Ultimate Novel Writing Course – Jericho Writers
Jericho Writers
167-169 Great Portland street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF
UK: +44 (0)330 043 0150
US: +1 (646) 974 9060
Beginner/Intermediate

THE ULTIMATE NOVEL WRITING COURSE

From £2950/$3695
Write a publishable novel in a year with the Ultimate Novel Writing Course. Our bestselling online course takes you from first draft, through to publication – with expert support and guidance every step of the way.
April 2024
12 months
online

The course you need if you’re serious about getting published

The Ultimate Novel Writing Course is open internationally to writers from across the globe, and we welcome applications from anywhere in the world.

 

No other writing course offers more. Take advantage of regular 1-2-1 mentoring, weekly tutorials, editorial guidance, literary agent feedback, and exclusive networking events. Start with a work in progress – end with the tools and contacts you need to get published.

 

Applications for the October course open soon.

One in three of our students ended the course with a full manuscript request

Will you be next?

More than an online writing course

We’ll take you from first draft, through to publication – with expert support and guidance every step of the way. Starting with a rough outline, you’ll work closely with our team of renowned authors to plan, write, and edit your manuscript over the course of a year – and at the end you’ll walk away with a polished novel and comprehensive submission package. No other course in the world offers this level of support, guidance, or opportunities to help you get your work discovered.

Our connections are yours

We’ve partnered with top literary agencies Watson, Little and Howland Literary Agency to give them an exclusive first look at our Ultimate Novel Writing Course students’ submissions. If you have a finished novel by the end of the course, we’ll send your submission pack to the agency, with the guarantee that an agent will read your work. You’ll receive personal feedback to help you refine your manuscript and give you a head start on your agent search. Find out more in the course brochure.

Get your work discovered

Make sure your words are seen by the right people! At the end of the Ultimate Novel Writing Course, we include a sample of each student’s work in an anthology which is sent to our database of top literary agents, including Howland Literary, Watson, Little, Peters Fraser + Dunlop, Madeleine Milburn, The Soho Agency, and more. Last year, more than 30% of our students received a full manuscript request from the anthology alone, so what are you waiting for?

Invest in Your Writing: Book A Call

Talk with our team to find out how this course could help your book get published. 

Meet Your Tutors

Meet your tutors below! As a student, you’ll be taught by all tutors, each of whom is a renowned author, but one of these will become your Personal Tutor to mentor your throughout the course. Your Personal Tutor will work closely with you one-on-one over the course of the year to perfect your novel. For more information download the brochure.

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Emma Cooper

Emma Cooper

Tutor • UK/Europe

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres
  • Awards

Emma is the author of highly acclaimed book club fiction novels and is known for mixing humour with darker emotional themes. Her debut, The Songs of Us, was snapped up in multiple pre-empts and auctions and was short-listed for the RNA contemporary novel of the year award. Her work has since been translated into seven different languages.

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  • Contemporary fiction
  • Literary fiction
  • Book club
  • Women’s fiction
  • Romance fiction
  • Shortlisted for RNA Contemporary Novel Award
Anna Vaught

Anna Vaught

Tutor • UK/Europe

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

Anna Vaught is an English teacher, mentor and author of several books, including 2020’s novel Saving Lucia and short fiction collection, Famished. 2023 saw Saving Lucia published to national acclaim in Italy as Bang Bang Mussolini, memoir These Envoys of Beauty and the magical realism novel The Zebra and Lord Jones. Anna’s shorter and multi-genre works are widely published in journals, magazines and anthologies.

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Next
  • Literary fiction
  • Contemporary fiction
  • Book club (gothic, magical realism and historic)
  • Speculative fiction
  • Middle grade
  • Young adult
  • Short story collections
  • Autobiographies
Gavin James Bower

Gavin James Bower

Tutor • UK/Europe

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres
  • Awards

Gavin James Bower BA (Hons) PhD FHEA graduated with a degree in History from the University of Sheffield, before working as an editor and publisher in London. He is the author of two novels and one award winning nonfiction title. His journalism has featured in the Guardian, the Independent and Independent on Sunday, the Sunday Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, and BBC Radio 5 Live. He now teaches Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

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Next
  • Contemporary fiction
  • Short story collections
  • Creative non-fiction
  • Society of Authors Award
Holly Seddon

Holly Seddon

Tutor • UK/Europe

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres

Holly Seddon is an international bestselling author and has worked in London as a journalist and editor. She also works with Jericho Writers as an Editor and Mentor. She has an MA in Creating Writing and lives in Kent with her family. Alongside fellow author Gillian McAllister, Holly co-hosts the popular Honest Authors Podcast.

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Next
  • Crime/Thriller
  • Women’s fiction
  • Literary fiction
  • Speculative fiction
  • Historical fiction
  • Narrative non-fiction
Megan Collins

Megan Collins

Tutor • International

  • Bio
  • Books
  • Genres
  • Awards

Megan Collins is the author of a number of psychological thrillers all published by Atria/Simon & Schuster. Megan holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University, and has taught creative writing at both the high school and college levels. Many of her former students have since had their work published and won prestigious writing competitions. Megan is also the managing editor of 3Elements Review, a prompt-based literary magazine.

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Next
  • Mystery
  • Thriller
  • Suspense
  • Women’s fiction
  • Book club
  • Literary fiction
  • Speculative fiction
  • Romance
  • Horror
  • 2022 Barnes & Noble Mystery/Thriller Monthly Pick
  • 2019 Book of the Month Club pick
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Download Brochure

Ready to take your next steps towards publication? Find out everything you need to know about the course, including a full breakdown of pricing and details of how to apply, in our brochure.

UNWC Landing Page prospectus request

Course Syllabus

Month 1: Planning Your Novel

It’s important to have a good outline of your novel’s structure and plot before getting started. This month, we’ll learn how to plan and structure your novel, then put this into action for your own work.

Outcome: Perfect your pitch, get to grips with your plot, and make sure you have a sound structure.
Bonus: Introductory video call with tutors and fellow students.

Month 2: Point of View

How is your novel told? Have you thought about trying out different perspectives, different viewpoints? We’ll explore all the different kinds of point of view, from omniscient to first person, and see how each one can inform our own work.

Outcome: Through learning the benefits and experimenting with different points of view, you’ll perfect your narrator’s voice to enhance and enrich your novel.

Month 3: Setting

It’s time to start writing your novel. This month, we’ll look at how you can maximise the potential of your setting – whether it’s a colony on Mars or a suburban living room.

Outcome: Through understanding the importance of setting, you’ll create a world that the reader believes, giving your text weight, authority, and atmosphere.

Month 4: Character

This month, you’ll learn techniques and tools you can use to strengthen and develop your characters, and how you can ensure that their development links closely to the plot.

Outcome: By the end of the month, you’ll have the tools you need to create three-dimensional characters that your readers will fall in love with (or hate, if that’s your intention!).

Bonus guest tutor session: Join award-winning author, Yvonne Battle Felton, for this special guest webinar exploring how to perfect your characters.

Month 5: Emotions and Senses

Study the art of transferring weight of emotion onto objects and atmosphere. We’ll be looking at short sections of your writing, and how to apply the technique throughout your manuscript.

Outcome: This month will include close paragraph work that will guide you through expressing senses and emotions through your writing.

Month 6: Pacing and Tension

How do you keep your reader engaged? We’ll discover the importance of building tension, no matter the genre.

Outcome: This month, you’ll look at how events and situations can be engineered to leave your readers wanting more.

Month 7: Voice and Style

This is what can really set your work apart from the rest. A well-developed style is like a fingerprint: what can you do to practice yours and make your words flow?

Outcome: You’ll gain the tools to develop your own style and ensure that the voices in your novel are convincing and relatable.

Month 8: Writing a Great Ending

By now, you’ll have a working manuscript and be aware of all the techniques you can use to shape your world. But does it work? We’ll look closely at the plausibility and credibility of your story.

Outcome: Read through what you’ve got so far and learn how to tie everything together with a credible ending.

Month 9: Self-Editing

This month, we’ll look at your manuscript in its entirety and learn how to turn that first draft into a masterpiece.

Outcome: Through self-editing tips and tricks, you’ll learn how to always view your work with a critical eye.

Bonus guest tutor session: Join author and tutor, Debi Alper for a masterclass on self-editing, learning tips and tools to rework your draft.

Month 10: Getting Published

Through detailed tutorials, we’ll learn the art of perfecting your submission package and finding the best agents for your work.

Outcome: By the end of the month, you will have built a strong shortlist of literary agents and have a query letter and synopsis ready to go.

Bonus: Agent one-to-one sessions to get personal feedback on your work. PLUS the opportunity to get direct feedback on your submission pack from agents at our agency partnership.

Month 11: Author-led Marketing and Self-Publishing

Learn the core tools of self-publishing – which also form the basis for any author-led marketing campaign.

Outcome: By the end of this module, you’ll know what it takes to successfully self-publish your work.

Bonus guest tutor session: Ask your burning self-pub questions to indie-expert and hybrid author Debbie Young in an exclusive webinar focused on the indie revolution.

Month 12: End-of-course Networking Events

Join us for a series of events of to celebrate your achievements! Meet your peers and tutors to network with a handpicked selection of industry professionals in-person. You‘ll also get to show off your hard work to literary agents in the end-of-course online showcase.

Outcome: Attend an in-person dinner in either New York or London to meet your peers, network with agents and celebrate! Participate in our online showcase and get your work discovered.

We don’t just teach you how to write. We help you to get published.

We built this course to give you everything you’d get from an MA, alongside a strategic emphasis on how to get published. It’s more industry-focussed, more practical, and has more support with the ‘after’ of writing a book than any other writing course. Alongside weekly online tutorials, you’ll receive one-to-one support, editorial feedback, networking opportunities, and peer-to-peer feedback.

Weekly Tutorials

Detailed weekly tutorials will teach you the craft of professional writing – from plotting, to editing your own writing. You’ll also hear from special guest tutors such as top authors and literary agents.

Mentoring

Your Personal Tutor is here to give you regular personalised feedback on your work. You’ll have monthly one-to-ones throughout the year as your work progresses and you enhance your creative writing skills.

Editorial Feedback

You’ll receive a detailed, full-length editorial report on your manuscript (worth more than £740/$1000!) to help you make your draft the best it can possibly be. You’ll get detailed advice on how to address any problems raised and support to help you implement these changes.

Publication Support

We’ll introduce you to literary agents through one-to-ones and guest webinars, and teach you how to self-publish successfully. You’ll also get a lifetime of ongoing publication support after the course from our team.

Community

You’ll be part of an exclusive student group in our warm online community. You can exchange feedback, ask questions or just hang out with new friends in your own private chat room. Many students have forged friendships that have lasted well beyond the end of the course.

Networking Events

You’ll have the opportunity to attend an in-person networking event in either London or New York, as well as an online showcase with handpicked literary agents in attendance. Your work will also be featured in our end-of-course anthology, which is sent to our whole database of literary agents across the globe.

Please note, certain elements are only included in the FULL course package. More information on what is available in each package can be found here.

Our Success Stories

We’re so proud to see our students’ novels get snapped up by publishers and land in the hands of readers across the globe. Could yours be next?

We’ve helped hundreds of writers achieve their goals

But don’t take our word for it! You can check out what our students have to say about their experiences below.

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The key advantage for me was the insight into the industry. Things like the agent one-to-ones and the partnership are not things you get with most other courses. It’s not a theoretical course (like an MA for instance); it’s a practical course with links into the industry.

Alan Fraser

Alan Fraser

UNWC student 21/22 and author of ‘The Muse of Hope Falls’

I signed up for the Ultimate Novel Writing Course in 2019 and this proved to be one of the best decisions of my writing career.

C.A Lupton

C.A Lupton

UNWC student 19/20 and author of ‘Red Dirt Girl’

The UNWC team is fantastic. Their support and encouragement made all the difference. The structure of the course is brilliant […] If you’re thinking about signing up for the UNWC and wondering if it’s worthwhile: do it! I accomplished so much.

Victoria F

Victoria F

UNWC student

I’ve received four full manuscript requests since finishing the course, including one from an agent who discovered my writing in the UNWC Anthology.

Verity H

Verity H

UNWC student 20/21

Very worthwhile – I certainly wouldn’t have got this far with my novel without it. There’s been some really useful technical guidance and I’ve appreciated being part of the community.

Sophia S

Sophia S

UNWC student 20/21

The Jericho Writers courses team has taken great care of us all throughout the past year. On a personal level, I feel I have benefitted greatly from so many aspects of the UNWC, and the numerous opportunities they have provided us with.

Erik Tyler Adams

Erik Tyler Adams

UNWC student 22/23

My reasons for taking this course are 1) To finish my novel, 2) To improve my writing skills, 3) To learn more about the craft of writing. I feel the course is helping me accomplish those three goals.

Kathleen P

Kathleen P

UNWC student 20/21

My mentoring sessions have been BRILLIANT. Helen is superb: she seems to immediately get what I am trying to do and has lots of helpful suggestions and encouragement.

Joanna, H

Joanna, H

UNWC student 20/21

My mentoring session was very productive. I like Lindsey’s style, she forced me to really think about the structure, characters and motivation within my narrative. She enabled me to see my novel from a different perspective.

Amanda R

Amanda R

UNWC student 20/21

Thanks to your guidance and the material provided, I have achieved exactly what the course had initially promised. […] I am 100% certain that none of this would have happened had I not spent money on the UNWC.

Gizelle K

Gizelle K

UNWC student 20/21

The course has enabled me to develop the characters, conclude a plot plan, decide on narrative voices and I am now developing firm plans for structure to enable me to begin to pull it all together

Ann T

Ann T

UNWC student 21/22

[Jericho has] a wealth of information. It’s quite dangerous, once you’re in for one thing, you end up finding three other things that look interesting. There aren’t enough hours in the day!… Thank you to the team at Jericho.

Louise G

Louise G

UNWC student 21/22

Jericho’s support was instrumental in my agent search. I’m hugely thankful that I had the chance to take this course!

Jack Lutz

Jack Lutz

UNWC student 19/20 and author of ‘London Black’

The structure of the course is brilliant – moving monthly through different focuses such as POV, setting, character, pacing, voice, all the way to endings and publishing.

Victoria F

Victoria F

UNWC student

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Choose the best package for you

The Ultimate Novel Writing Course offers our most comprehensive approach to writing, editing and getting your book published. But, if you’re looking for less personalised feedback and editorial input, you could benefit from our the CORE package. Our team would be more than happy to help you decide the best option for you over the phone.

Ultimate Novel Writing Course: CORE

from £2950 / $3695

Ultimate Novel Writing Course: FULL

from £5445 / $7000
Networking event in London or New York
Inclusion in Anthology
Manuscript Assessment (up to 100k words)
Personalised feedback from our Agency Partners
Monthly 1-2-1 mentoring sessions with Personal Tutor
Access to weekly online tutorials
Access to all lead tutor and guest webinars
Online showcase with literary agents
Access to course content indefinitely
Check in with Jericho Writers team every three months
Agent one-to-one session
One
Two
Premium Membership
1 Year
2 Years
Group workshops with personal tutor
4 hours
22 hours

How can we help?

If you’d like to know more about the Ultimate Novel Writing Course, or any of our other courses book a call with a member of the team at a time that suits you. We’d love to hear from you!

Frequently asked
questions

1

Who is this course for?

This course is perfect for anyone serious about writing a novel and seeing it traditionally published, or successfully self-published. Ideally, students on the course have already started working on a draft they’d like to write and polish. The mentoring aspect of the course will be completely personalised to you, so we’ll work from whatever your starting point happens to be, and provide you with all the writing tips and advice you need.

2

Do you handle all genres? What about creative non-fiction? What about children’s and Young Adult?

We warmly welcome writers in almost every genre, from very literary to commercial. Our tutors work across a diverse list of categories, including both creative non-fiction and fiction writing. We certainly also welcome writers of YA and MG. If you write for much younger children, the course may be less suitable – but feel free to ask. 

3

What is the application process?

We invite writers from all backgrounds to apply to this course, whatever their educational backgrounds or prior achievements. We do, however, ask that all applicants are genuinely committed to a career as an author.  

If you feel this best describes you, please apply now

We aim to respond to all applications in 3 weeks. All work will be forwarded to the course tutors who will make the final decision on entry, according to which writers they feel show commitment to the course and would benefit the most from the course components.

If you have any questions about the application process, you can email us on courses@jerichowriters.com, or book a call to speak with us.

4

I have a full time job / family commitments. Can I do this course in my spare time?

Yes. We purposely designed this course to fit in around your other commitments; flexibility is one of the many benefits of online novel writing courses. Bear in mind that we will be asking you to write (or rewrite) your novel, as well as engage with teaching material and other online/offline events throughout the year. We recommend approximately 10 hours should be spent on the course each week to get the most from it. If you think you can manage that, we’ll be happy to accommodate you – and of course we’ll be as flexible as we can be.

5

Do I need to be available at set times every week?

For the most part, you’ll be able to work to a schedule that suits you. There will be regular Zoom calls but these will always be recorded so, if you can’t make the live session, you’ll be able to watch the replay. The only truly fixed part of the calendar is the in-person event at the end of the course. Please note, the ticket to the in-person event is only complimentary in the FULL package, and students will be required to pay for their own travel to and from, including any additional expenses incurred.

6

Will the online elements of the course be easy to use?

We use an easy-to-navigate online teaching platform, which is incredibly user-friendly so you’ll have no difficulty understanding what to do. You’ll also have access to the teaching platform forums indefinitely, so your course friendships can long outlast the end of the course. If you do need help at any stage, we’ll be on hand. 

7

Do you have bursaries available?

While we don’t have a full bursary available for this course, we want to help great writers get published, and if your personal circumstances make it impossible for you to fund the full price of this course, please get in touch. We can’t make any promises, but we’ll always do what we can.

This year we have also introduced CORE – a more affordable version of the course that includes the course content, the end-of-course showcase and one agent one-to-one session, but without the intensive mentoring and some of the additional benefits you get from the full course.

Not the right course for you?

We have online courses for every stage of your writing journey.

JUMPSTART YOUR NOVEL

JUMPSTART YOUR NOVEL: FROM £900/$1151

Take the first step towards writing your book with this interactive course. Suitable for new writers. From £900/$1151. 8-week course.

CREATIVITY FOR WRITERS

CREATIVITY FOR WRITERS: FROM £495/$633

Harness your creativity in this short course designed for intermediate writers. From £495/$633. 4-week course.

FICTION FOUNDATIONS

FICTION FOUNDATIONS: FROM £495/$633

Ideal for writers at the start of their journey wanting to learn the basics. From £495/$633. 6-week course.