10 Online Writing Courses

Online writing courses offer you the perfect opportunity to improve your writing skills. Whether you work as a copywriter, a marketing professional, or in any other sector, it's important to know how to write properly, to be able to make effective, coherent, and grammatically correct texts. 

Essays, for example, are commonly required when you are going to apply for a new job, and, if you can put your ideas in the paper in an interesting way, this can be a decisive factor. You may need to write reports, presentations, and many other types of texts in your work. Check out the article and start learning how to use writing skills to your advantage. 

10 Best Online Writing Courses

1.How to Become an Exceptional Writer

The How to Become an Exceptional Writer course will help you to learn how to cultivate the proper mindset to develop your writing skills. You will understand how to add style to your texts, for example, to write blog articles, books, and business reports too. 

The course also explains how to write in a simple, clear, elegant, and evocative style. With the classes, you will be able to avoid mistakes like writing confusing texts, repeating yourself unnecessarily, and ambiguity. Another great advantage is that you will be taught by a teacher who is a former Wall Street Journal editor. 

Workload: 7 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• The mindset of an elite writer
• The beauty of simplicity
• Excessive punctuation
• Clarity
• Ambiguity
• Jargon and buzzwords
• Narrative elegance
• Elegant paragraph
• Timing, rhythm, and musicality
• Elegant transitions
• Parallel ideas
• Evocativeness
• Dramatic and forceful writing
• Passive sentences
• Voice, tone, and character

Access type: full lifetime access

2. Complete Creative Writing

The Complete Creative Writing course aims to help you find your own writer's voice, so you can write unique, interesting texts.  It will teach you how to apply writing techniques, literary devices, and specialized skills. 

This online writing course also approaches the 4 genres of creative writing: fiction, drama, poetry, and creative nonfiction. To put what you learned into practice, you will get lots of authentic writing assignments, which is also an opportunity to expand your portfolio. 

Workload: 12 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• Fiction
• Types of plots
• Elements of fiction
• Developing your character 
• Creating descriptions and outlines
• Short story guidelines
• Poetry
• Poetic concepts
• Poetry terms
• Narrative poetry
• Satirical poetry
• Sonnets
• Drama
• Thinking visually
• Developing dialogue
• Script formatting
• Creative nonfiction
• Using sensory language
• Writing in scenes
• Using a plot diagram
• Creating a digital portfolio

Access type: full lifetime access

3. Writing Beginner to Writing Pro

With the Writing Beginner to Writing Pro course, you will learn persuasion tactics, and also how to find your voice as a writer. The course aims to help you create interesting texts that keep the reader engaged, and catch their attention. 

During the classes, you will see free online tools that are useful when it comes to writing as well. You will begin learning the fundamentals of writing, and the course will guide you through mastering this skill. 

Workload: 5.5 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• Knowing your reader
• How your reader really sees you
• How readers read
• Write less, say more
• Flabby phrases to avoid
• Tips for choosing the best words
• How to craft sentences that sing
• How to structure your sentences to make them easy to read
• Incorporating stories into your business and technical writing
• Advanced persuasion techniques

Access type: full lifetime access

4. Better Business Writing Skills

The Better Business Writing Skills course will teach you how to write clearly and concisely, so you can achieve your objectives with your texts. It approaches the secrets of persuasive writing and how to polish your words with editing techniques too. 

You will also learn how to avoid writer's block, and to structure your texts to take the most out of them. It isn't necessary to have any experience, just a basic understanding of the English language. 

Workload: 3.5 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• Better business writing
• Clear writing
• Setting your objectives
• Identifying your reader
• Identifying your voice
• Text structure
• Building blocks of writing
• Principles of great writing
• Being direct
• Passive voice
• The importance of authentic writing
• Editing

Access type: full lifetime access

5. The Foundations of Fiction

If you want to begin developing your fiction writing skills, the Foundations of Fiction course is going to help you with that. You will learn how to write vibrant dialogues and interesting prose, and create complex and realistic characters.

This online writing course will also teach you techniques to construct memorable and vivid settings that will shape the world of your story. You will also be able to construct plots that drive the readers' attention and make them want to keep reading until the end of the story. 

Workload: 6 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• Character
• Appearance 
• Thought
• Action
• Uniqueness
• Dialogue
• Subtext
• Dialect
• Point of view
• Third person
• First-person
• Second person
• Unreliable narrator
• Narrative style
• Settings
• Familiar settings
• Unfamiliar settings
• Plot
• The story skeleton
• Journey and conflict
• Resolution

Access type: full lifetime access

6. Ninja Writing

With the Ninja Writing course, you will be able to make your texts stand out from the crowd by using the power of good narrative and the choice of proper words. You will discover writing secrets of editions from top newspapers and websites. 

The course also approaches how to transform email marketing into a persuasive sales pitch, and convert a dreary college essay into a compelling argument. It will also help you to know how to overcome writer's block. 

Workload: 4.5 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• The rocket science of writing
• How to find your voice
• How to kickstart a narrative
• How to get a fresh perspective 
• Different paragraph styles
• How to sharpen sentences
• How to give sentences rhythm
• How to produce poetic sentences
• Choose precise words
• How to boost your vocabulary

Access type: full lifetime access

7. Business Writing and Grammar

With the Business Writing and Grammar course, you will learn how to write a business letter, professional email communication skills, and report writing skills. It also teaches conflict resolution skills and meeting communication skills. 

Besides, you will understand how to create storytelling to make your presentation more appealing and interesting to the audience. It isn't necessary to have any previous experience with the topic to take this online writing course. 

Workload: 18 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• Basic grammar for business writing
• Fixing common word choice errors in business communication
• Verb tenses in English grammar
• Common grammar and word choice mistakes to avoid
• Writing emails to co-workers or managers
• Introduction emails with elegant and effective business writing
• Writing a business letter
• How to write a business report
• How to write a business proposal
• Writing a corporate or personal blog
• Assertive communication
• Storytelling
• Meeting communication skills

Access type: full lifetime access

8. The Content Writing Course

The Content Writing course aims to help you enhance your efficiency as a writer, using simple workflows and tools. You will learn useful techniques when it comes to writing different types of texts for a website. 

The course also shows you how Artificial Intelligence (AI) apps can help you to write texts, and when they will only make you waste your time. You will learn the best ways to optimize your texts in terms of SEO (search engine optimization). See the best ways to structure, format, and publish articles in WordPress too.

Workload: 16 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• What content writing is
• What Google wants
• Mindset of a content writer
• Tools for content writers and publishers
• Niche and topic research
• SEO research tools
• Writing approaches and methods for content writing
• Editing

Access type: full lifetime access

9. 7 Lessons on Writing for Becoming a Standout Writer

The course 7 Lesson on Writing for Becoming a Standout Writer focuses on helping you to know how to write clear, direct, and precise prose. You will be able to communicate better with readers, avoid cliche words and phrases, and find alternative ways of constructing sentences. 

To take the course, it isn't necessary to have previous experience as a writer, all that you need is to have a word processing software like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice. This online writing course is taught by an experienced university professor, who is also an author published by Oxford University Press. 

Workload: 2.5 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• Writing clearly for publications, work, and school
• How dead verbs are killing your writing
• Become an active writer
• Active voice 
• Passive voice
• Create pictures in your writing with strong nouns
• How to be an original writer and avoid clichés
• Parallelism
• Sentence variation principles

Access type: full lifetime access

10. Productivity Hacks for Writers

If you frequently have creativity blocks when you are in front of a blank page, the Productivity Hacks for Writers is the type of course that can help you overcome that. It will teach you how to "hack" your brain to get effortlessly into the "writing zone" every day. 

You will learn practical techniques and strategies to enhance your focus on writing, and how to eliminate distractions as well. The course also will give you tips about useful apps and programs to maintain yourself organized and motivated. 

Workload: 3 hours

Certificate: includes a certificate of completion

Main topics: 

• 3 pillars of productive writing
• Introduction to word counts
• Hack your brain
• Hack your space
• Hack your devices

Access type: full lifetime access

Choose The Best Online Writing Course for You

Now that you have seen some of the best online writing courses available, what about choosing the one that suits you best? Before deciding on the course you wish to take, define what is your goal, and the topics you wish to study more about.

As you can see, there is a big variety of online writing courses, from creative writing to business writing. Therefore, knowing what you are looking for in a course is important to avoid wasting your time or feeling frustrated. Also, check the reviews. Then,  just enjoy your time learning, and becoming more experienced with writing.