You might already know that writing well is a skill that 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 things 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 can analyse all parts 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 teach classes in my hometown but the likelihood of you being local are pretty slim, I think.)
So how can you take a writing a novel course online?
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.
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 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.
Protagonist Crafts is a blog written by Katri Soikkeli. Katri is a published author, creative writing teacher and tiny business owner who writes fiction, poetry, blogs and nonsense. You can find more of her writing in the blog and you can get her best author tools at Writer Lifestyle on Etsy.
