This course does nothing to teach me how to write a novel. "Write an idea. Write a logline. Write a character description. Write chapter one." Yeah, I can manage that without somebody telling me. It teaches me NOTHING about plot development, character interaction, how to create any obstacles or conflicts that echo or feed the plot. There isn't even a mention of using things like character development templates. We are supposed to write chapters with nothing but a logline and a character description to base it on.

This is not a class, it's just a set of assignments with no useful instruction or support. I am very disappointed.

No teaching and no deadlines. Didn't work for me.

First 2 weeks of the program were great, really god. But after that, the teacher repeated the same stuff. I would ONLY RECOMMEND the first 2 weeks.

This was one of the worst classes I've ever taken. Interacting with other students was difficult and I couldn't drop the class when I got sick and fell behind. I had all these reviews to catch up on and never managed to. The stress made it very difficult to try and fix things when my file wound up getting deleted. I enjoyed all his other classes and this is the first I've had problems with.

Fantastic course! The lectures are easy to understand and they give all the necessary information needed to make your first novel! You don't just listen, you actually learn and do activities. You can also get great feedback from your fellow peers and aspiring authors. Definitely worth joining!

Non-existant content, lack of usable feedback from peers, writers' group mechanism is not workable on this platform, and long periods of time that a section cannot be completed (if at all) because there is nothing to review.

If I have to learn from other online sources and use other platforms to get and give feedback on my and my peers' writing, why bother doing this course?! And I made the mistake of paying for the course - total waste of money.

The lectures are nothing more than the “instructor” stating the next assignment. It is a free course, so I suppose this shortcoming falls under the heading of “you get what you pay for”!

The course is a catastrophe and demonstrates the parallel of coursera's new policy of barring unenrollment.

Excellent course.

Would like to see some type of follow up. course.

Character development? Plot ideas? Creative writing?

Thank you, Professor Wheeler!

I received so many great comments form other the writers. I tried to give uplifting positive advice in return. I am so glad I took this course. Thank you to all the writers who read my work. My debut novel, Still Crazy is coming April 1, 2021. I can't wait to post my certificate from Michigan State University on all of my social media accounts. Thank you for your dedication to our writing careers. Best, Judy Prescott Marshall.

Great format. I'm already making progress. Some discipline to write certainly helps but I like the presenter's style.

This course helped me as a writer because of the teacher. He was not a quick talker, but he was not a slow talker. He was very understanding. I really would love to get teached by him again.

This course felt very unguided I didn't even know what I was suppose to do it was a jumble of text with different options and no clear guidance as to what I was suppose to do no video no clear start page etc. There is literally no teacher. Didnt like it I didnt even start it as I could tell it would be very complicated and confusing.

BEST TEACHER EVER! LOVE THE COURSE.

It's a very good course, it has a set structure that helps me stay dedicated. It also provides feedback for your work via peer reviews. Peer reviews are great because so many people are helpful and thoughtful, additionally you don't need to wait that long to get reviews. Overall I think its a great course but I would have liked more assistance in terms of writing/character development.

If you have No Idea how to start a novel, and need constant hand-holding, need constant validation from strangers, and don't mind having zero support from the "instructor" (in this case, a couple dozen recorded videos, but not really any involvement from anyone other than your "peers") then this is the course for you! I don't really have confidence in the "honor system" being the only safety net for your ideas not being stolen, but if you trust it, go for it.

a​n excellent course for the fledgling writer. Broken down into manageable weekly targets and teaches that focus and organisation really help towards achieving that dream.

I would lessen the peer review number we have to do. Reading 5 chapters a week is a bit much for someone who has to write, work, family, and other things going on. Otherwise, I really enjoyed the course.

It is a course which teaches you punctuality, time table/ Daily routine management, and ofcourse helps you to write a good novel. The course format is very easy to understand and its elements like peer reviews, weekly work submission, table read round helps the learner in the best possible way. I would highly recommend it to those who want to be a part time or a full time Author. I learned a lot from this course. Thank You!

This course is a fantastic idea. I have studied half a dozen creative writing courses, such as by Iowa Uni, but this takes the urge to write to the next logical step. Given the availability of self publishing it has the potential to take amateur enthusiasts forward to taking that step. BUT, a course with no content has no value. The premise of this course is that the mentor just needs to encourage, and the resulting motivation, discipline of daily writing, and feedback from peers will do the rest. This is huge contrast to the teaching, assignments, literature references and community discussions on courses such as that on compiler writing. It is not explained by any difference between creative and technological courses. Worse, it fails as an approach as the peer review is beyond poor, unstructured and often not timely. The approach taken by the course is just as haphazard as, say, uploading text to WattPad and hoping for the best. The practical problems with the course are: a) APPALLINGLY BAD, VERY THIN ON THE GROUND, UNSTRUCTURED FEEDBACK, EG, "Seems good, nothing to add" b) No way to correspond directly with those providing feedback c) no way to edit or correct chapter submissions d) no way to correct formatting errors when you cut and paste text for submissions e) No way to control the selection of work you get to review or follow chapter by chapter those you have reviewed earlier (other than pop luck) f) No help setting up groups or support for those in groups that fail f) No practical guidance other than have a beginning middle and end and stick to 500 words a day g) The discussion fora are mostly about frustration and confusion. Where is the tutor intervention and feedback? I joined a Slack group in Week 1. It was closed down by its administrator before Week 2 as she told me that one or more of the others in the group had no work ethic, could not take positive criticism and were rude and insulting. I doubt this was an isolated incident. I have completed 30+ reviews in the first few weeks, and excepting non sensical or blank submissions, I have tried to write several paragraphs in feedback covering impressions, my personal response and ideas relevant to a better experience for the generic reader. I get a trickle of reviews on my own work, only two out of, say, ten have offered anything useful. Most are one or two sentences. Overall, to date I am hugely disappointed by this wasted opportunity. If I were paying to get a certificate, I would be angry.

I like the course structure and the videos. But, I am lacking feedback for my work. This is frustrating after putting in a lot of effort to complete the assignments. I have also seen claims in some of the discussion forums that plagiarism is occurring. This is troublesome. I would appreciate some guidance from the instructor about my concerns.

I thought the professor provided great insights and education surrounding the writing process. I ended up un-enrolling from the course due to the lack of in-depth feedback. The only feedback given is peer-review and unfortunately most reviews were very short and unhelpful. I have chosen to seek a writing group outside of Coursera

T​he course it's been really disappointing... I put long reviews to my peers, giving as much constructive feedback as I can and in exchange I get really short 'well done' 'good' or nothing at all. Still waiting for a review on chapter 2 which I published more than a week ago and for chapter 1 just two short ones that don't help me at all. I think the algorith should not allow short reviews as people do it to just get them done but not really read your work. And also make sure everybody is going to get at least 5 as we are forced to give 5 also... The creation of groups is a disaster, there is no way to do it via the platform... why? People ar not constant at all via email which is really frustrating and a waste of time :( Leaving the course because it's not providing what I expected. A shame.

I wondered why I never got personal feedback on my novel from a professional writer. I would have loved to get professional feedback. However, on the other side, the process to stick to 500 words per day 5 days a week, submitting each week a chapter, and doing the group reading each act turned out a good process I was able to stick to. I have to admit that I have taken in parallel the four modules of the creative writing course. I would have never been able to write the book I wanted to write for years. Now I ended up with one first volume of three in a total.

Thank you for having me brought up to this level.

PS: the technical process that one cannot edit a chapter is cumbersome, that Coursera repeatedly shut down the saving process.... this is very hard to take.

Much feedback has been not helpful, and some are, so, I took those and indeed they inspired me to change things.

This novel writing course was impressive where I have learned how to use my creativity to convey to others what I want to share as a writer with them. I took this course with pleasure through the entire step-by-step process that helped me complete a full-length piece of fiction in English. Of course, this process helped me write my novel. Writing regularly helps to keep yourself in good shape, teaches to be disciplined and promotes orderliness. Without a doubt, I will use these tools and techniques in the future in my writing and teaching practice. Thank you for such a thoughtful and quality course.