Industry Editor-led, Work on Your Novel – 6 months

This course runs over three, eight-week-long terms with two, week-long breaks between terms. This course includes:

• Imogen’s weekly writing activities and industry expertise focusing on the term topic
  • including two/three short recorded videos from Imogen Cooper per week;
• five, hour-long live webinars with Imogen Cooper or Tilda Johnson, Editorial Director;
• two, half-hour live webinars with Imogen or Tilda
  • webinars will be recorded and added to the course material for those who are unable to attend live;
• a one2one with your editor who will review 10,000 words of your novel
  • you may book a report at any time during the course although we recommend booking your one2one towards the end of the second term or in the third term;
• a dedicated Facebook group where Imogen or a member of her experienced editorial team will answer questions and set goals to help you remain accountable as you work on your edits
  • including six, half-hour informal chats hosted on Facebook Rooms.

At Golden Egg, we take you seriously as a writer, so we expect all our students to dedicate time each week to work on their manuscripts. We recommend students spend around five hours per week on their manuscripts, background reading and/or any writing exercises recommended by their editor, in addition to the weekly exercises included in the course content.

Term 1: How Bad is Your Villain?

How bad is your villain? How great is the peril? A look at exciting villains, peril and dramatic tension. In this term you will:

• put your villains and protagonists in the psychiatrist’s chair;
• deepen your understanding of character through studying motivation;
• think about the consequences of failure and make your characters face their worst fears;
• think about what this all means for your protagonist.

Term 2 – Creating a Believable World

It’s vital to create a believable world. If you don’t believe it, your readers won’t! In this term you will:

• create maps of your story world;
• undertake research, create background documents and mood boards;
• study the many dimensions of your story world;
• look at description and how to keep the story moving.

Term 3 – Every Novel is a Mystery Story

Planning your clues and reveals! In this term you will:

• look at seeding and foreshadowing;
• look at your clues, reveals and when to make them;
• study the semiotics of your novel;
• receive a copy of the BookMap© and learn how to track it all!

You must have completed Writing for Children and Young Adults, formerly Story Foundations, to be eligible for this course. Work on Your Novel is run by Imogen Cooper, Founder/Managing Director, and/or Tilda Johnson, Editorial Director.

Your editor will recommend whether this course is the right next step for you. If you are unsure whether to apply or not, please discuss this with them. As your editor, they will know whether your manuscript will benefit from this course or another of our services.

You can pay for this course in one of two ways. Please ensure you select the correct payment method below.

• In full @ £895
  • Your deposit is included
• Via subscription @ £100 p/m over six months
  • A deposit of £295 is required prior to the purchase of the subscription

Next course start date: 5th July 2021

We are here to help you with any course-specific queries via [email protected], however, we cannot advise whether this course is right for you or not. Please contact your editor if you are unsure whether this is the correct next step.