You might already know that writing well is a skill you can learn, but where should you go to learn that skill? Is a creative writing degree your only option or should you take a novel writing course online instead? Or should you just become a self-taught writer?
To be honest, there are no right or wrong answers here. It’d be great if I had a one-size-fits-all answer that worked for everyone, but unfortunately there isn’t one. Hopefully, this blog post will still help you decide what to do when it comes to learning how to write a novel.
Why should you learn about the craft of writing?
If you want to write a novel, why not just write? Why do you need to learn anything?
I’ve always been “good at writing”, meaning that people complimented my stories and it was always me whose writing got read in front of the class in school. I thought that meant there would be nothing for me to learn, but when I picked up my first craft book just to pass the time, I realised how wrong I had been. There’s so much to storytelling that you might not intuitively realise.
Reading novels is absolutely crucial if you want to be writing novels, but it’s often not enough. Although you might get many things right just because it feels natural to do them a certain way, wouldn’t you rather do it on purpose rather than by accident? Moreover, nobody is perfect, and it’s so much easier to fix your writing when you know how to analyse each element of it.
It’s also difficult to be great at everything when it comes to writing. Maybe your character descriptions are so on point that it feels like the characters are sitting right next to us, or maybe your dialogue has your readers gasping from its sharpness and accuracy, but your action scenes leave a lot to be desired for and the middle of your story is always kinda muddy.
Anything you suck at can be improved, and that’s why you need to learn about the craft of writing.
Do you need a degree to write a novel?
Degrees in creative writing are great if you want to work in fields like publishing or screenwriting. Degrees in English (or whatever your language is) and literature are most useful if you want to get into teaching. Yes, they WILL help you write your book as well, but getting a degree “just” to write books might not be the best choice for you unless you have the extra time and you can support yourself. We are living in 2024 after all.
Although having a degree can help, it’s in no way a guarantee that you’ll become a published author and many of your favourite authors have degrees in something else entirely.
There are also other options besides full degrees if you want to study writing, and I would encourage you to look into those options in your local area if you’re really keen on attending in-person classes and workshops. (I offer classes in my hometown but the likelihood of you being local are pretty slim, I think.)
Literally no shade to anyone getting a writing degree, this isn’t a dig at you and I’m not saying your degree is useless. Even I’m currently working towards my writing degree, after all these years. I’m just saying that the degree will not write your book for you. (Have I already said “degree” so many times it has lost all meaning to you??)
Related reading: Can anyone write a book?
Are writing courses worth it?
I’ve taken many different online courses, some cheap and some more expensive, over the past five-ish years. What you get from them often depends on you.
First of all, you need to define what “worth it” means. Do you expect to learn how to write a novel or are you expecting to become a published author who makes loads of money? There are plenty of courses that will help you with the first and none that can guarantee the latter.
Always make sure that the course content matches what you want. If it’s unclear what’s included, you might want to pick something else, because there are always other options. Then, don’t expect miracles. Writing books is hard work and nobody is guaranteed success. And yet, you should do it anyway.
After you’ve invested in a course, you have to do all the work. Don’t go and say “I already knew all this” if you didn’t actually do any of the assignments and follow the advice, because knowing without action is worthless. What you get from any online course is up to you – even the best online novel writing course won’t write your book for you.
My course Writing Your First Novel 2.0 has a 365-day money-back guarantee, which means that if you complete all the course work and you still don’t know how to write your first draft, I’ll give you your money back after you’ve hopped on a video call with me to talk about your writing within a year from your purchase. I’m not here just to grab your money, but also, I expect you to have the integrity to actually work towards your goals.
So how can you take online classes on how to write a book?
There are many different kinds of online courses and it can be difficult to find one that you know you’ll get your money’s worth from. Different courses will also have different kinds of material, so make sure you get one that suits your learning style. If a course is all written material, it might not be the best option for you if you learn best by listening. A course might also not give you enough personalised support to really help you on your journey.
Find experienced writers you trust online, people who also help you learn for free, and see if they’ve got any paid courses that you can take. Of course, you can jump into a paid course straight away, but it’s often better to make sure first that you like someone’s teaching style. You can also ask your fellow writers if there are courses they have taken and would recommend.
There are also classes by actual famous authors that you can find on Masterclass, and although I’ve enjoyed many of them, I’ve found that not all of them are super actionable and don’t necessarily help someone who doesn’t know where they should start. Many of them are good complementary material when you’ve already got the basics and you’ve got your writing routines rolling.
Let’s talk about some of the pros and cons of taking a novel writing course online.
Pros of taking an online novel writing course
- You can learn anywhere so it doesn’t matter where you live and you could even watch the lessons during your commute
- Usually, an online course is yours to keep for life, so you’re not tied to anyone else’s pace and schedule
- No stressful deadlines
- The course materials often come in multiple different formats, like video, text and audio
- You don’t necessarily need to take notes because you get access to all the material and you can re-read and review them as much as you want
- Cheaper and more accessible than going to college
- You can choose who you learn from
Cons of taking an online novel writing course
- Most courses lack accountability so nobody is making sure you actually do the work
- Easy to procrastinate when there are no deadlines
- Might lack personal support
- Not all courses are created equal and you might not get your money’s worth
- An otherwise good course might not have the teaching style that you prefer
Try my free novel writing course before you buy
Do I offer an online novel-writing course? Yes I do! You get all the steps to writing your novel from start to finish and you even learn how to deal with the dreaded editing process. I wouldn’t tell you about it if I wasn’t proud of it.
However, I wouldn’t want you to invest in me blindly. I want to help you for free before you give your precious gold coins to me. You can try out my free course, and if you feel like I could totally help you smash all your writing goals, you get a discount to my full course. Even if you decide not to do that, you still get started on your novel-writing journey in less than a week. A pretty sweet deal, if I may say so myself.
Try some of my affordable book writing classes
If you’re not ready to dive in to a full course, you could also check out some of my fiction writing workshops on Etsy. They’re all separate lessons that you can find in my full writing courses, but you also get workbooks that aren’t included anywhere else. When you purchase, you get a PDF with a link to the video and to the Google Docs workbook.
Why not try the romance writing workshop or perhaps learn how to become an efficient writer?
Whichever route you decide to take, I wish you luck on your online learning journey and hope to see your bestselling novel at the bookstore.
Protagonist Crafts is a blog about writing fiction, written by a published author and creative writing teacher. You can find more writing tips and inspiration in the blog and you can get the best author tools at Writer Lifestyle on Etsy.
