Each weekly session explores a different topic and includes reading and writing exercises designed to help you develop a range of creative, practical and critical skills in writing a novel.
You’ll explore how novel writers use techniques including character, point of view and tense, story and structure, and work towards producing the first chapter of a novel and synopsis.
In each session, you’ll collaborate with a close-knit team of fellow writers to share ideas and feedback on each other’s work. You’ll also receive detailed feedback on your synopsis from your tutor in a live one-to-one tutorial via Zoom.
Session 1: Ideas and Inspiration – In this opening session, we’ll look at where writers get their ideas and which types of ideas work best in the long form of a novel. There are practical ways to test whether your idea will sustain a full work of fiction, plus exercises to get your fiction juices flowing and help you assess which of your ideas are worth developing.
Live group webinar with the tutor.
Session 2: Character is Plot – We’ll focus on characterisation and those first steps in developing a protagonist your reader will care about, with practical exercises to help you uncover plot from character.
Session 3: Point of View and Tense – In this session we’ll look at two of the most common questions new novel writers ask, and try out first person and third, present tense and past. We’ll explore the advantages and disadvantages of each, and work out which are right for this particular story.
Live group webinar with the tutor.
Session 4: Story and Structure – We’ll focus on some of the basics of plotting and try out practical techniques novelists use to stitch together their narratives. We’ll also explore how much – and how little – other novel writers plan before getting stuck in.
Session 5: Write Your Synopsis – What is a synopsis and why do you need one at this early stage of writing? In this session we’ll look at the role of the synopsis as a touchstone at different stages in the novel-writing process, and try out formulas that work.
Live group webinar with the tutor.
Session 6: Your Opening Pages – Why the first line, paragraph and page are so important for the novel writer. We’ll look at how different writers use their opening pages to set out what their novels are about and why the reader should care enough to read on, before you work on your own opening pages.
One-to-one tutorial with the tutor to discuss your story idea, synopsis and next steps.
Session 7: You the Novelist – Two weeks of quiet writing time as you focus on your final assignment: applying the ideas and techniques you have explored through the course to write the opening chapter (or sample) of your novel idea.
