Creative Writing Now was created as a free service by writing teachers to provide a supportive and friendly place for authors and poets at all stages in their writing lives.

If you're just starting out, you can reach the next level in your writing with our free online writing courses and easy step-by-step guides to writing short stories, novels, poetry, and drama.

No matter what your level of experience, you're invited to participate in our free creative writing contests for the chance to get published and win prizes.

Use the left-hand menu or the Table of Contents below to find exactly what you need for your writing. Don't forget to bookmark this page so that you can come back for a daily dose of inspiration.

Creative Writing Contests. Enter our creative writing contests for the chance to become a published author or poet and win cash prizes.

Free Online Writing Courses. We offer complete free online writing courses in fiction and poetry. Work at your own level, on your own schedule.

Story Starters. Looking for creative writing ideas? Here you'll find an endless supply of free story starters and fiction writing prompts to keep your imagination flowing.

Creative Writing Prompts for Poetry. Hundreds of poetry prompts and creative writing ideas so that you never run out of inspiration. Bye-bye, Writer's Block.

How to Write a Story. Everything you need to know about how to write a story from start to finish. Bring your fiction to life with vivid descriptions, exciting plots, and characters your readers will care about.

How to Write a Novel. Novel-writing advice for new authors. Find out: 7 ways to get fiction ideas, 4 ways to turn creative writing ideas into stories, the 6 top tips to make your book a success, and much more.

How to Write Poetry. A step-by-step guide to writing poetry, with lots of creative writing ideas and poem starters to inspire you. Learn essential poetry techniques and how to avoid the most common poetry problems.

How to Write a Screenplay or Play. Simple steps for developing ideas into scripts for theater or film.

Creative Journaling. Inspiration for keeping a journal, including a little trick for generating a year's worth of writing topics in less than an hour.

How to Teach Writing. If you're a writing teacher, we'd love to make your life easier. Course plans, ideas, tips and activities that you can use for your own creative writing classes.