Best Online Novel Writing Classes

this forum! seriously, this place has been a huge help, and the Uncle Jim thread is great! but in terms of "traditional" online classes...sorry. no idea.

Honest to (insert deity of your choice), what has improved my writing more than anything is the Uncle Jim thread. Between his solid professional advice and useful links and recommended reading material, my own writing improved to the point where my first choice for an agent is currently reading my full ms.

Wow, there's so much out there. I'll share what I have utilized.

http://www.writersonlineworkshops.com. It's a great site sponsored by Writer's Digest Magazine. I took the character, dialogue and novel writing workshops all at once and it ignited my creative center.

Gotham University Online (writingclasses.com) has excellent courses in writing and film. Plan on spending on average $350 per class.

For $300, which gets you a lifetime membership, you can access unlimited writing instruction through Writer's Village (WVU.com)

Best of luck!

Kiva, thanks for the tip about Writer's Village University. One note: their site is actually www.writersvillage.com. WVU.com gets you West Virginia University.

Ben, thanks for drawing my attention and everyone else's to the actual site link. The way my writing links folder is set up, I can't see the whole link at one glance and rename the long ones for quick identification. Was I ever way left of the mark. Duh.

Flogging starts in 10.

Kiva, can I get in the first lick? Just kidding!

To the matter at hand. I took a correspondence course years ago before the Internet was the place to be. The course itself was only okay, in that it was split into fiction and non-fiction parts. I stunk at the non-fiction part of it, simply because I have no interest in that at this time (probably because of work).

The fiction part I loved. I developed a short story which eventually became the first (and so far only published) story I have. I thought the editor I had was very good in pointing out things that were incorrect grammar- and usage-wise & coming up with ideas at certain points in the story to make it stronger.

They've had an online presence for a few years now; not sure how good or bad they are at this point, but I do get a mailing of different books from them on occasion, and have bought a few. In fact, they have their own Writer's Market book, about US$20 (for magazines, that is).

Not sure how much I paid at the time, but I paid in installments over several months' time.

http://www.longridgewritersgroup.com

Good luck!

I am involved with an online writing community that is working on a two year novel writing class that, to date, has offered me some amazing insight to the craft, and my butchering of it. It's at fmwriters.com, and I very highly encourage anyone to participate.

Bud