Free Writing Courses - The Open University

An amazing range of free courses relating to all aspects of Writing is available from the OU or Open Learn as they like to be called these days. 

A good starting point maybe this one about Writing what you know 

This free course, Writing what you know, will help you to develop your perception of the world about you and enable you to see the familiar things in everyday life in a new light. You will also learn how authors use their own personal histories to form the basis of their work.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• ~ articulate the notion of 'write what you know'
• ~ write 'blind' descriptions of known objects and note new observations
• ~ have an enhanced ability to list sensory perceptions
• ~ write short texts about a personal memory of either a place or a character.