I recently completed the 5-course specialization in creative writing. For the most part the course material presented was good, especially the courses on plot, on setting, and on style. The course on characterization was a little vague. From the syllabus, it looked like it would be a good course, but the instructor did not follow the syllabus and was often very unfocussed in her presentation.

The weakness with this specialization is that all the feedback to the writer is provided by peers in the course. This I found very disappointing. Many of the other students were honestly very poor writers, and as a result, the feedback I received on my assignments was very superficial. In addition, rather than being able to learn from reading the writing of others, I found for the most part that the pieces submitted by others were very lacking.

If you take this course, know that it will provide you some good information about writing fiction, but the feedback you receive on your assignments will not help you learn. You will need to find another peer group of writers to help you with that.

Excellent teaching, be aware the meat of this course is in the interviews. If you read and watch them then the assignments are self-explanatory. The discussion boards were however a disappointment.

This the best writing course that I have taken. Only drawback is that while I appreciate the positive feedback, it would be helpful to have professional feedback.

Course would be more meaningful if a mentor intermittently commented on a students work.

I loved this course! Extremely useful and hands on. The course instructor was really impressive, both informative and empathetic, both arty and to the point. Totally admired her style of instruction.

In this course, Amy Bloom teaches students the different ways of creating a character, whether by observing family members or friends or creating them from scratch—this course goes into detail on what it takes to craft convincing characters and understand them so that the reader is persuaded into believing their goals and actions. The course also goes focuses on the narrator's voice and the many different points of view that a writer can use (first person, third person omniscient, etc). This is a good entry level course for beginners who want to gain an understanding of character creation basics. The assignments were thought-provoking and really helped with putting into practice the concepts laid out by the videos. This Course is meant for writers that are just starting out by allowing them to develop setting, dialogue and actions for in-depth characterization of people in a story.

--The videos were very interesting, especially the discussions with other writers.

-- The four exercises were worthwhile and challenging--perhaps too challenging for some of the participants, based on the pieces I read. Note that two hours isn't nearly long enough to do most of these exercises if the objective is to produce a piece that is both well thought through and well written.

--I found the peer reviews to be highly variable in quality.

-- Some textual material should be included in the course. We can always cut and paste the transcripts of the lectures--but why not provide easily accessible lecture notes? And there should also be instructional materials other then the lectures.

-- The questions asked of the peer reviewers are good ones. They would provide useful guidance in dealing with the assignment. Why not give them out along with the assignment?

Very concise and great tips and notes from Amy Bloom. The interviews and guests conversations helped as well. I had a bad experience with peer review and reported it, but had not heard what consequences were brought against him. The "wtf" added on peer reviews should not be tolerated and that student should not be accepted for a period. This is a learning environment to encourage learning a craft, developed thoughts and understanding. It is not a place for vulgar, rude and negative peer reviews, and coming from someone who also is taking a course to learn the craft or subject. I hope this student is ultimately been kicked out and not accepted for several courses, whether he is a paying student or otherwise, otherwise, the integrity of Coursera and Wesleyan U is not one I would want to associate with, nor do I want anyone else to.

Really enjoyed this particular module since, not only do I KNOW a lot of characters, I AM one. This course made me become more aware of mannerisms, cultural and behavioral differences and similarities, plus the results and implications of how these characters inter-mesh with one another. Politics and households mirror one another and I am NEVER without a notebook and pencils since beginning this module. Now almost everyone I see gets captured in the notebook. INCLUDING THE INSTRUCTORS ! They are truly interesting personalities and I enjoyed their Shoptalk segments a lot. It is a great program.

I have enjoyed this very thorough class. Although some of the assignment titles were misleading, the assignments overall were very good once I understood them. At first I did not like having to get feedback and give feedback on assignments, but as the course went on, I was able to see the value in this and understand why it was set up this way. By week 4, the observations of classmates not only resonated with my own about our writings but also enlightened some of the thoughts I hadn't yet put into words yet so I was able to articulate them and understand them better. Great course!!

First, the tasks were really challenging, but they were great. They provided me to think differently on various different points, which was very enjoyable. I loved Professor Amy Bloom's delivery of building a character and developing them, I finally started using my observation skills in expressing my thoughts and my characters. I also got confidence boost from her positive messages even in the lectures. I also liked the talks with other authors, which made me so glad that I can compare my thought process with some great authors. It was another plus for confidence.

I found this course very helpful as a step along the path to improving my writing. I really liked the course director Any Bloom, who has an engaging, calm manner and gave very useful insights into writing about character and creating characters that feel as if they have a life beyond the page. The course is well structured and the assignments well designed to help you to think about point of view and character and I found myself being able to develop a fictional character that I have had in my mind for a while. I really enjoyed the course, thank you very much.

The input from the published authors was great, for many reasons. But one of the things I appreciated most is that they weren't all the same. They gave a variety of perspectives that presented the fullness and freedom of writing. Each one had strong opinions and strategies, but since they were different from each other, we were set free to glean different flavors as they fit our own style. This is what sets good teaching apart - giving good solid options to choose from as we craft our characters and our own voice in presenting them.

This course had some very challenging tasks, and I did find the instructions for one of the assignments a bit problematic, because many of my fellow students misinterpreted them (and it was tough reviewing them when you could clearly see that they did understand the instructions; a big shame).

However, the instructor, Amy Bloom, was fantastic and I loved the way she delivered the course, and the material she covered.

A very enjoyable, informative course that I wish would have lasted longer just because I loved it so much.

A wonderful set of lectures and exercises that truly advance one's understanding of character development. As in the previous class, "Plot," the subject matter is broken down to easily digested concepts, building on each other until the author is left with a renewed confidence in their ability to craft interesting, dynamic characters. And, the peer-review process is a hoot! What wonderful imagination our classmates exhibit! The reviews are pertinent as well and the moderators always available. Five Stars!

I enjoyed Amy Bloom's teaching style and the way she relayed the message across. It really felt like being with a friend at a coffeeshop, analyzing different parts of books and stories that we've read and commenting on them. It was casual, comfortable, and very informative. The assignments allowed me to experiment and unlock new ways of getting and utilizing inspiration for characters, and for giving my characters a proper and interesting depth.

This course helped sharpen my noticing skills. The suggested reading is immensely helpful. The feedback is invaluable and I will be going back to some of those to transform those exercises into short stories. Thank you so much for the public access to this course! I am indebted to you. A MOOC is truly a life transforming invention, giving people the tools to improve on their skills. I can't imagine life without a MOOC! My goodness!

Amy Bloom makes a student writer feel he or she is the only student in the world. She shares what she has learned and points to excellent models in literature and writing. We learn that writers love to talk to each other about their craft, and, by golly, we're invited right into their circles of conversation. Of course, it's all pre-programmed and produced for a large audience, but it's authentic, friendly, and best of all, it's wise.

The course is excellent. It makes invaluable contributions to the subject of creating characters. It is a quite good and illustrative initiation, which opens up ways to learn more from the great masters of literature and to be more attentive to the details that people manifest in real life, since this makes it possible to learn how to make the characters more concrete in the fictions that are created from now on.

I got out of this module exactly what I put into it. While the videos do a reasonably good job of outlining a basic understanding, I found that I wanted more info, especially as concerns POV. For some reason, omniscient 3rd person was a tough concept to grasp. But I've since learned that POV can make or break a story, particularly if you don't know which one you're using and/or keep fluctuating from one to another.

This course was challenging and informative. The ability to speed up and slow down the video lectures is fantastic. These video lectures are jammed packed with information and I often listen to parts again and again to grasp a solid understanding. Without this feature this would become tedious and boring. The lecturers are knowledgeable and the words chosen to explain the content are spot on. Thanks. Loved it.

I very much enjoyed this course, and found it to be very useful and effective in improving my writing. The format of interviews with different writers iengaging and interesting. The most valuable part was the weekly writing assignments, and the peer reviews. The feedback I received was very useful to me, and I found that giving feedback to others also helped to advance my own insights and understanding.

This course helped a great deal. I can honestly say that a step in knowing how to create a believable character. Also, it helped me realize the difference in the different point of views through which a story can be told, and I discovered my favorite and my weaknesses in it. Safe to say the feedback from the assignments played a big part. Thank you and to all the other learners who sent me feedback.

This is a really interesting course with fun, challenging assignments. I really enjoyed Amy’s lectures and the interviews with published authors were fantastic too. The course included lots of useful examples from literature. And the course covers more than just superficial characters, unlike some other courses, it really delves into what makes characters and their stories tick.

Amy Bloom covers a very difficult topic of craft of character in her course and she does it really well. The course is very well designed and Amy explains everything in so much detail. My only feedback is that at least few of tools and methods should be explained to students as a beginner will have an extremely difficult time in creating characters.