The Sign You’ve Been Waiting For

Missed out on the deadline for our Summer ’22 Ultimate Novel Writing Course? You’re in luck as we have just opened applications for our next course – kicking off in October 2022 – and you can save 10% if you apply before 25 July. Below, course alumni and current UNWC moderator Verity Hicks shares her experience taking her novel from first draft to submitting to agents.  

The Sign You’ve Been Waiting For | Verity Hicks Takeover

There is never a good time to write a novel and that is a universal fact. However, when I watched my friends depart for University and I stayed resolutely in the same place, I decided the time had come. I attempted the first draft (it was awful, understandably) and I had to fight the perfectionist in me to not give up. I’d tried on my own, I reasoned, so now it was time to find someone to help me. Enter, Jericho Writers. 

How I Found the Course  

I’d used Jericho Writers before for a Manuscript Assessment (a fab service all you writers need to check out). I appreciated their content and their honesty with it; it was a team of writers/book lovers helping like-minded people. When I received an email asking, “Do you want to be a published author?” I had a feeling Jericho would be the only one able to help me achieve it. I was prompted to download the prospectus for the Ultimate Novel Writing Course and as the pink and black programme filled my screen there was a cosmic sense that this email was meant for me (never mind that I was part of their mailing list).  

The Mechanics 

Ultimate Novel is a year-long course, structured around starting with the rough bones of a story and finishing with a full manuscript ready for publication. Daunting? Yes. It was made worse when I sat in my introductory tutor call to listen to the achievements of my fellow mentees and all I had to offer was a few pages of a manuscript and a vague idea of my story. I hung up wondering if I’d swam a little too out of my depth.  

But then the course started, and I realised Jericho had created a course for everyone. Writers with the tools but not knowing how to wield them, to the self-published who fancied their chances at the traditional publishing route. Split into your tutor groups you cover every aspect of a novel, including whole months dedicated to publishing and self-editing.  

It was easy enough to fall into the routine of (voluntarily) posting homework once a week, reading your fellow mentee’s work and having a virtual sit down with your tutor once a month to chat about your writing, the course and in our case, Love Island. And that manuscript assessment I mentioned earlier? All a part of the course! Though it felt like handing over my diary for judgment, I finally learnt that feedback really is a writer’s best friend.  

Your Cosmic Sign  

You will not find a more personalised course and one that shows its successes. The manuscript I finished on the course I sent on submission at the beginning of this year. I’ve now had four full manuscript requests from agents, and an invitation to submit to an agent at Curtis Brown after the UNWC 20/21 anthology was published.  

I’m very lucky I now get to work with Jericho and the current UNWC students. I see first-hand how much writers improve, even those who think they have nothing left to learn. There’s a  thrill in getting an email from a student whose book is now on an Amazon bestseller list or has been picked up by an agent.  

To all of you who have been sitting on a story for a long while and wondered when you’d have the chance to write it: here’s your cosmic sign. 

Verity Hicks  

Verity is part of our Writer Support team and is a moderator for the UK and Europe Ultimate Novel Writing Course. As an alumni of the 20/21 Ultimate Novel Writing Course, she has personal experience using Jericho for her first novel, which she is currently querying with agents. She is studying English Literature & Creative Writing at the Open University and working up the courage to start her second novel, all with the help of her two well-meaning cats.

Find her on Instagram at @verity.j.h