Opiniones y comentarios de aprendices correspondientes a Creative Writing: The Craft of Style por parte de Universidad Wesleyana

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.

Don't start writing without doing all four certificates. It sets you on a right path and this last one wraps it al up! As you go along the four certificates you understand how to set your writing on a whole new level, isn't that where we all want to be. Scibona's team has a 'show don't tell' approach that even reflects in their teaching.

Excellent teacher, excellent course. Exercises and reviews are very helpful.

Great class for the content I needed. I audited this class and benefited from the theory discussion and practical exercises. The class guided me to improve my writing style which was my ultimate goal.

Very limited teaching and contradictory assignments. For those with English as a second language be aware this course uses grammatical terminology but in a stylistic way and can cause a lot of confusion. Assignments are weak but as a whole for the four courses making up the Capstone just grit your teeth and get through it, the least enjoyable and instructive of all four.

The mandatory reviewing the work of your peers becomes a problem when there is no work submitted for review. I have completed all the assignments of week 1,2,3, and 4 and am waiting on other students to submit their work. It's been five days where I have received the "no work to review" notice. This is really taking the enjoyment out of this program. I'd like to complete the course sooner than later to begin my capstone short story.

Great tutors. Thank you!

I've only done week 1 so far, but I just love the way Salvatore Scibona talks about writing, his enthusiasm. I'm looking forward to the next weeks!

Lessons were well done, good mix of teaching and illuminating discussion between accomplished writers. Exercises are creative and well thought out. Feedback from classmates is generally helpful.

Excellent course I appreciate the conversations with visiting writers. Prof. Scibona is an engaging teacher and clearly presents useful information. The list of words to avoid was worth the entire course.

Loved every bit of it! Gets the creative juices flowing!

Fantastic course!! I loved the challenging assignments :)

I was fascinated with this course. I think it raises the bar on how to become a better writer fro the reader's sake. Writing is more like painting and less than retelling. It's important to respect the reader's intelligence, she/ he can figure out the obvious, and as writers we want to entertain, engage the reader's curiosity, provide pleasure in the human senses. I also found it one of the most challenging of the courses because of the emphasis and care we should take in word choice. Words are the substance of all good writing, they should not be squandered!

I did not know what this meant when I started. I thought you just right once you get the flow. now I can write and review my work checking my style of writing and learnt a lot form the interviews from visiting professors.

teacher is cool and sometime I loved your way of teaching.

This was a particularly difficult course among the others. Expectations were higher, assignments were tougher, but it helped me immensely in writing better. Polishing my writing and editing. My writing has become crisp, and specific. I am more confident as a writer now.

Fantastic! I like the streamline part and usage of punching word ( nouns and verbs). Prof. Scibona Thank you for pointing out the do's / don'ts and other valuable tips

This course demonstrated more clearly than I had ever seen before the difference between "show" and "tell" when evoking a character's thoughts and feelings. It was highly valuable for me both as a writer and a professional editor.

very good and participatory

I really enjoyed the course, I thought the assignments were challenging and the lectures were really inspiring and clear.

I loved this course. I even read the books that were referenced. I'm learning slowly but surely.Wish I'd discovered Coursera years ago.

Course 4 of 5 for me in this specialization.

All of these have been fantastic and this one was another example of how great and informative these courses are. Once again I was made to think very critically of my own writing and start thinking about how I want to write.

This is the course I had been looking for, but didn't know it! I enjoyed the professor and the exercises, which were about putting pen to paper, so to speak. Just what I needed and wanted. I feel very much myself as a writer after doing these assignments, reviewing the work of other writers, and receiving insightful peer reviews. Thank you for offering this course and specialization!

Content and instructor praiseworthy! Good structure and very interesting exercise. The course was a joy to take. Cheers, Raul

Loved loved loved. I learnt so much in these four weeks, I'm so thankful to Mr. Salvatore! Thank you so much, this was truly great.

Merci à toute l'équipe de Coursera pour ce cours! Je le recommande vivement à tous ceux et celles qui aimeraient avoir des connaissances sur la rédaction d'une oeuvre littéraire ou fiction.