Everyone’s got a story to tell.

Whether it falls under Truths or under Lies, is rated Pleasant or Definitely Not, is  classified a Secret or Known-All-Over, or mish-mashed somewhere in between, how the story is told makes all the difference.

Without doubt, all storytellers go for a certain effect — to inform, to teach, to entertain, to get the intended feels, to move others into action — or whatever it is that compelled them to share their tales.  The purpose somehow reveals itself in the process.

And if the chosen channel of expression is the written word, then creative writing skills are a must to turn any story into an interesting one!  Incredible creative writing can turn an informative story, for example on dry cleaning, into a captivating narrative!

Enter our Library’s abundance of resources…Ta-dah!

This month’s Keep On Learning blog ties up with one of the observances for the month of November — NaNoWriMo — which is short for National Novel Writing Month.

Here, then, is a selection of courses on Creative Writing:

Did you know that the Library offers free online courses, primarily through two comprehensive resources:  Universal Class, and Gale Courses?  These courses are accessible via our Library’s website under the Collections / Resources A-Z page or under the Online Learning page.

It is easy to find these courses from both catalogs, with the keywords: writing, or creative writing.

Universal Class has these offerings under its Writing Skills areas of study.   There are fundamental courses on Writing Basics 101, and another on Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Writing Structures.  There are courses entitled Creative Writing for Beginners, and Creative Writing Workshop while some courses offer focused topics on Novel Writing 101, Creative Writing 101, Romance Writing, Mystery Writing, Historical Fiction Writing, and Non-Fiction Writing.

Gale Courses has featured courses under its Writing and Publishing category.  There are courses with specific titles like Writing the Fantasy Novel, Write Your Life Story, Writing Young Adult Fiction, Romance Writing, Advanced Fiction Writing, and Mystery Writing.  There are also courses that help the writer with the business side of writing such as Beginning Writers’ Workshop, Beginners’ Guide to Getting Published, Publish and Sell Your E-books, Write Fiction Like a Pro, Writerrific: Creativity Training for Writers, and Research Methods for Writers.

We hope you’ll sign up and find a lot of awesome tips in these online courses.  There’s got to be one that will help improve one’s style and hone one’s budding (or developed) writing skills!

With the help of our Library’s resources, may you be able to bring those stories to life, and be able to write them well.

— Janea Agbayani, Adult Services Library Specialist

For more information, visit:  www.livingstonlibrary.org/resources-az.

For other topics, themes and resources suggested for lifelong learning pursuits, visit our blog under the tag: Keep On Learning.