FAQs

Should I really expect to write well when I have had little or no writing experience?

Certainly. You have a wealth of personal experience to enable you to create plots, characters and background. We’ll show you how to bring all of this experience to bear in a professional manner.

How can a writing course really help me?

Like most creative work, writing requires a smaller percentage of inspiration than application and technique. Our courses will teach you these skills and show you how techniques vary depending on your choice of genre.

As I’m a very busy person, will I be able, for example, to write a novel in my spare time?

This is one of the surprising professional secrets of novel writing—it doesn’t actually take so very long to write a novel. If you write a page a day or six pages at the weekend, you could complete your novel in about a year. Isaac Asimov, for example, wrote well over a hundred novels.

I’ve heard about “vanity publishing” – Is that what this course is all about?

Absolutely not. At the Writing School we don’t encourage this approach. “Vanity publishers”, encourage would-be writers to publish their manuscripts at their own expense. Our mission is to show you how to write work that will be assessed by mainstream commercial publishers on its own merits.

When I publish work, will I have to pay some of my royalties or fees to the school?

Of course not—it’s your work and your money. All we ask is that you let us know about your triumphs. We too would like to feel proud of your achievements.

If I’m working with a tutor, will my ideas be treated in confidence?

Our tutors will handle your work with absolute confidentiality. And don’t worry, they won’t steal your best ideas!