I recently completed the 5-course specialization in creative writing. For the most part the course material presented was good, especially the courses on plot, on setting, and on style. The course on characterization was a little vague. From the syllabus, it looked like it would be a good course, but the instructor did not follow the syllabus and was often very unfocussed in her presentation.

The weakness with this specialization is that all the feedback to the writer is provided by peers in the course. This I found very disappointing. Many of the other students were honestly very poor writers, and as a result, the feedback I received on my assignments was very superficial. In addition, rather than being able to learn from reading the writing of others, I found for the most part that the pieces submitted by others were very lacking.

If you take this course, know that it will provide you some good information about writing fiction, but the feedback you receive on your assignments will not help you learn. You will need to find another peer group of writers to help you with that.

In regards to the specialization, I found the Brando Skyhorse course more "technical" but this course seems to evoke talent from students. The peer grading was a pleasure to do. -leattol

The same as I have written for the other courses in the specialty. The course information was great and the assignments were very helpful. What lost points for the course was not the content provided by Wesleyan, which was good, but the poor effort on the part of many of the fellow students to really work on constructive critiques. For each assignment I had at least one of the three peer reviews that was useless to me to improve my writing, sometimes more. There should be a way to rate critiques so that students can't move on if they don't do the work of critiquing well.

The content of this course gives enough basis for aspiring writers to improve the settings and descriptions in their writing. The only improvement I would suggest is to have some input on the student's work from the faculty themselves. I understand that it would be a massive challenge to review all of the work submitted but only peer review feels a bit like a cop-out.

Content was great, the app and peer feedback could be improved on

This is the third course in the specialization. While I have enjoyed all three modules, I learned the most from this one.

The first three weeks are very effectively focused on the course theme, setting and description--why it is an essential component of story-telling, what constitutes significant detail, and how to "research" to find the detail to include. The videos in the final week (on genre and historical fiction) wander a bit from the central theme, but are certainly relevant to issues of setting and description.

The four exercises are interesting and challenging. In addition, they are nicely varied and all clearly related to the theme.

Amity is a wonderful lecturer and interviewer, and I look forward to reading some of her work.

I think it was a wonderful course. Totally worth any writer's time! The instructor is amazing and, the assignments and peer reviews really give an opportunity to the writer to hon their skills! I, personally, was motivated to regularly write and work on my drafts because the video lectures helped me identify a lot of my areas of development. This is my favorite course of this specialization (and craft of style as well). Everything that the instructors talk about in these courses is very practical when it comes to writing fiction. I can certainly vouch for the fact that after taking these courses, I have improved as a writer. What better can one ask for!

Great follow-up course to "The Craft of Plot." As a side note, those auditing this creative writing series from Wesleyan University must choose one of their paid routes of they desire to turn in assignments and get feedback from classmates. I guess this is the new course structure for specialized topics on the Coursera platform. The inability to turn in assignments was of little concern to me, but it may disappoint some, so I thought I'd mention it. Otherwise, at the very least, you'll have a firmer understanding and appreciation for crafting detailed settings and descriptions after auditing this course.

Out of all of the five courses for Creative Writing, this is my favorite one. Amity Gaige teaches how to use the five senses to describe a physical location in your story. She gives in-depth advice on creating rich descriptive locales by teaching you how to make a reader 'experience' your world through sensuous writing. After learning how to craft a plot and build a character, the next step is to immerse the reader into your world and story. This course teaches you how to do exactly that. I found it very insightful. Thank you, Amity, and thank you Coursera.

Clear lectures with practical advice, and very good assignments. The assignments in the plot class and the character class were too confusing and structured, but the assignments in the craft of setting class were perfectly designed to help the student practice whatever was taught in the modules. I know it sounds unimportant, but we're here to write, and when we're given awkward assignments, the peer reviews go haywire and the writing quality declines for everyone.

I read some of the best work, peer work, in this class and in the style class.

I really enjoyed Amity's style of teaching for this course on The Craft of Setting and Description. Her instruction, examples, and general style of teaching was very well thought-out, deliberate, and specific. One of my weaknesses as a writer, I believe, is around setting and integrating exposition but in a showing way. These exercises were helpful, I had hoped that the feedback from my peers would be more helpful. Some feedback was great, but some was too superficial (did they read it?) or too harsh (wanting to boast their own expertise).

It is a wonderful course with challenges to me as a beginning writers, and many takeaways in the assignments. The instructor not only shared lots of knowledge/skills of writing as a professional fiction writer with 5 senses, but also via the workshop chat to reveal personal tips of other productive writers. I feel I gain more knowledge, writing skills, as well as confidence to keep writing towards the capstone project, and to be enrolled in next course of this great Creative Writing

Gaige is engaging!! Always looked forward to her lectures, her insight, her guests, her analyses and her assignments. The one that was the toughest me turned out to be my best work. The student critiques - which are so helpful and affirming - said as much. Read things like, “This is the best student work submitted,.” Simply means Ms. Gaige teaches well and to every level. Just make sure you give yourself enough time before the due dates so you can edit yourself o your best work!

It was a great experience. This course enhanced my writing skill to a whole new level. The most important thing is that it was both: challenging and fun.

I would recommended to anyone who wishes to improve their skill as a writer, storyteller, and so on.

You would regret it if you don't enroll on this one. By the way, language is not a excuse. English is not my mother language, and I had a lot of fun with this course. It also improved my writing skill. Grammar is a must.

Cheers!

Really enjoyed this course, even though the assignments were increasingly hard.

In the first week there are a few hours of videos, after that only about 1.5 hours of material per week, but it's very concentrated goodness. The lecturer is very clear and interesting.

The assignments are "stretching", and the more you put into them the more you get out. I also learnt a lot by reviewing other people's work. The reviews I received were helpful, thoughtful and positive.

This segment of the Creative Writing course was highly valuable to me. I am a "good writer", but have never had any coursework in creative writing. Even as an English minor in college, I CLEP-ed out of all writing courses due to high school essay submissions. I regret not having pursued writing courses in college, but now this valuable course has clarified many things for me, and my writing has been greatly enhanced with the guidance provided. Thank you!

Professor Gaige is one of the very best teachers that I've had in my entire life. She tries to explain everything in small details and examples; examples that make it crystal clear for the students to comprehend the whole concept; explaining them in such a sincere way, it is hard to believe that you're actually learning something new, but you are.

thanks a lot for your super informative course professor Gaige,

I hope I can use the lessons in my writings.

The courses in this series have been extremely helpful in focusing my attention on what matters most. Each component fits nicely, especially the last one. I really think the various interviews with writers and the teaching staff make a huge difference, bringing the aspiring writer into the real world, actually sitting around the 'table' with the pro's. Writing and receiving peer reviews is a tremendous learning opportunity. Thanks, and well done!

Creative writing being an art, one may try and describe its constituents but never an entire composition. One such constituent is setting and description. Amity Gaige presents this constituent with rare sensitivity. She recommends inspirational reading materials, and designs challenging assignments that defines the space yet affords freedom to the learner. Additionally, she possesses an effective screen presence.

I’ve enjoyed this course the most so far (having completed Craft of Plot and Character), perhaps it’s due to a general improvement in my writing through the skills I’ve alredy gained, but I really felt these particular modules were very good and really challenged my imagination. A great course from Amity Gaige who does an excellent job in helping to develop your techniques in setting and description.

This particular module helped me to explore the shut passages of my mind and heart. It improved my language skills and ability to think and write about not just the characters but the things and place that surround them and be specific with it. I have really become fond of Amity, She shared some brilliant exercises that can help us concentrate and write with our mind, body and soul in our work.

Excellent course, very informative and interactive. Amity is a wonderful facilitator of the course, her passion and commitment to writing can be sensed in every word of advice she offers. The course is well-balanced in its offerings, exercises, 1-on-1 discussions and assignments. Because of this course, I will most likely continue to look at others in this "writing series".

Robert Garlington

One can tell that Amity Gaige has carefully tailored this course to teach us the craft of setting and description. I have never paid much attention to it before, always connecting much more to the characters' feelings. Only now after taking this course, I can appreciate how important setting and description really is for the reader and also for the characters in your story. Thank you Amity!

This was an excellent class. The assignments were specific, challenging, and enjoyable. I enjoyed the instructor's approach and insight to writing. Additionally, I found the supplemental materials very helpful. Finally, sharing past student work with current students helped clarify the subject matter and gave me perspective on the required assignments. I wish more instructors did that!

I am not a writer, never thought this would be a path I would follow but Amity helped me dream a dream bigger than when I started! She provided me some more clarity by being insightful, clear, interesting, resourceful and direct . We knew writing entailed grunt hard work, details and focus but she made it seem very achievable. In fact I bought 2 of her books after this. Great job !