The First Draft

Write your novel in six months
Join our lovely little online community to support you through starting, middling, finishing and beyond
Take your novel plan and turn it into a 50,000+ word first draft
Finish the course with a solid manuscript

Bash out your first draft with step-by-step guidance, support, inspiration and the best writing community in town!

Writing the first draft of a novel is an epic, exciting, and sometimes daunting undertaking — but you definitely don’t have to do it alone! The First Draft course will make even the most ambitious writing project feel totally doable by breaking the mammoth task of novel writing down into manageable chunks, and offering advice, support, tea, biscuits and silly gifs, every step of the way.

There’s no one single way to write a novel, which is why we’ve brought together a huge collection of flexible approaches, techniques and ideas to help you find the best way to write YOUR first draft. Whether you’re a planner, a pantser, or an ‘I have no idea what I’m doing’ writer, The First Draft course is packed with options to suit everyone, along with practical exercises, examples, and prompts to keep you going.

We also have the most AMAZING online writing community for 24/7 chat, feedback, critique, troubleshooting and general writerly shenanigans!

Let us help you walk your story idea through The First Draft and come out the other side with a novel.

What's inside the course?

Course Content

4: Refuse the call
PLOTTING CHECK IN
LA LA LA I CAN”T HEAR YOU
RESEARCH AKA PRODUCTIVE (KIND OF) PROCRASTINATION
5: Set it up
TIMETABLE FTW
THE STORY SET-UP
GET SET, GO!
6: Crisis ahoy!
THE FIRST CRISIS
YOUR CHARACTERS WORST FEARS
PRODUCTIVE PROCRASTINATION
7: Crossing the threshold
CHARACTER GOALS
2 of 8

“Writers’ HQ got me writing again after a break of nearly 20 years. They are amazing! A motivating, practical, friendly course with exercises to do and a nice positive forum to discuss how it’s all going.” CATHERINE A LEIMER

Get instant access when you join the most word-writing, tea-drinking, story-slinging, biscuit-dunking, productivity-boosting, super supportive writing community this side of the internet

Woohoo yeah do it do it yeah woo etc and so on

Freebie WHQer
£free
Zero Earth pounds! Always free awww yeah!
3 x creative writing courses
Monthly online writing retreat
The amazing WHQ community forum
Gold Star WHQer
£20/month
The full WHQ shebang for superstar writers
25 x in-depth creative writing development courses
Monthly specialised writing masterclasses
Masterclass video library
Full access to all WHQ writing festivals
Cancel any time
Annual Gold Star WHQer
£190
One off payment. Save money. Eat more avocado toast.
Everything in the monthly membership
Access to all our monthly writing challenges and festivals throughout the year
No recurring fees

Whoa there, writer-buddy

You need to be a Writers’ HQ gold star member to get your eyes on this glorious stuff.

But that’s okay because joining is super easy. Just click the button and do the thing.

(Or login if you’re already a member)

Read this before going to the forum!

The widget that lets you sign into the forum with your WHQ login has given up. 

We are trying to coax it back into existence. So far neither bribery, begging or crying has worked. We are currently trying shaking our fists at the sky and going ‘grrrr’.

You can still get to the forum though! Do this:

  1. Click the button below
  2. On the forum login page, click reset password USING THE SAME EMAIL YOU USE FOR WHQ
  3. Click the link in the email and reset your password

IMPORTANT: This means you will have TWO (2) passwords/logins. One for the WHQ main site and one for the forum. It’s a pain in the arse. We’re sorry. It is temporary, but at least you can dick about on the forum again. OKAY BYE. 

Confirm your place at The First Draft.

Once you hit the button, you’ll get a confirmation email, and we’ll send you the Zoom link an hour before the event. 

Yayyyy! You've bagged a place at The First Draft.

Check your inbox for details. 

If you don’t get an email, check your spam fist and then wang us a line on he**@**********co.uk and we’ll leap into action with keenness and speed. 

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Spend a whole day writing with us!

Flash Face Off
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