This course is designed for people who already have the first draft of a novel, and would like to engage in furthering knowledge of the fiction writer’s craft to deepen their own writing, and to develop and edit their draft to a stage of publication ready. This course gives writers the opportunity to dive deeper, and to navigate the structural and line editing stage of writing. We will also work with questions of form, and study examples of form. We will study mostly contemporary fiction and become aware of what people are writing, and reading. What kinds of novels are winning prizes, and why! It is often said that real writing is rewriting. It is certainly where tenacity, perseverance and courage come in. A part of this course will be taught modules of craft, and another part will be on a peer to peer level of development, where writers will work in pairs and in small groups, to give feedback and support to each other.

Upon completion of this course novel writers will have the opportunity to pitch their work to a literary agent, and will also be knowledgeable enough to teach creative writing in community group settings. This course will also include a talk from a publisher. It is hoped, in addition to a real deepening in skills, and completion of the novel, writers will have insight into the publishing world, and a confident understanding of how to approach agents and publishers, and how to present their work. On this theme, some attention will be given also on how to read work aloud.

This course will start on Sunday 21st April. It will run from April to December, with one full day (Sunday) workshop per month (in person), and one evening sharing of work in progress per month (over zoom) plus a one to one tutorial. To fully benefit from this course writers should be able to dedicate 10 hours per week to their writing (in addition to time spent on the novel writing course).

PAYMENT AND BOOKING

Course fees can be paid via the button below, or you can pay via bank transfer. To reserve a place, and/or to communicate with Janis about this course please email Janis@janismackay.com