The great thing about MOOCs is that you can choose courses that best fit your needs and schedule. Decide if you’d rather work for two hours a week for six weeks, or just sit down and work at your own pace whenever you want. There are MOOCs for everyone.
You probably know that the more you write, the easier it will get.
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A writing prompt is an idea that’s meant to get you writing. A writing prompt can be a word, a sentence, a conversation or even a picture.
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Education World is a website for teachers, so these prompts are meant for the classroom. This means that they will make you think, and each prompt has a helpful tip box with some ideas for what you can write on the topic.
You can start learning how English works internally with FluentU.
In the meantime, you can find many writing prompts online, for everything from creative story writing to nonfiction writing about yourself and the world you live in. We’ve picked out the 20 best websites for sparking your imagination and getting your pen (or keyboard) working.
Ad content: Ever wondered who comes up with advert copy? Well, it could be you! Again, this isn’t a particularly well paying area, mainly because you won’t be writing that much copy for each job, but there’s plenty of it! Clients might expect you to come up with catchy slogans, so make sure you’re ready for that.
Most people probably only think of creative writing as covering fiction work, such as novels, stories, and poetry, as this is the label they’re usually given at school level. However, as those who have gone further with their writing education will know, creative writing is just about anything you can think of.
Speech writing: This creative writing topic is pretty self-explanatory: you write speeches for people. Speech writing requires certain talents, and therefore isn’t for everyone. However, if you think you can write a good speech, then this can be a well paying area of creative writing. Plus, you’ve got much more potential for getting your words out there!
Making money in creative writing isn’t always the easiest. After all, it’s quite a competitive market, and the majority of sites don’t ask for formal qualifications (such as a literature degree). While you might have talent in creative writing and not hold a degree, the bigger problem is that a lot of people don’t have either.
How can creative writers make money?
Short stories: This is a more common one for online creative writing jobs. Short stories are generally under 3,000 words, but everyone has different ideas of how long a short story could be. Again, you’re likely to find people wanting short stories based on their ideas, but you can also find work writing children’s fiction within this category.
So what do we mean by creative writing? Technically, any writing is creative. If you have to engage your brain to think of words and put them on a page then congratulations, you’ve done some creative writing! Creative writing jobs, therefore, are basically any job that pays you to write.
It covers what’s meant by creative writing jobs, the areas available, and some of the best sites for finding work. The list of sites given here definitely isn’t exhaustive, but should be enough to get you started in the industry.
Blog writing: Many business owners are expected to run a blog to help improve website traffic, but most don’t have the time to produce blog posts. While it might not be one of the best paying areas of creative writing work, it’s one of the most widely available.
Perfect for: authors whowant to take part in writing workshops alongside writers of all experience levels.
Perfect for: writers who want honest feedback on their writing.
r/writing — for general writing purposes.
r/writingprompts — for user-submitted writing prompts.
r/destructivereaders — beware, if you don’t like harsh criticism this may not be the best fit. But if you are willing to endure it, you will come out a better writer at the end.
r/worldbuilding — user submitted fiction worlds.
r/fantasywriters — for anybody interested in the fantasy genre.
r/characterforge — the place to be for character building.
r/writerchat — for those interested in talking with fellow writers.
r/selfpublish — for anybody interested in self-publishing.
r/logophilia — “the love of words and word games,” and that’s exactly what you’ll find here.
r/freelanceWriters — for anybody interested in a career in freelance writing.
r/books — because reading is just as important as writing if you want to be a successful author.
Perfect for: writers whoare interested in screenwriting and networking.
10. Scribophile
Perfect for: writers seeking in-depth critiques from an international audience.
If social media is more your style, don't miss the chance to interact with your fellow writers by joining Facebook groups in your own niche. Look for groups with a strict "no self-promotion" rules so that it remains supportive and useful to your writing goals.
If you’ve ever wanted to go to a writer’s retreat but can’t afford it just yet, then this site might help scratch your itch. Holding online “camp sessions” in April and July, Camp NaNoWriMo offers a digital space to encourage and empower writers at any point of their career. Here you can work on drafts, revisions, short stories, or any other writing project that involves word-count goals.
There are so many different subreddits that you can get lost browsing them, but here are a few of the most popular ones:
The Writing Prompts Generator on this site has a huge number of ideas for fiction and nonfiction writing, which you can see one at a time. This website also has some fun word games to get you thinking and being creative.
- Aliventures is a blog where author Ali Luke shares writing tips.
- Christina Katz teaches writers to become better through inspiration and life advice along with writing tips.
Start using FluentU on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or from the Google Play store.
There are also many blogs with writing tips—too many for us to list them all here! Grammar Girl and Grammarly are two good places to get started.
8. Writing Forward
You’ll find almost 500 creative writing prompts on Wrighting Words. The long list has everything from interesting story starters to fun with vocabulary words. There are even some titles and dialogue ideas. You’re sure to find something to inspire you here.
But these are just story starters, you might be thinking. How do I use them to actually learn?
Use these writing prompts in addition to your usual study habits to learn even more. If you’re working through a weekly vocabulary list, try to use some of your vocab words when you write. If you’re interested in being a stronger speaker, you can start by writing down your thoughts. Knowing how to write sentences is one step towards knowing how to say them out loud.
MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are free online courses from institutes and universities, and there are lots of English writing courses you can take right from your home.
Overall: I started reading and writing on Tapas in 2017. I give the site a 7/10. I love that you can schedule a day and time to post a chapter but it’s hard to gain traction while competing with other novels and comic books.
Wattpad is a community for readers and writers spanning across different genres.
Where do you share your writing online? Do you post on any of these sites? Why or why not? If not, where else have you found success? If you are a writer considering self-publishing, have you already tested your work with a potential audience? Posting to these sites are great ways to generate monetary funds, gain beta readers, feedback and exposure. (8–21–19)
Overall: I started reading on Wat t pad in 2014 and posted my first story in 2016. This is where my largest reader following and audience is. I give the site a 9/10. It takes time to build an audience but the serialized fiction option and instant reader feedback is unbeatable.
Pros and Cons
Swoonreads is a reader-powered imprint under Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.
So you’ve written a story and don’t want to self-publish or have it sit in a literary agents slush pile? But also want to post your work online and get feedback? These website are great outlets for all writers. Musicians have Soundcloud. Vloggers have Youtube. Up and coming and established writers have websites like these:
Overall: I created my Inkitt profile on 2–11–18 and posted a few chapters. Though the idea and concept is refreshing, as of right now the site is not for me. I give the site a 4/10.
Overall: I started reading on Swoonreads in December 2017 and posted a book in 2018. Though the concept is refreshing, as of right now the site is not what works best for my literary needs. I give the site a 6/10.