Inside the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme: With Bursary Winner Rachel McLaughlin (Month 6)

Month 6 is upon us! This is both an exciting and scary thing because it means we’re officially halfway through the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme (UNWP) and while I’ve learnt heaps of stuff, there is still so much yet to do. As a chronic overthinker, I’m already ruminating about how I’ll miss the structure of learning and the regular check-ins with my wonderful tutor group when this is all finished. But there’s a while to go yet, so back to business… 

I recently wrote a post on socials about manuscripts behaving badly. But I’m starting to wonder if being a writer is less like navigating a toddler in the terrible twos and more like being a doctor. Yes, a bit random I know (and no, I have no medical experience), but hear me out on this one… 

I had the pleasure of meeting up with some of my lovely tutor group a few weeks ago and we had a great chat about some of our biggest takeaways from the UNWP so far. For me, my biggest learning is not at all what I expected. We’ve covered bucket loads on how to construct a novel with the most effective POV, the best setting, the most interesting characters (the list goes on). But the thing I’ve developed the most is my ability to spot what ISN’T working in a story. My diagnostic skills, if you will (you see the doctor link now). This might sound counterintuitive, since we are supposed to be learning about what does work for our manuscripts, but actually it’s been the most helpful thing for me as I enter into the dreaded editing stage. 

I think as readers, all writers start with some sort of story diagnostic ability before we even put the first word on the page. We know what sounds good, what makes sense, when a book works for us and when it doesn’t. What I found harder to determine, until more recently, was the WHY. Why was I finding it hard to root for a character? Why were things moving too quickly? Why did I feel removed from a scene? The answer to these has come through feedback.  

We’re now at a stage in the course where we share an extract from our manuscript and workshop it live as a group. This might sound scary (and initially it was) but now I find it to be one of the most helpful learning tools we have. The curse of being a writer is being too close to your own work. You simply know too much. Other writers spot things you can’t and on the flip side, you can see things in their writing that they may be too subjective to pick up. Feedback given and received on the forum for our weekly homework has been superb at helping develop this diagnostic skill. The monthly tutor feedback from Holly has also been fantastic for this.  

Coming into the start of this month, I’d given my manuscript a full review and decided that, unfortunately, it was lacking tension in places (a big problem, since tension is must for psychological thrillers). But as luck would have it, this month’s topic is all about – yep, you guessed it – pacing and tension. 

So far, we’ve thought about how to withhold and reveal information, how to foreshadow and how to raise the stakes. These lessons have helped me come up with a solution to what was lacking; namely, a tension-producing subplot that can really make things difficult for my characters (mwahahaha). What was especially encouraging was that I received my tutor Holly Seddon’s feedback on my latest submission and her perspective on what needed work aligned with mine – i.e. more tension needed! And yes, okay, this means more work but importantly, it told me I’m getting the hang of figuring out what isn’t working and, better yet, how to fix it.  

So, what is my key takeaway for this month?  

Work with fellow writers!

I could spend ages talking about the importance of a writing network not just for craft development but for wellbeing and support too. But here, what I’m really getting at is the importance of reviewing and giving feedback on other people’s work. It’s much easier to be objective with someone else’s writing and that gives you the opportunity to hone your diagnostic skill. It also helps them out (yay) and if they offer to review yours, then you get some helpful feedback too. A win-win!  

So go, support your fellow writers and really fine-tune your book diagnostic skills in the process. Til next time, my fellow story doctors…. 

Want to follow in Rachel’s footsteps? You can learn more about the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme and how it can help you on your writing journey.