you’re not sure of all the genre conventions? A pre-recorded, genre-specific course that doesn’t cost much and can be accessed whenever you want might be the best option.
Have you been struggling to get your novel idea from your brain to the page for some time? Do you wish you had more people in your life who understand the stresses of writing a whole book? Maybe this is where a longer-term, live-run course with workshops involved might suit you best. Think, Golden Egg Academy, Faber, Curtis Brown Creative, The Novelry or Jericho Writers to name a few providers. These are NOT CHEAP options, so I’d always recommend you do plenty of research (ideally speaking to someone who’s done the course already) before you apply. Some of them have scholarship or bursary schemes if you meet certain criteria as well, so that’s always worth checking too.
Choosing a writing course [part four] - is it good quality?
Video script
Hi, I’m Jess, a writer and careers advisor, and this is careers advice for writers. This is part of a mini-series about choosing a writing course...
...and specifically, how do you know a course is good quality? Like I said right at the beginning, I’m a bit sceptical of a lot of courses, and definitely of the sheer number of them. Hopefully, if you’ve answered the first two questions for yourself about cost and whether a course meets your needs, that might go some way towards answering this question anyway, but if you’re still not sure, here are some more ideas of things you can research:
Is the course provider reputable? Look for recognisable company names, or in the case of individual tutors, ask yourself – why would I take training and advice from this person? So, in my opinion, just having a lot of social media followers doesn’t make someone an expert, so personally I’m most likely to take courses from people who have a publishing track record themselves, or have otherwise worked in the industry as an editor or similar. I would also accept having qualifications like a PhD in Creative Writing, but it’s up to you what credentials you find most trustworthy.
Are they clear about what’s in the course? For me, a sure-fire red flag is if the webpages advertising the course are vague about what will actually be covered. So, like, I don’t want to see marketing spiel like “we’ll give you the tools to write like you mean it!” - instead, I look for things like “In week one, discuss different ways of developing character voice,” or “we’ll start by analysing the opening pages of six classic books to take inspiration for our own openers.”
Finally – and I mentioned this at the end of the last video – have you spoken to anyone who’s done the same course? Or at the very least, looked up unbiased reviews? On sites like Udemy or Coursera, there will be reviews at the bottom of the advertising page, so that’s easy. I would generally recommend you look at external review sites like TrustPilot or even blogs and videos by previous participants, if that’s at all possible – naturally, most providers will advertise their best testimonials on their own sites!