Avis et commentaires pour d'étudiants pour Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot par Université Wesleyenne

Excellent.

Loved it!

excelent

loved it

Amazing!

Awesome!

amazing

gnarly

janvi

goood

Great

Good

Nice

nice

nice

bj

.

T

I enjoyed this course very much. The professor's lectures were easily understood and followed, and the guest speakers made each module much more clear. My only problems with the course were actually not with the course itself, but rather with the way the course is presented. Some things have been changed since the last time I took a Coursera course, namely the discussion forums, and personally I don't like the change. (Maintaining the same discussion forum, rather than having a new one for each successive group of learners. ) Learners are already being presented with a lot of information which, in some cases, can be difficult to grasp, and now they are also being asked to search through the forums to find someone they can ask for help, who may or may not still be around. Between that and trying to figure out where/who to ask for reviews so that you can get a grade for your work, it's a bit frustrating, All in all though, it's a good course.

Great course with clear instructions mostly by watching a video (with text). I truly enjoyed this course and how thorough it was. I especially like the structure of the video--introduction, example, and interview with a novelist. Contrary to the course description, it's not meant for non-fiction writers. It's meant exclusively for aspiring novelists. I would recommend this course if you are a beginner. Intermediate or advanced students would find this too basic. It's beneficial mostly if you want to earn a certificate and mention it on your resume. If you're looking for a comprehensive course, I would look elsewhere because the course only touches the surface. Workshopping lacked constructive input from peers so if you're looking for peers to review your work, don't count on it. Teachers don't critique your work either. But, overall, course is well made, clear and a great boost for aspiring writers (beginner stage, though).

Among the best online introductory plot courses you're like to find. Brando Skyhorse is an outstanding teacher and writer. And the guest lecturers were outstanding as well.

As a teacher myself, I thought some of the assignments needed some tweaking, but, overall, they were solid exercises. And the students seem lovely.

Suggestions:

1) Make it a LIVE WORKSHOP style class. It would make for a lot of fun. Of course, you'd need the teacher present and interacting with the students, and that might prove problematic and impractical.

2) Make a certain level of English language proficiency a prerequisite for enrolling in the course. This is probably impractical as well given the open access nature of the course, but it would make understanding the stories less challenging. Still, I love the open access aspect of this offering, because I love interacting with students from around the world, both as a student and lecturer.

I learned a lot about the basics of creative writing through this course. If you're thinking of writing, but you're not sure where to start, or if you have been writing a while but need more direction, this is a great course to take. The instructor, Brandon, explains the concepts in a way that's easy to understand and uses examples from common literary works. My only problem with the course is the peer review system. It's a great opportunity to reflect on your own writing while reviewing others' work, however I feel that not many people took advantage of this opportunity. I've had some good feedback, some not so helpful, and some people who just put a single letter "z" in the feedback answer boxes just to get through the peer review section. Maybe implementing a minimum word count for the peer review would help.

Brando's guidance through the course was insightful and easy to digest, and the module assignments were enjoyable. Some of the 'Shop Talk' videos felt a little unstructured and it wasn't always evident just what they added to the learning experience -- other than reinforcing the topics described in the direct teaching segments.

The primary challenge with this course is the feedback system. Even though the approach to feedback is detailed in a standalone video, the substance of each review varies from one-word answers that offer zero tangible feedback, to detailed responses with a clear understanding of the course material. This is ultimately a critique of the Coursera platform, however as peer feedback is a vital part of this course, more emphasis could be made on the value of offering a substantive review.

This "Craft of Plot" class--taught by Mr. Skyhorse--covers the ABDCE method, the 21 point checklist, etc. Stories written in this class must have dialogue, at least ten points of rising action, and must begin with an action sequence. No, this is not an "organic" story writing method. This class teaches students how to use formulaic writing to artificially engineer stories efficiently and effectively. I was very disappointed with this class. I enjoy reading literary fiction, especially stories in The New Yorker. So it is no surprise that I was appalled by Mr. Skyhorse's strong focus on, and praise of, the Harry Potter book series. If you plan on writing formulaic genre fiction, then perhaps this class is for you. Even though I disliked the class, I must admit it was well taught, hence the 4/5 star review.

The video lectures are very nicely done. They outline the basics of how a story line (Plot!) should be, how the characters should be developed and how scenes should be depicted.

The tips given are practical and clearly defined - even for noobs

The course motivated me to write, to refine my thoughts while writing and since there was always pressure of peers reviewing my work - I always revised what I wrote. I discovered that revision helps immensely, and I found I could express the same things in better ways and using lesser words

Some students did have difficulties in understanding assignments - something that can get better with time. Also, I felt some learners received the brunt of bad grading since the grading guidelines weren't clear. Shaving off 1 star due to that