free writing courses

January 29, 2008 10:45 PM

10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online.
posted by nickyskye (15 comments total)

I'm running out of excuses to release that great novel thats always been inside of me.
Nice find, Thanks nickyskye.
posted by Will Duck at 11:07 PM on January 29, 2008

This is grate news!
posted by mullingitover at 11:20 PM on January 29, 2008 [2 favorites]

\/\/evs i dont ned this

Favrited
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:43 PM on January 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

This is very cool. Thx.
posted by Skygazer at 11:44 PM on January 29, 2008

Dam it, mullingitover! You beet me too it.
posted by nthdegx at 12:00 AM on January 30, 2008

Hey, cool! These are great links. I have often referred students to the Purdue OWL--it is a great resource. And now I can be on the other side of the desk and take some creative writing courses! I'll be passing this link on to aspiring writer friends.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:19 AM on January 30, 2008

This is most excellent--thanks nicky!
posted by hadjiboy at 12:34 AM on January 30, 2008

Awesome. Learning ahoy!
posted by Drexen at 3:51 AM on January 30, 2008

woot! thanks.
posted by Mister_A at 6:40 AM on January 30, 2008

Very nice.

With the rise of the Internet we have been exposed to more amateur writing than ever before, as Francine Prose once said, life is too short to read bad writing, most us need help. Even professional writing can be bad, a quote by Lewis Lapham (former editor Harper's Mag) in Lapham's Quarterly (intro):

.over a period of years, I came up with a risk-assessment model wired to the sound of the human voice. If, on first looking through a dispatch from the Yale University library or the White House Situation Room, I couldn’t hear the voice of its author, I let it go the way of the Carolina Parakeet. The device operated as a loophole through which I escaped the tax of having to read most of what rolled out of the presses in any given year in one or another of the dead languages designed for television broadcast or the teaching of better business management.

posted by stbalbach at 7:22 AM on January 30, 2008

Great post. Thanks!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 9:34 AM on January 30, 2008

your a sain't!!!
posted by not_on_display at 10:32 AM on January 30, 2008

So, wait... The order we put words in makes a difference? Shit, I've just been randomly typing stuff for years and hoping it made sense.

This is going to make all sorts of difference in the way I express myself.

(Though this punk-shoo-a-shun thing. still has me, freaked out?)
posted by quin at 2:25 PM on January 30, 2008

AT LAST! My opportunity to be an MIT "grad"!!!

This will look great on my resume. (First sentence spoken quickly, mumbled, and very quiet, followed by the second sentence, enuncuating the words 'MIT' and 'six-digit salary'.

"I almost graduated from ___ ___ High School, nearly finishing with some dubious honors. From there, I attended courses from MIT where I received an official statement of official attendance declaring me absolutely qualified for a six-digit salary."
posted by JD Rucker at 9:38 AM on January 31, 2008 [1 favorite]

Awesome. I've been looking for something like this.
posted by seanyboy at 4:11 PM on January 31, 2008