Kickstart Your Novel

Take your fiction to the next level and develop the technical skill and narrative momentum you need to really get stuck in to a novel

Have you always wanted to write a novel but you’re not sure where to start? Or maybe you’ve already started writing and you need some help developing it? This 8-week online course, run by our partners at Faber Academy, will help you explore your novel idea and experiment with different writing techniques. You’ll work in a small, group of writers with an expert tutor to guide you through the process. During the course, you’ll have regular group Zoom sessions with your tutor, plus a live Q&A with a special guest author, and a one-to-one tutorial at the end of the course to discuss your story idea and synopsis with your tutor.

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Ayisha
Malik

Tutor

Fiona
Egglestone

Moderator

Kickstart Your Novel is an intermediate level course, designed for people who have some writing experience. The course is suitable if you:

Have completed the Faber Academy Beginners' Fiction course or equivalent, or have some previous writing experience
Need the discipline of deadlines, together with a carefully structured approach to developing your novel idea
Are keen to further develop your writing techniques
Want to join a friendly and supportive group of learners
Can dedicate 5-7 hours per week for the duration of the course

Try a free course session If you’re curious about how Faber Academy’s online writing courses work, you can try a free taster session. It shows you what the Faber Academy online classroom looks like, how the courses are set up, and gives you the chance to read, watch and listen to a sample of learning materials. To try your taster session, please get in touch and we’ll send you a link. When you do this we’ll also sign you up to our newsletter. We never share your details with other people and we’ll only get in touch once in a while to tell you about nice things – such as news, events, competitions and offers. (You can unsubscribe if you decide it’s not for you.)

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.

You’ll learn in Faber Academy’s online classroom, which is open 24/7 so you can balance your learning around your work, family and friends. You’ll work in a small group of fellow learners so you can discuss ideas, ask questions and share your writing as you progress through the sessions. Each group is limited to 15 students or fewer.

You’ll learn from:

Videos, podcasts and reading suggestions from course director, Tom Bromley
Practical writing exercises to help you experiment and practise your skills as you work on your novel
One-to-one tutor discussions on Zoom
Guided discussions with your group
Group webinars with your tutor on Zoom
The opportunity to share your work and give and receive feedback from fellow writers

You’ll need:

5-7 hours per week to work through the course
A notebook and pen or pencil, if you like to make notes by hand
A laptop or computer* with:
- A reliable broadband internet connection
- Speakers or headphones
- The latest version of Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, or Safari
- Microsoft Word. If you don’t have this you can download Open Office free
- Adobe Reader, latest version. Download free
- QuickTime Player, latest version. Download free

*You can access the course from a tablet or smartphone, but we recommend using a laptop or computer, as this makes it easier to share your work files with your writing group.

Join the Faber Academy alumni

After your course, you can join the online alumni where you’ll meet the growing network of past Faber Academy students. The alumni is a friendly group of writers who support each other as they continue to explore and develop their writing. Within the online alumni area you can:

Rejoin your classmates on a private forum and access an archived version of your course materials and forum posts
Meet alumni from other Faber Academy courses and groups and share your work for feedback on our alumni critiquing forum
Join in on discussions about reading, writing, editing and ideas on our general discussion forum. This is also where we share news and useful info
Retain access to our resources area, which has interesting and informative links
Chat with other people online using the alumni area live chatroom. We also host live chats with guest tutors, authors, agents, editors and publishers

This is a Faber Academy course, so you need to book through their website.

Kickstart Your Novel

Take your fiction to the next level and develop the technical skill and narrative momentum you need to really get stuck in to a novel

NEXT COURSE

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