I learned the most from the pre-recorded videos that clearly explained the components that make a good scene. I enjoyed reviewing other students' pieces, but wish that I had received more constructive criticism or a review by an instructor. Overall, having the specific assignment requirements and a deadline pushed me to write again, which I'm grateful for. I learned a lot. Thank You!

This course should be taken by everyone to flex their creative muscles, because the inspiration to write may strike anytime, but not being able to transcribe those thoughts will wreak havoc in your psyche. This course has a lot of good discussions with a lot of pointers to improve one's current writing pattern, no matter the level.

Thanks Brando!

It was pleasure auditing this course.

A good introductory course designed to be effective for people of a basic background and beginning skill level. As a course from Wesleyan I was hoping for something a little more robust or actually at a college-level, so I was a little disappointed at how rudimentary this course was. Still, I did learn some new things about plot and would recommend for the new or beginning writer.

I very much enjoyed the guidance and video direction. However, I am not comfortable evaluating other writers, and I would like direct feedback from the instructor. Still, this exercise was much more valuable that the local writing conference I attended which was more trade show than collaborative experience. I will continue with this model for the rest of the program.

It's definitely a course that will give you a general idea and structure of several elements you include on your writing daily, but perhaps don't even notice. It's for sure helped me get a better grip on the base of plotting and organizing ideas. All in all, a fun, easy course to try if you're looking to better your writing and complement your technique with new methods!

I really enjoyed the taped lectures and thought the assignments paired nicely. I'd like if Coursera set up a interactive element to the online learning environment such as a live chat with the instructor once a week and perhaps a live forum area with a set meeting time for the students. I've taken other online classes that have had these and found them extremely useful.

The course is great, I've been meaning to learn how to write for ages and it's so easy with this course. Love the assignments and feel like it really pushes me to keep up the skills learned. The only thing I would wish for is comments from the organisers or even that we could see what was said about our texts as it's really hard to improve without proper feedback.

I just wish there was some review by the instructor(s) and hope that will happen with the capstone. While some of the peer reviewers were very helpful and gave constructive criticism, others answered the questions with one-word answers. Another said I had not followed the instructions although it was clear that I did as confirmed by the other two reviewers.

A great course to grow as a writer. The assignments challenge you to improve and integrate what you've learned in the lectures. Unfortunately, a lot of peers don't give a lot of feedback, sometimes only responding to the feedback questions with one word. It is a shame because feedback is really what's most important to improve your storytelling skills.

Love this course. The lecturer has a different approach to creative writing. You'll really learn new techniques. However, peer graded assignments are not taken seriously. Some learners don't really read your work and spam unrelated feedback. Some pass mediocre work. They just want to "earn" the certificate the easy way. Hope Coursera filters them out.

Just a note: English speaking peer reviewers do not make an effort to read papers written in other languages, even though using a translator is suggested.

One reviewer gave me a "zero" rating for my work and only wrote in his comments: "it is not written in English." I think that's unfair.

But despite that, the course content is excellent.

I think it’s a great course as it has truly given me a lot of foundation knowledge and would recommend anyone to do it. My only downfall is that I do think the last two talks which are in Week 4 weren’t as substantially informative as the previous weeks, so maybe we could remove one and include another lecture there. Otherwise great stuff!

I think Skyhorse was very good. His instructions are clear. A little too heavy on Harry Potter references.

The theory on the 5 act helped frame the work. This class inspired me to take all 5 courses.

I wish is passion for writing would come thru a little stronger. It would also be nice to have more instructor feedback vs peer reviews.

I learned so much from Brando's videos and the assignments. It pushed me to write and get a little uncomfortable, think of ways to be purposefully descriptive, and utilise effective structures. The feedback many other students provided me on my writing was so helpful and it has helped me grow as a creative writer. Thank you so much.

it's a good course. it was very useful for me. I just have one suggestion. I think that is very important that we receive feedback on our work from teachers not just our fellow students, I needed that so much, as the student feedback is usually very brief. So it's so important for writers to progress to receive feedback from teachers

The course is amazing! Brando Skyhorse explains everything perfectly! Our assignments are extremely interesting and challenging. I give 4 of 5 stars because I would've loved it if our assignments were reviewed by a professional writer as well. Some of the reviews I got were "yes" and "very good" which are not constructive criticism.

Feedback was hit and miss - I tried to provide detailed/actionable feedback, but not all reviewers did the same for me.

Although this module was "plot", not all the lessons were focused (lesson 4 was general revision/editing). More could have been made on creating structure, although the ABDCE is a very useful way of struturing.

The learning material and exercises in this course are engaging, provoking, and definitely got me writing! I wish the peer review process was a bit less cumbersome (waiting for work to review before proceeding), but it also helped to cement the intended learning of lesson when having to deduce the implementation in peer's work.

I learned a few things that I will definitely be using. The course was easy to follow and entertaining. The knowledge won't turn you into a great writer overnight but it is a good foundation. The requirements of the assignments were at times unclear but the process of reviewing your peers teaches the learner a lot. Good course.

I'd rate any course as 4+, at the end of which I can learn something tangible. This course introduced me to basic structure of story telling. The assignment was fun and the explanation was simple enough.

The best part was that the author explained concepts using Harry Potter and not some arcane book that I might not have read.

Very good lectures. I learned a lot. I enjoyed the assignments. The feedback I got from my peers was pretty minimal, and truthfully, most of the writing I reviewed was awful, so the feedback wouldn't have been relevant. I wish I could ask certain people to grade my work. People whose writing I have seen and appreciated.

This is a very good course, but I would have expected transcripts of the talks as well. I have done a few coursera courses and the supplementary materials here are minimal. Also, in the week 4, it is confusing to have the video transcript in the assigment section - very unclear whether that's a part of the assigment or not.

I learned quite a bit. I do have a masters in creative writing, but I love taking different craft courses to refine my writing and become the best writer I can be. The assignments made me write outside my comfort zone and thing differently. I really enjoyed this part of the course. I look forward to the rest of them.

Good material, very helpful and encouraging. However, the peer review gets worse after week2.People begs for a passing grade, or leaves hateful review, or not answering the designed questions. Only thing that i don't like about this course. Will come back for other ones, maybe ppl will be nicer without so much heat.

The videos were excellent.

I would have liked to learn about a successful novel that deviates from the ABDCE structure. I can see that as beginners, we are best off keeping to the classic structure, but it would be interesting to have an example of a great novel that illustrates a variation on the classic structure.