This course is aimed at writers who have completed, or are close to completing, a first draft and want to target publication for their novel. Maybe you’ve been working on the book for some time and have got stuck, or you don’t know how to refine the book to be ready to submit to agents. If that is you, then this is the ideal course to hone your skills to edit, polish and submit your novel. You will get to pitch to agents and editors at major publishing houses, to get experience with the real-world gate-keepers.
Finish Your Novel With Us
Applications Deadline
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Monday February 15th 2027
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Allows 2 weeks for all initial 1-1 meetings
Duration of Course
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15 weekly sessions, commencing Monday March 1st and finishing on Monday June 7th 2027
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Monthly catch-up meetings for July-September
Writing Community extras
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Access to all 2027 Write Here Write Now sessions
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Invitations to My Writing Life events
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Weekly catch-up and target setting sessions
Price £1,200
Numbers are capped at 12 students maximum
Course Overview
What does the course consist of?
- An initial 1-1 meeting in person or online to judge where you are in your writing journey, and to see if this is the right course for you. If yes, then we will create a roadmap and set targets for completing and submitting the book.
- 15 weekly sessions. These are skills/craft/knowledge based, designed to enhance your editing capabilities and help you refine the book’s plot, characters and language. These are hybrid sessions (you can attend live or online) and will take place in either Goldsboro Books Brighton or Goldsboro Books London and will be livestreamed and recorded for later and repeated viewings. These sessions include:
- Understanding the hook and establishing the genre you’re working in and the tropes it uses. We will look at taglines and pitching your work. This session is led by TV and crime writer Simon Toyne.
- Understanding the marketplace and how it operates. We will go deeper into the importance of titles, taglines and how to pitch your book. With Kate Harrison, writer of Pitch Power.
- Multiple sessions with editor and mentor Laura Wilkinson.
- Strengthening characters and relationships, with historical fiction writer Frances Quinn
- Reworking and refining your plot, seeding back storyline and themes, using time and place. With Phil Viner.
- Pacing, tension and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. With award-winning crime writer and screenwriter Araminta Hall.
- Understanding rights issues and assessing Intellectual property opportunities with an expert.
- Creating successful cover letters and writing a strong synopsis.
- Throughout the course you will pitch your novel, to your peers, and writing tutors. Toward the end of the course, you will pitch to an agent and to a commissioning editor from a major publisher.
- In addition to the regular weekly sessions, there will be a series of My writing life sessions. These are interviews and debates with top writers from many different genres and levels of experience. They will share their writing practice, how they work with their agents and editors, and how they plan their careers.
- After the last weekly session there will be a monthly catch-up for three months.
- Access to all 2027 Goldsboro Writing Community sessions, which includes weekly Write Here, Write Now sessions, and share your work/feedback nights.
