--- title: Creative Writing description: Creative Writing is the practice of writing original literature, including fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. You will understand how to develop unique voices, build immersive settings, and construct narrative arcs to engage readers effectively. category: literature-writing subcategory: creative-writing difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/creative-writing --- # Creative Writing Creative Writing is the practice of writing original literature, including fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. You will understand how to develop unique voices, build immersive settings, and construct narrative arcs to engage readers effectively. ## Available Resources 2 Books • 2 Courses • 5 Websites ## Websites ### 1. Mythcreants Long-running craft blog and podcast by Chris Winkle and Oren Ashkenazi, analyzing story structure, worldbuilding, character arcs and common failure modes in published speculative fiction. Posts diagnose why specific scenes work or collapse, giving writers repeatable revision criteria. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://mythcreants.com/ **Tags:** fiction-writing, worldbuilding, story-structure, speculative-fiction, writing-craft ### 2. Reedsy Learning Catalog of short courses from editors, publicists and authors who work in publishing, delivered as free ten-day email lessons or paid video series. Covers novel planning, self-editing, querying agents, and marketing a finished manuscript. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://blog.reedsy.com/learning/ **Tags:** writing-craft, publishing, self-editing, fiction-writing, manuscript-revision ### 3. Writing Excuses Podcast founded by working genre novelists including Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal and Dan Wells, with hundreds of archived episodes on plot, character, revision and career. Each short episode closes with a writing exercise to apply immediately. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://writingexcuses.com/ **Tags:** fiction-writing, writing-craft, genre-fiction, revision, worldbuilding ### 4. Poets & Writers Nonprofit organization's site for creative writers, with searchable databases of literary magazines, small presses, writing contests, grants and MFA programs, plus craft and publishing essays. Writers use it to find submission venues, track contest deadlines and plan a path to publication. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.pw.org/ **Tags:** creative-writing, literary-magazines, submissions, writing-contests, mfa-programs ### 5. writersdigest.com WritersDigest.com is a comprehensive resource for writers, featuring craft articles, writing prompts, market guides, contests, and publishing tips to help aspiring and established authors improve their craft and get published. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://writersdigest.com **Tags:** websites, personal-development, communication ## Courses ### 1. Brandon Sanderson's 2020 Creative Writing Lectures Learn creative writing from bestselling author Brandon Sanderson! This course covers storytelling, character development, and worldbuilding. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSH_xM-KC3Zv-79sVZTTj-YA6IAqh8qeQ **Tags:** fiction-writing, worldbuilding, plot, character, fantasy, publishing ### 2. Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot In this course aspiring writers will be introduced to perhaps the most elemental and often the most challenging element of story: plot. We will learn what keeps it moving, how it manipulates our feelings, expectations, and desires. We will examine the choices storytellers make to snag our imaginations, drag them into a fictional world, and keep them there. We will learn how to outline and structure a plot, discuss narrative arc, pacing and reversals and reveal the inevitable surprise: connecting the beginning, middle and end. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Duration:** 4 weeks of study, 1-2 hours/week | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/craft-of-plot **Tags:** courses, personal-development, communication ## Podcasts ### 1. The Creative Penn **Author:** Joanna Penn Weekly podcast and blog by author-entrepreneur Joanna Penn, with interviews on writing craft, self-publishing, book marketing, audiobooks, and running an independent author business. Listeners learn how indie authors publish, distribute and sell their books and build lasting income from their writing. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en-US | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/ **Tags:** self-publishing, book-marketing, indie-authors, author-business, creative-writing ## Books ### 1. Bird by Bird **Author:** Anne Lamott Anne Lamott's memoir-style guide to the writing life, built around short daily assignments, terrible first drafts, and perfectionism. Readers come away with practical habits for starting work and finishing it despite self-doubt and jealousy. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385480016?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, personal-development, communication ### 2. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft **Author:** Stephen King Stephen King's part memoir, part practical manual: an account of his early life and career followed by direct advice on vocabulary, grammar, style, dialogue, revision and the daily writing habit. Readers come away with a concrete toolbox and working routine for producing fiction. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671024256?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, humanities-social-sciences, creative-writing --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/creative-writing