208 courses

Female novelist writing on her laptop
Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Writing a Novel (Online)

A serious but flexible course for committed writers, with access to leading industry experts and round-the-clock support from our team.

Level

i
Advanced

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
Online

Length

i
6 month +

Tutors

Jessica Moor

By Application

Start Date

Monday 03 Jul 2023

Application Deadline

Monday 19 Jun 2023

£2750
Apply

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Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Writing a Novel (Evening)

A comprehensive six-month writing course for the serious writer, with access to some of the biggest names in publishing.

Level

i
Advanced

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
London

Length

i
6 month +

Tutors

Richard T. Kelly, Sarah May, Joanna Briscoe, Nikesh Shukla

By Application

Start Date

Wednesday 04 Oct 2023

Application Deadline

Sunday 17 Sep 2023

£4350
Apply

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Details
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Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Writing a Novel (Daytime)

A comprehensive six-month writing course for the serious writer, with access to some of the biggest names in publishing.

Level

i
Advanced

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
London

Length

i
6 month +

Tutors

Shelley Weiner, Sabrina Broadbent

By Application

Start Date

Thursday 05 Oct 2023

Application Deadline

Sunday 17 Sep 2023

£4350
Apply

29 spaces left

Details
Image of a woman with peach hair and a white shirt writing in her notebook at a table
Poetry

Advanced Poetry

If you’re a committed aspiring poet hoping to take your writing to the next level, join Daljit Nagra and Rachael Allen for this six-month course at the home of British poetry.

Level

i
Advanced

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
Online

Length

i
6 month +

Tutors

Rachael Allen, Daljit Nagra

By Application

Start Date

Monday 03 Oct 2022

Application Deadline

Sunday 18 Sep 2022

£2500
Book Now

Sold Out

Details
Collection Review

Collection Review

Put your poems through their paces with an in-depth evaluation of your entire collection.
By Application
£500
Close-up of a woman writing in a notebook on hillside
Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Create Brilliant Characters

Discover the secrets of successful character creation, and try out failsafe techniques to bring your own characters to life.

Level

i
Improving

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
Online

Length

i
4 weeks

Tutors

Tom Bromley

Start Date

Monday 12 Sep 2022

£120
Book Now

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Details
Close-up of a woman writing in a notebook on hillside
Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Create Brilliant Characters

Discover the secrets of successful character creation, and try out failsafe techniques to bring your own characters to life.

Level

i
Improving

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
Online

Length

i
4 weeks

Tutors

Tom Bromley

Start Date

Monday 13 Sep 2021

£120
Book Now

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Details
Close-up of a woman writing in a notebook on hillside
Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Create Brilliant Characters

Discover the secrets of successful character creation, and try out failsafe techniques to bring your own characters to life.

Level

i
Improving

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
Online

Length

i
4 weeks

Tutors

Tom Bromley

Start Date

Monday 14 Mar 2022

£120
Book Now

Sold Out

Details
Close-up of a woman writing in a notebook on hillside

Create Brilliant Characters

Discover the secrets of successful character creation, and try out failsafe techniques to bring your own characters to life.

Tutors

Tom Bromley

Start Date

Monday 17 Jan 2022

£120
Book Now

7 spaces left

Details
Close-up of a woman writing in a notebook on hillside
Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Create Brilliant Characters

Discover the secrets of successful character creation, and try out failsafe techniques to bring your own characters to life.

Level

i
Improving

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
Online

Length

i
4 weeks

Tutors

Tom Bromley

Start Date

Monday 02 May 2022

£120
Book Now

8 spaces left

Details
Close-up of a woman writing in a notebook on hillside
Fiction Development, Novel Writing

Create Brilliant Characters

Discover the secrets of successful character creation, and try out failsafe techniques to bring your own characters to life.

Level

i
Improving

What do these levels mean?

Location

i
Online

Length

i
4 weeks

Tutors

Tom Bromley

Start Date

Monday 07 Nov 2022

£120
Book Now

Sold Out

Details

Find the right people to tell your story

Characters are at the heart of memorable fiction. Readers want to meet people they can go for a drink with or fall in love with or shout at. Characters they feel they know – or wish they knew. This four-week course helps you understand the conventions of writing characters and shows you how to create more engaging characters to keep your readers hooked. It will expand your range of techniques and challenge you to experiment with your writing.

Is this the right course for me?

This is one of our 'Improving' courses – you don't need to be an experienced writer to take it, but if you're a complete beginner looking for an introduction to creative writing, it might be better to start with one of our starting out courses. This one is ideal if you've got an idea (or several!) for a great story, but are struggling to get the people who'll carry it living and breathing on the page.

Over two fortnight-long sessions, you'll work through guided reading, practical exercises and creative writing prompts. You'll have video introductions to the topics covered from your tutor, and instructions and tips on how to craft a satisfying story.

You'll be joined by a supportive group of fellow writers to read, discuss and feedback on your work, and we'll host forum discussions about hooking and keeping your readers engaged with your setting. We'll give you guidance on how to turn a sharp lens on your creative work and become a better editor of your writing, as well as honing those skills giving feedback to your classmates.

You'll have a special Q&A forum to keep in touch with and post your critical writing questions for your tutor during the four weeks. And at the end of the course, you'll find carefully curated additional reading and resources so you can take your interests further, as well as the opportunity to produce a piece of writing of up to 2,000 words based on one of the exercises you've worked on during the course.

    This course is formed of two fortnight-long sessions. During the two weeks, you can work through the session's materials at your own pace, at a time that suits you – you don't need to be online at a particular time. You'll be able to join in discussions with your classmates on the forums, and post some of your own writing in order to get feedback from them.

Course Programme

Session 1

7 November – 20 November

Where do great characters come fro...

Session 2

21 November – 4 December

Five secrets of fantastic characte...

See remaining sessions

Course Programme

Create Brilliant Characters

Session 1

7 November – 20 November

Where do great characters come from?

We look at four different ways of creating characters, studying extracts that draw on these methods and then experimenting with writing in each of the different styles. You will post some thoughts on your reading and short extracts of writing to the forum for class discussion.

Session 2

21 November – 4 December

Five secrets of fantastic characters

In this session, we’ll look at how to bring characters to life on the page using description, back story, inconsistencies, reader-engagement techniques and change. You will work on one longer piece of writing in preparation for your final submission of up to 2,000 words. You might polish or rework a piece you worked on in Session 1 or develop something new based on what you’ve learned. You will post your final piece to the forum for comment from your peers.

Tutor

rachael-allen-tutor

Rachael Allen

Rachael Allen’s first collection of poems, KINGDOMLAND, is published by Faber & Faber. She is the co-author of a number of collaborative...

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Rachael Allen
daljit-nagra

Daljit Nagra

Daljit Nagra has published four poetry collections with Faber & Faber. He has won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem...

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Daljit Nagra
tutor-4-min

Tom Bromley

Tom Bromley is an author, editor and ghostwriter. He has written ten books under his own name, both fiction and non-fiction...

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Tom Bromley

Browse the Reading Room

From author interviews and writing tips to creative writing exercises and reading lists, we've got everything you need to get started – and to keep going.

Announcing Faber Academy Newcastle Read More
Announcing Faber Academy Newcastle
Writing Prickly Female Protagonists

Writing a Novel alumna Ania Bas on writing the main character of her debut novel, published earlier

Read More
My Road to Publication… And What I Learned Along the Way

The author of Honey and Me (published by Scholastic Press) on how her book came to be

Read More

For more information, message us or call 0207 927 3827