Creative Writing
From a blank page to stories people want to finish.
Learn creative writing as a beginner
From a blank page to stories people want to finish. When it opens, this beginner course breaks creative writing into short Steps that each link the best free lessons online, with a small group who start when you do. It begins with two flash pieces and a revised short story and ends with a published ebook of your stories.
The path
- 1
Level 1Free when it opens First Stories
Two flash pieces and a revised short story
15 Steps, about 45 minutes each. Anyone who has wanted to write stories and never finished one. No experience needed.
- Chapter 1: Finish something. Write a finished 100-word story on day one, read like a writer, build a character, and finish a flash fiction piece.
- Chapter 2: The craft. Learn story shape, plot, point of view, dialogue and setting, with a short exercise for each.
- Chapter 3: Your short story. Plan, draft, rest, revise and share a 2,000 to 4,000-word short story.
- 1Show your groupWrite a 100-word storyA complete story in exactly 100 words, with a beginning, a change and an end.
Most new writers start with a novel and never finish it. Finishing is the skill that matters most, and the way to learn it is to finish something small today. A drabble is a complete story in exactly 100 words.
A story, however short, needs a change. Someone wants something, something happens, and by the end something is different: they learn, lose, decide or realize. Without a change you have a scene or a description, not a story. The detail beginners miss is that the change is usually in the last line. Build toward it, and make the last line land it.
The exact word count is a gift. Cutting to 100 forces you to drop everything that isn't working: adverbs, repeated ideas, and sentences that explain what the reader already understands.
Here's an example of the shape. Line one sets up a person and a situation: a woman finds a voicemail from her late father that she's never heard. The middle builds: she's afraid to play it. The last line turns: she plays it, and it's him asking what she wants for her birthday, the one he didn't live to see.
Write fast to about 150 words without counting. Then cut to exactly 100. Give it a title (titles don't count). Done right, a reader can tell you what changed.
- 2Read like a writerRead Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour' twice and note how it works.
- 3Build a characterA one-page profile of a character with a clear want and a deeper need.
See all 15 Steps
- 4Show, don't tellRewrite five 'telling' sentences as scenes that show the same thing.
- 5Show your groupFinish a flash pieceA finished flash fiction story of 500 to 1,000 words starring your character.
- 6Find your story's shapeDraw Vonnegut's story-shape graph for three stories, including your flash piece.
- 7Plot with promisesA plot outline for a story idea, using promise, progress and payoff.
- 8Choose your point of viewOne paragraph written three ways: first person, close third and distant third.
- 9Write a dialogue sceneA one-page scene of two people arguing, told almost entirely through dialogue.
- 10Show your groupPaint the settingA 300-word scene where the setting reflects your character's mood, using at least three senses.
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- 13Read it coldA reverse outline of your draft and a list of its three biggest problems, with no videos or guides.
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- 15Show your group
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Level 2Unlocks after Level 1 The Collection
Three polished stories, workshopped and submitted
15 Steps, about 55 minutes each. People who finished Creative Writing 1, or anyone with one finished story who wants to write more.
- Chapter 1: Story two. Learn openings, subtext and theme, then draft and revise your second story.
- Chapter 2: Story three and the workshop. Write a third story in a new form, learn to critique, and run a real workshop with readers.
- Chapter 3: The collection. Order, title and polish your three stories as a collection, and send one to a magazine.
- 1Show your groupBank 20 opening linesTwenty possible first lines for new stories, with your three best starred.
The first line of a story is a promise and a hook at the same time. It tells the reader what kind of story this is, and it gives them a reason to read the second line.
Strong first lines usually do one of three things: raise a question, show a distinctive voice, or drop us into a situation already in motion. O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" opens with a single fact: one dollar and eighty-seven cents. Immediately you wonder why that amount matters, and you're reading on to find out.
The detail beginners miss is quantity. Your first idea for a first line is usually the obvious one. Writing twenty quickly forces you past the obvious into the surprising. Most of the twenty will be throwaways, and that's fine.
Here's an example spread. "The dog came back without the boy." (question) "My mother has opinions about my sandwiches that she shares with strangers." (voice) "By the time the ambulance arrived, Ray had already eaten the evidence." (in motion) "It was a dark and stormy night." (cliché: cross it out)
Avoid openings with weather, waking up or arriving somewhere, unless something is already off. Write twenty lines in fifteen minutes without judging, star your three best, and write one sentence on what story each promises. Pick one to start story two.
- 2Learn subtextRead Chekhov's 'The Lady with the Dog' and list five things it never says out loud.
- 3Find your themeWrite the theme of your Level 1 story and the planned theme of story two, as questions.
See all 15 Steps
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- 5Show your group
- 6Try a new formA full draft of story three in a form you haven't tried: second person, letters, a list, or a single long sentence.
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- 8Learn to critiqueA written critique of a classic story, using a three-part method.
- 9Run a workshopSwap stories with two or three readers, give critiques, and collect notes on yours. No videos; you run it.
- 10Show your groupRevise from notesA revised story that uses the feedback that came up more than once.
- 11Shape the collectionYour three stories ordered, with a collection title and a one-paragraph description.
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- 13Find three magazinesA list of three literary magazines that fit one of your stories, with their guidelines.
- 14Send your first submissionOne story submitted to one magazine, with a short cover letter.
- 15Show your groupAssemble the collectionYour three stories in one document with a title page and contents, shared with your group.
Where it ends: a published ebook of your stories
Questions about learning creative writing
How long does it take to learn creative writing?
Level 1 is 15 Steps of about 45 minutes each, around 11 hours in all, split into 3 chapters. Go at your own speed: one Step a day, or a whole chapter in a sitting.
What do I need to start creative writing?
You'll need somewhere to write and a reading list. There's nothing you have to buy to start.
Can a complete beginner learn creative writing?
Anyone who has wanted to write stories and never finished one. No experience needed.
What will I have made by the end of Level 1?
A drabble, a flash fiction piece and a revised 2,000 to 4,000-word short story.
Is this creative writing course free?
Yes. Level 1 of every hobby on Eras is free, and every Step links free lessons from great teachers online. Eras Plus is an optional subscription that opens the levels after it.
Free lessons in First Stories come from Reedsy, Kate Chopin (Wikisource), Think Story, Alyssa Matesic, Wikipedia, David Comberg, Brandon Sanderson, TED-Ed, Bookfox, Nalo Hopkinson (TED-Ed), Edgar Allan Poe (Wikisource), O. Henry (Wikisource), Anton Chekhov (Wikisource). We link to their work and never copy it.
Cover photo by Iván Martínez Díaz on Unsplash