Creative writing courses

A creative writing course teaches you how to approach different styles of writing, like fiction, short fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction. You will be encouraged to share your work so it can be critiqued by others, which helps you develop your skills to a publishable standard.

Creative writing courses are both inspiring and practical. You’re given the space to experiment with your own ideas, but you also learn writing for different genres, platforms and formats. 

Depending on your course, you’ll learn how to:

• kickstart your creativity

• develop a distinctive writing style

• think critically about work produced by other writers 

• write across areas like short fiction, long-form fiction, genre fiction, poetry and children’s fiction

• act on feedback and edit your own work

• deliver critical feedback during virtual workshop discussions

• submit your work for publication

• navigate the Australian publishing industry.

There are countless reasons to study creative writing. Enrol if you want to develop your craft, write professionally, or inspire yourself artistically. You’ll have the space to work on projects that matter to you, which could lead to a publishable story, collection or manuscript that you might not have finished otherwise. 

You’ll gain incredibly valuable knowledge about the path to publication from people who’ve been there. And you’ll network with like-minded creatives from all over the country. These connections often end up being the writers, editors and publishers you collaborate with in your career.

It’s not uncommon to juggle your creative projects with other work. Studying online gives you the time and flexibility to do that. Plus, you’re not restricted by location—you can access universities from across Australia. This has its advantages. It means you can choose your course based on the writing teachers who appeal to you most.

There are a lot of reasons to study your course online through us.

• You can enrol without entry requirements We have a unique open-door policy that makes it possible for everyone to enrol in university study, no matter their academic history. If you don’t meet the entry requirements for a degree, we’ll help you get in through single undergraduate subjects and transition into a qualification from there.

• You have total control over how you study Upskill without committing to a whole degree upfront. Or enrol in a full degree, but take it a subject at a time. We’ll introduce you to flexible study options you didn’t even know about, so you can fit uni around what matters to you.

• You’ll graduate with the same qualification as an on-campus student Once you enrol through us, you’ll study online with the university that provides your degree. This means that when you complete your qualification, you’ll graduate with the same degree as on-campus students.

• We’ll help you navigate the university world Our friendly student advisors will be your guide every step of the enrolment journey. They'll help you compare universities, choose a course, provide documentation and understand your finance options.

It depends on the course and whether you choose something short or long-term. Here’s a general guide: 

If you study a degree in creative writing through Open Universities Australia, you have the flexibility to choose how many subjects you take per term. This means you can complete your qualification at a faster or slower pace than you would on campus.

Creative writing is a skill that requires practice and patience—but it’s a skill anyone can learn with the right guidance. Many of our students find workshopping to be the hardest thing about their course, because they can’t help taking the feedback about their work personally. It’s tricky to separate yourself from your writing, but your tutors and peers only have your development in mind. If you’re open to a bit of constructive criticism, you should find your course fun and rewardingly challenging.

Creative writing graduates have the critical thinking and writing skills to work across all sorts of industries. Students commonly pursue work as:

• Authors

• Journalists

• Copywriters 

• Digital marketers

• Magazine publishers and editors

• Book publishers and editors

• Screenwriters

• Arts administrators

• Teachers

Before starting an enrolment, it’s important to read the entry requirements for your chosen course to ensure that you’re eligible to apply. If you don’t quite meet the requirements, we may be able to help you find a pathway into your course through open-entry subjects, which anyone can study.

Chat with us to find out more.

Here at Open Universities Australia, we make enrolling online as straightforward as possible. To get started, find the course for you by browsing the options on this page. You can also compare different qualifications using our handy comparison tool, or request help from one of our student advisors.

When you’ve made your choice, click ‘Apply now’ on the relevant course page and follow the prompts to begin your enrolment. We’ll ask you to supply some supporting documentation, including proof of your identity, your tax file number, and a unique student identifier (USI) during this process.

Your university will get in touch with you via email to confirm whether or not your application has been successful.

Please note that enquiries and applications for some courses are handled directly by the university. If this is the case, it will be indicated on the course listing page.  

For more information about enrolment, read our online self-service enrolling instructions. If you get stuck at any time, contact us and we’ll talk you through it.