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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Creative Writing: The Craft of Style by Wesleyan University

4.7
stars
1,132 ratings

About the Course

Your style is as unique and distinctive as your face, your voice, except that you can choose it, you can can work on it, enhance it. In this course we will introduce aspiring writers to the art of putting pressure on written language. We will study the use of metaphor and imagery, and demonstrate how clarity, grace, and inventiveness in word choice are imperative to a story’s success. Writers will emerge with the revision skills essential to all writers of good stories and good prose....

Top reviews

MS

Apr 18, 2016

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.

LR

Dec 17, 2018

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.

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51 - 75 of 324 Reviews for Creative Writing: The Craft of Style

By Steven M

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Nov 28, 2022

The content and assignments were really interesting! Salvatore Scibona's delivery could be a little uneven, but that was more than made up for by his endearing enthusiasm and his ability to get his ideas across. I learned a lot!!!

The only negative I experienced was that many of the peer reviewers filled in my assignment review answers with short strings of meaningless letters and/or numbers.

By Patricia B

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Jun 5, 2021

The creative writing courses have taught me structure. From this course I learned that rather than explaining ideas, an author shows and tells details which leads the reader to the essence of the story without going into the mind of the character. Also, the reader-writer arc beautifully illustrates the balance of the writer-reader relationship, which is useful to keep the reader engaged.

By Victoria S

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Dec 14, 2018

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!

By Sara C H J

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Jun 30, 2020

If the previous courses helped me gaining more knowledge on the craft of plot, character, and especially, description and setting, this course opened my eyes to the importance of using the right style by searching for it through my own voice and the usage of the appropriate words in every scene. Finding your style isn't that easy, but instructor Scibona did a fine work in refining mine!

By Jenny J G L

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Apr 6, 2018

Salvatore Scibona is an excellent teacher. I learned a lot from this course. My only complain is that for this particular module in the specialisation as it's about language and language style, the staff should apply a language (English) level requirement, because some students' writings are so painful to read--full of error spellings, jumbled sentences and wrong use of words.

By Jacqueline G L

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Dec 1, 2020

Of all the courses in the specialization, I know I enjoyed this one the most. It challenged me to not be wordy, that an inexperienced writer is known by his repetitive use of adverbs, that my descriptions need to be more concrete and overall don't tell, but show.

The most challenging for me was the last assignment. It made me reflect more on how I share my story.

By Roy N

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Jan 25, 2018

I started this course rolling my eyes. It just felt like it was going to be a lot of flowery language amounting to not much. I was so wrong! Describing intangible ideas in a way one can digest and then apply isn't easy, but the professor does it well. I left with some models that I will definitely use in my writing. This course is packed with a ton of value!

By Patricia H V R

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Aug 22, 2020

Este es un buen curso para principiantes. Aporta muchos elementos para encaminar el proceso creativo y la investigación en pro del avance en la carrera como escritor. A nivel de estructura enseña muchas estrategias útiles y las prácticas contribuyen a afinar la destreza narrativa y aplicar técnicas para construir mejores historias.

By Zsuzsanna J

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May 16, 2016

It is a very interesting course, but I think it is difficult to understand if somebody is not English speaker. However, I recommend this course to everybody who likes writing and wants to know more about style and text editing. The teacher is excellent, his explanations are clear. The exercises are funny and I could learn from them.

By Kalin Z S

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Sep 24, 2020

Really good course. Salvatore used just the right amount of theory to show us how to write more convincing and pleasing prose. I am super happy with the overall specialization so far. Also for some reason in this one I got lucky and most of the feedback was more elaborate and constructive from my peers which was definitely a plus.

By Meeta

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Jun 13, 2020

This course is ideal for someone looking to up their narrative writing skills. I am marketer and brand writing is an essential part of my day job. Through this course I have picked up many helpful tics on writing comprehensive and compelling storylines that deliver impact - a quality that underscores good brand writing.

By Naomi C R L

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Sep 4, 2016

One of the best classes in Coursera.

I heard about style but I never really knew what it meant. I am glad to have taken this course. I learnt a lot and I am very excited to apply these in my writing. "Not ideas but in things" was most challenging but it was worth the try. Thank you very much for sharing.

By Rayyan F

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Dec 23, 2021

My favorite course and instructor in this specialization. The assignments are challenging and thus interesting. I love the way Salvatore talks, you can tell he has a lot more to say. He goes after a though from so many sides that you can't but listen to what he has to say. I highly recommend this course.

By Jaime E

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Jun 21, 2020

Salvatore is AMAZING! He really knows what he is talking about. This course was such a great stepping stone for me when it comes to perfecting my craft and hopefully a career change in the future. I will use what I learned in this course for the rest of my writing career! Thank you!

By Lori B C

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Jan 18, 2017

This was an incredible class with a passionate, dedicated professor. Salvatore makes you want to write your heart out. The exercises were thought provoking and I was fortunate enough to get some good feedback, which helped boost my confidence. A wonderful experience! Thank you!

By Alfred K

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Nov 27, 2018

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.

By Ryan M

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Oct 26, 2021

Salvatore is a terrific teacher. I'm a teacher myself, and it's very fun to be someone's presence who really loves describing the ideas and skills of the class. His knowledge of the subject is thorough and deep, and his teaching is easy and fun to follow. Thank you so much!

By Phoenix S P

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Sep 3, 2018

The Craft of Style is an amazing course. Professor Salvatore is an engaging lecturer who gives comprehensive explanations and shows how the techniques he is teaching have been used by award winning authors. The assignments are clearly explained, engaging, and challenging.

By Miza K

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Apr 5, 2020

I like the way this course has taught me how to edit and how to accentuate when writing and to be creative and thoughtful with the words to use to bring about the right message. Including the way of talking about a subject without actually naming what I'm writing about.

By Jane D

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Aug 27, 2019

I enjoyed the course immensely, the lecturer is very skilled and to the point. I really understood the importance of staying clear in my narration and painting vivid pictures the readers could appreciate and relate to, as well as meet me in the middle of my storytelling.

By Catherine B

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Aug 31, 2016

I thought this class was incredibly useful. It has a lot of good information, as well as good ideas on further reading a student can do to further their own knowledge after the course is completed. I found this to be one of the more useful classes in this specialization.

By Shalini S

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Nov 14, 2018

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.

By Joe M

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Mar 14, 2019

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.

By Karolina K

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May 22, 2023

The course itself was great - captivating and beneficial. However, the optimalisation of this course was terrible! I could scroll through anything. The buttons "escaped" sometimes... a nightmare. I took other courses here and never experienced any problems like that.

By Ole D J

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Mar 19, 2018

Awesome course.

Can feel the missing pieces slowly fall together in my writing for every assignment.

So happy this and other related courses were made available on Coursera.

Will mention the author as well as this course in my first book if I manage to get it published.