A great course overall. The peer feedback is sometimes informative, sometimes lacking. One word peer reviews should not be allowed. Perhaps there needs to be a preliminary assessment of of participants to see if they qualify for the course. Perhaps have a reporting function that allows the learner to report insufficient feedback. The power in MOOCs is learning from one another as well as from the instructor.

I really enjoyed this course. The lectures were particularly interesting. I think one thing that could be improved is the phrasing of the assignments. I wasn't entirely sire of what was required for each week (especially week 2). But saying that I feel a lot more prepared in regards to approaching characters and I feel equipped with many different thoughts and techniques to tackle character in the future.

The course content and some of the assignments provided me with insights to approach and review my own writing with better understanding of sculpting of characters. Also, I got perspective on the dynamics of dialogue, the selection of POV to tell a story most effectively, and the tone of voice of the author that underlies the narrative between the dialogues and monologues. Grateful for the learning.

I gained a lot from the program but all four courses would benefit so much more by even minor contact from the staff. I've written questions and often get no response. There needs a higher commitment from Staff to engage with students enrolled in the Creative Writing Program. After completing all four programs and now doing Capstone, this is definitely a failure that could be so easily addressed.

I really liked this course because it taught me a lot about developing my characters which was something I sorely needed guidance in. Thank you!

I did have one concern though: for Week 2's assignment "Observation and Implication", the instructions were a bit unclear. I feel the wording is a little bit awkward.

Other than that, I am thoroughly enjoying this specialization!

Good course (I did the free version, full disclosure). Learned enough about character development to help me with my fiction - and non-fiction. I teach creative nonfiction and you need to understand how to make the people you use compelling. Wish there was more exposition, factual step-by-step and less interviewing. Liked the Plot class better for that reason

I found this course a little less enthralling than the other three, mostly due to the fact that the videos lacked the interactive element that the other courses had, and due to the fact that there was a lot of repetition in what was being said. Contents was interesting, and I loved the assignments, but the whole thing lacked a little pep.

I liked the course -- there were plenty of useful tips throughout. However, I felt some of the assignments were unnecessarily oblique and complicated (particularly the second assignment). Ultimately, it was a helpful course, though I feel much of the information, expectation, and specific instruction could be more streamlined.

Some really good inputs on creating characters (and on creating the voice of the narrator), as well as creating the tone of a piece of writing in general. I found the writing tasks quite challenging, but they also offer great insights, especially in terms of the possibilities of which point of view to write from.

Well-organized and well-structured, good examples, multiple perspectives from practicing writers. The content on character development, the role of dialog and action in revealing characters, and POV/voice would be most helpful for novice writers (but perhaps also for experienced writers!)

Character is one of the most difficult aspects of fiction writing and I think this course does a good job of getting you to understand it. It would definitely benefit from some additional mandatory readings. Parts of James Wood's How Fiction Works would be right on the money.

The course helped me put the learning to practice. The course helped me start writing and also engage in reviewing the peers which helped me broaden my interest and also helped me understand the quality and style of writing that other students of the same field have.

Good videos. Lots of material for consideration. Good assignments! I really enjoyed stretching my comfort zone a bit . Particularly in the last exercise. Jumping from 1st Person to Omniscient POV. Had not given point of view so much brain time!!

Great insight into character, voice and connecting with our story. The professor also references books that can be read to further our understanding. The only drawback is that auditing students cannot participate in feedback on assignments.

Prof. Bloom was very interesting to watch and listen to. The course was well organized and free of technical issues, but it didn't seem quite as thorough a discussion of the topic as the plot course was. Very close to 5 stars.

I really enjoyed the lectures of the course and found Amy Bloom to be an informative and relatable writer and lecturer. The assignments were a bit odd, in my opinion, but maybe that's the way writing assignments are in general?

Good course, i have learned few very useful concepts, thanks to Amy.

The last assignment was genius, helped us to really recognize differences between two POV,.

However, first assignments were a little bit confusing.

The course improved my skills on writing the stories from different perspectives and points of view. It pretty much complement the other course about plot. I am very satisfied with the things I've learnt so far.

I enjoyed the lectures, but perhaps there could be more examples in writing. Like parts of stories we could read, especially with idiosyncrasies. I felt like I needed to see those things in action, on paper.

I enjoyed Amy Bloom's guidelines and am keen to create some well rounded characters. Thank you for enabling me to follow along without having to pay ( no evaluation of the assignments).

This course was very interesting and the assignments were good. I thought it relied too much on conversations with other authors but overall it was enjoyable and I learned new skills.

I do not understand why these courses over lap. I finished #2 today, tried to start #3 but found that I had 10 hours to complete the first weeks assignment? Who is in charge out there?

The assignments tend to be very confusing, I understand that they make sense for making characters, the difficulty might just be with the characters, but they are quite confusing.

Coursera technology should improve since many people don't take the critiques seriously, and there's no way to measure someone who just writes 'yes' in every box.

I liked this class, but would have gotten more out of it had there been less conversation videos. I like some direct lecture to cement new knowledge.