| title | Hocbigg - Creative Writing |
|---|---|
| description | Path to a free self-taught education in Creative Writing! |
Creative writing is the practice of shaping language into fiction, poetry, and nonfiction with an eye toward voice, form, and effect rather than just information. People take it up for very different reasons — to tell stories they can't stop thinking about, to process experience on the page, or simply to get better at using language with precision and feeling. This curriculum won't tell you what to write about; it's meant to build the craft skills that make whatever you write about land.
This is written for absolute beginners with no formal training in creative writing. You don't need a background in literature or an MFA-track vocabulary going in — the curriculum builds that vocabulary as you go. What it does assume is that you're willing to read closely, write regularly, and revise, since all three are treated as inseparable parts of the same skill rather than separate stages.
The curriculum is organized in two phases, and the order matters more between phases than within them.
- Foundations of Craft comes first: it builds sentence-level control, teaches you to read published work analytically instead of just for pleasure, and gives you an initial multi-genre pass across fiction, poetry, and nonfiction so you have some common ground before specializing.
- Genre Workshops and Revision comes after, and within it the sequencing loosens — Fiction and Poetry are meant to be studied concurrently, since they build complementary skills, and Creative Nonfiction can run alongside them or follow right after. Editing and Revision isn't really a subject you finish and move past; it's meant to run continuously underneath whatever you're drafting in the other three.
What's here is deliberately limited to what every creative writer needs regardless of what they end up writing: prose mechanics, close reading, and workshop-level grounding in the three core genres. It doesn't cover genre specialization (speculative fiction, screenwriting, literary translation, and so on), advanced narrative theory, or professional/publishing concerns — once you've worked through this curriculum, Advanced Topics picks up those specialized tracks. If you want more hands-on practice, more in-depth reading, or extended video and audio instruction beyond what's linked here, those live in Projects, Readings, and Courses respectively.
- Forums:
- Subreddits:
- Discord servers:
- Other / Event-based:
- You can interact through GitHub issues. If there is a problem with a course, or a change needs to be made to the curriculum, this is the place to start the conversation. Read more here.
This phase builds the habits every creative writer needs before specializing: control over sentence-level prose, the ability to read published work analytically for technique, and a first hands-on tour across the major genres. Complete this phase before moving into genre-specific workshops.
Builds control over syntax, sentence rhythm, and prose mechanics so that creative expression on the page is clear and intentional.
The Elements of Style (William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White) - free, public-domain, and still the fastest way to tighten up grammar and usage habits, though modern stylists debate some of its stricter rules.
Steering the Craft (Ursula K. Le Guin) - a paid title with no adequate free substitute; picks up where Elements of Style leaves off, moving from grammar rules into narrative-craft exercises on rhythm, point of view, and voice.
Creative Writing: The Craft of Style (Wesleyan University, Coursera) - free to audit; a short video course covering the same sentence-craft territory in a more hands-on, peer-reviewed format, useful alongside either book.
Teaches close reading from a writer's perspective, reverse-engineering how published prose and poetry achieve their effects through word choice, point of view, and pacing.
Reading Like a Writer (Francine Prose) - a full-length, example-rich study of technique across a wide range of canonical authors.
Creative writing and critical reading (The Open University, OpenLearn) - free and shorter than the book above; a good starting point if you want a quick entry before (or instead of) the fuller text.
Provides a structured, multi-genre first pass across fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction (with brief exposure to dramatic writing) to build voice and establish a regular drafting habit before specializing.
Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft (Janet Burroway) - the standard structured textbook for this survey, organized by craft element (image, voice, character, setting) before moving genre by genre.
Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott) - not a technical textbook but a candid, funny companion on the psychology and daily practice of writing; read alongside Burroway rather than instead of it.
Creative Writing Specialization (Wesleyan University, Coursera) - free to audit; covers similar multi-genre ground to the Burroway text through video lectures and peer workshops, so treat it as an alternative modality rather than an additional requirement.
This phase is the heart of an undergraduate creative writing core: dedicated workshops in the three genres every beginning writer should practice, plus systematic revision technique. Fiction and Poetry can be studied concurrently, since both build essential narrative and figurative skills; Creative Nonfiction can follow immediately after or run in parallel. Editing and Revision should be applied continuously to whatever you're drafting in the other three subjects, not treated as a separate later stage.
Covers narrative architecture, scene construction, character development, point of view, and dialogue for writing short stories and novel chapters.
Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, & Ned Stuckey-French) - the most widely used fiction-craft textbook in the US; comprehensive and example-driven.
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (Stephen King) - part memoir, part practical advice; less systematic than Burroway but a good complement for its honesty about process and revision.
Start writing fiction (The Open University, OpenLearn) - free and beginner-friendly; a gentle entry point if the Burroway textbook feels dense at first.
Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot (Wesleyan University, Coursera) - free to audit; a focused video treatment of plot structure specifically, useful as a companion to whichever book you choose.
Focuses on lineation, meter, sound devices, imagery, and both closed and open poetic forms.
The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (Kim Addonizio & Dorianne Laux) - organized as weekly generative exercises; best if you want a steady practice routine.
A Poetry Handbook (Mary Oliver) - shorter and more concise than the Addonizio/Laux text, with a sharper focus on the formal mechanics of meter and sound; a good complement rather than a substitute.
Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop (California Institute of the Arts, Coursera) - free to audit; a generative video workshop that pairs well with either book above.
Covers memoir, personal essay, lyric essay, and literary journalism, blending factual truth, subjective memory, and narrative craft.
Tell It Slant: Creating, Refining, and Publishing Creative Nonfiction (Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paola) - the standard comprehensive textbook and anthology for this genre.
Writing what you know (The Open University, OpenLearn) - free and considerably shorter; a good low-commitment starting point before the fuller textbook, or a standalone option if cost is a barrier.
Develops systematic self-editing technique across developmental structure, scene mechanics, and line-level prose polish, to be applied continuously while drafting.
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print (Renni Browne & Dave King) - the classic line- and scene-level self-editing guide, written by two professional editors.
Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts (Matt Bell) - a newer, more structural companion focused on big-picture drafting and rewriting across three full passes, rather than sentence-level polish; the two books address different scales of revision and work well together.
Reedsy Learning's free editing courses (search "Novel Revision: Understanding the Craft" by Gotham Writers Workshop, or browse the full list at reedsy.com/learning) - free 10-day email courses specifically on fiction revision; a no-cost option if you'd rather not buy either book above, or a practical refresher alongside them.