Have you started your book in the right place? Are you including information vital to you, the author, but not needed by the reader? Is it clear in every chapter what your protagonist needs, what they do to get it and what gets in their way?

This session is designed to ensure that each of your chapters has the essential content to make up the ‘narrative triangle’, and that your pacing is spot on, with no faltering in the narrative drive.

Creating convincing and engaging characters is vital to the success of your novel. The reader must see them changing and really care what happens to them. In this session, we’ll teach you the techniques to ensure you know your characters inside out, and can bring them alive as characters-in-action.

When you submit your MS to an agent, they can tell at a glance if it’s worth their time reading on. More than any other single issue, they’ll base their assessment on voice. Whether you’re writing in the first or third person, creating an engaging voice and getting it right is essential. This session gives you the tools to check whether you’re there yet or not. (And if you don’t know what voice is, this week is essential!)

Novels are the only narrative form that can go deep inside fictional characters’ heads and see the world through their eyes. Sometimes you may want the reader to share your protagonists’ perceptions and empathise with them. Other times, you might choose to be more remote and objective. But how do you know which technique to use, and when? This session shows you how to make those decisions and also move between POVs if you need to.

You might have a compelling story to tell with sizzling characters, but if you don’t get the words right how will you engage the interest of your reader? Does your prose have a pleasing rhythm, appropriate for the content? Are you tagging every verb with an adverb? Are you ‘telling’ when you should be ‘showing’? In this session, we place a piece of your prose under the microscope, examining it in detail. We look at where your strengths lie, and which areas need improvement.

What area of your book concerns you most? Are you uneasy about a certain aspect of character development? Maybe there’s a plot device that you suspect feels contrived. Or perhaps you’re not confident that you’ve really nailed a particular voice. In this session, we ask you to focus on an aspect of your own book that you’d like feedback on.