Part of the Writers’ HQ membership
Six month course - or take as long as you needacces
Join our kickass community
Let us hold your hand through the epic first draft slog. All the guidance you need, coupled with swearing, tea-drinking, and gold stars.
In case you hadn’t noticed yet, writing a novel is haaaaard. And we don’t mean walking-up-a-steep-hill hard or having-to-tell-someone-they’ve-got-a-bogey-on-their-nose hard – we mean like pushing something the size of a watermelon out of something the size of Smarties tube hard. But you know what? Every day, people do it. People have been doing it since the dawn of time. It’s one of the reasons that we’re so successful-slash-cataclysmic as a species; our ability to do art. It’s what we were built for.
Think of this course like hypnobirthing for writers. NCT for novelists. Mothercare for motherfucking wordsmiths. This novel is coming out of you one way or another, we’re just here to make the process smoother, calmer, and full of appropriate medication.
This is a badass course for badass writers. You’ll start with a plan and finish with a novel. We won’t lie: it’s full-on. But the results are totally worth it. So let us guide you, step by step, towards a completed first draft novel in six months (or less, or more – it’s up to you!).
A FEW IMPORTANT NOTES:
You will need some sort of plan for your novel before we start ’cause we’re gonna hit the ground running and get writing pretty much straight away. We’re not going to spend a month or two rehashing the basics of plotting – we’re going to crack on with writing writing writing, taking everything we’ve learnt in Plotstormers and going broader, deeper and wordier. YEAH!
“Oh shit, do I need to have taken Plotstormers first?”
Well, we’d prefer it if you had, but we understand that’s not always possible. So if you already have some sort of plan or outline for your novel and want to join the course, that’s great – just be aware that we sometimes use the Plotstormers format when talking about structure. If you’re unsure, give us a yell on [email protected] and we’ll help you out.
PART 1: Get your house in order
PART 2: The 1st act
PART 3: Inciting stuff
PART 4: Refuse the call
PART 5: Set it up
PART 6: Crisis ahoy!
PART 7: Crossing the threshold
PART 8: Subplots
PART 9: The second act
PART 10: Magical midpoints
PART 11: Midway progress
PART 12: Having a terrible time
PART 13: Pinch points
PART 14: All is lost
PART 15: Navel gazing
PART 16: The third act
PART 17: Pull yourself together
PART 18: Slaying the bad guys
PART 19: Failure
PART 20: The climax
PART 21: Wrapping up
PART 22: Endings & loose ends
PART 23: The final sprint
PART 24: What to do with a first draft
PART 25: What comes next?
1. Enrol
Sign up for a fully-fledged WHQ membership and get access to this and ALL our online courses direct from your member dashboard. Super simple.
2. Read, watch, do
The lessons are a mix of text, images, videos and exercises. To get the most out of the course, try to give yourself at least an hour a day to read or watch the material and do the exercises. We’ve made them as bite-size as possible but also if you wanna do the thing you gotta do the work.
3. No rush
This course is written to be done over six months but take as long as you like and don’t panic! Go at your own pace. We’ll be waiting for you in the community forums when you’re ready to catch up.
4. No money? No problem
If you’re unable to afford WHQ membership please get in touch via our our bursary scheme!
5. Milk no sugar
Drink plenty of tea and stock up on biscuits. Enjoy it. It’s supposed to be fun. Love you. Mwah.
Omg so much stuff.
Week-by-week hand-holding to guide you through the process of getting the first draft of your novel out of your head and onto the page.
Exercises and prompts to help you dive deeper into your story and understand the technicalities and magic of story writing.
Ideas, examples, inspiration and resources for every step of the way.
Personalised, focused targets to get you and keep you on track.
Access to our dedicated student forum for chatting, critiquing and feedback with our amazing community of writers.
Seriously could not have done it without this course. plotstormers, making people and now first draft! My dreams are becoming real. Thanks WHQ! 5 STARS!
It’s my editing blueprint for good, for now, forever! I could write a song about this course .. but instead I’ll sing your praises and say how you’ve taken the huge job of drafting a novel and made it simple .. well, simpler, because you have the knack of getting right to the heart of what a novel is, what it’s for, how it works as an entity, who inhabits it. About midway through the course I had a personal business crash that required my total attention to fix, and it’s a shame because I was enjoying the forum and taking part in it. BUT I was safe in the knowledge that if I could get back to reality and my life quick enough, I could continue and I have – and completed! I have a deadline to fulfil with my writing group and if I can manage it, I will return to the Forum too before the course ends in a few days. I will undoubtedly be returning for the course on Submission to an Agent but I’m nowhere near ready. Can I just say how helpful it was knowing the course materials would continue to be up on the site as I’ve desperately needed this time.
My only crit would be, and I mean it in a positive way, is that I felt the whole course could have been double the length anyway – as in 3 months, and then another 6 weeks for the materials to be up on the site. Many exercises of ’60 mins’ or ’45 mins’ took days or a whole week! By the way, more expensive courses I’ve taken (e.g. for thousands!) were NOTHING compared to this!! Bless you, and though I wish you EVERY SUCCESS with your own writing, I hope you DON’T STOP DOING THIS!!! A THOUSAND THANKS.
This course helped me more than I can really say. It turned my novel from a vague idea to a proper story with a proper journey. The tools that I learned have made the process of writing my novel smoother, more structured and more enjoyable to write. Can’t rate the course enough.
It’s my editing blueprint for good, for now, forever! I could write a song about this course .. but instead I’ll sing your praises and say how you’ve taken the huge job of drafting a novel and made it simple .. well, simpler, because you have the knack of getting right to the heart of what a novel is, what it’s for, how it works as an entity, who inhabits it. About midway through the course I had a personal business crash that required my total attention to fix, and it’s a shame because I was enjoying the forum and taking part in it. BUT I was safe in the knowledge that if I could get back to reality and my life quick enough, I could continue and I have – and completed! I have a deadline to fulfil with my writing group and if I can manage it, I will return to the Forum too before the course ends in a few days. I will undoubtedly be returning for the course on Submission to an Agent but I’m nowhere near ready. Can I just say how helpful it was knowing the course materials would continue to be up on the site as I’ve desperately needed this time.
My only crit would be, and I mean it in a positive way, is that I felt the whole course could have been double the length anyway – as in 3 months, and then another 6 weeks for the materials to be up on the site. Many exercises of ’60 mins’ or ’45 mins’ took days or a whole week! By the way, more expensive courses I’ve taken (e.g. for thousands!) were NOTHING compared to this!! Bless you, and though I wish you EVERY SUCCESS with your own writing, I hope you DON’T STOP DOING THIS!!! A THOUSAND THANKS.
Half of Writers’ HQ
Procrastinator Level: Set up WHQ and had a baby to avoid writing her novel
Half of Writers’ HQ
Procrastinator Level: Set up WHQ and did an MA to avoid writing her novel
Free courses! Free retreats! Pep, vim, gifs, bad literary jokes, and general super cool writerly stuffs.
