Finished a first draft and looking to whip your novel into shape for submission? Novel Aid is a 10-week course that combines workshops, individual tuition and peer review, and culminates in a public reading. Week by week, with the help of detailed feedback, you’ll polish your draft into a novel that’s ready to send out to agents.
The course
Novel Aid is a personalized, intensive course. If selected (on the basis of your submission), you’ll be one of only four students. The course comprises two one-day (Saturday) workshop sessions, an online forum and bi-monthly 15-minute tutorials. You’ll be expected to read your fellow writers’ first drafts prior to the first workshop. This first workshop will focus on establishing a detailed plan for revision. Subsequently, you’ll be supported through the revision process through the online forum and one-to-one telephone tutorials. Your revised draft will then be submitted for critique in our second all-day workshop in Week 10. The course will culminate in a public reading where contacts and literary figures (agents, publishers and reviewers), as well as friends and family, will get a chance to hear excerpts from your polished draft.
About me
I read English Literature at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and went on to do two MAs one in contemporary literature, ‘Issues in Modern Culture’, at UCL and one in creative writing at Birkbeck. I’ve been teaching creative writing professionally since 2005. In that time I’ve developed and taught courses at both City University and Bishopsgate Institute. More recently I’ve taught workshops and marked novels for City University’s MA in Creative writing (Novels) as well as offering some private mentoring. I published my first novel, Home, in 2008 and am a partner in an independent publishing company, Apis Books. I also have extensive experience of running reading events across the UK through Apis Books, Tales of the DeCongested (a short story reading event that ran in central London for six years), and a new writers event at Broadway Bookshop, Hackney.
Course dates
Novel Aid is currently suspended pending completion of my second novel.
Course fees
£425 to be paid in advance ( you will be notified of this in acceptance email)
How to apply
Applicants should send a synopsis (of no more than 1,000 words) and the first two chapters of their novel to submissions@lattin-rawstrone.com Please attach word or pdf documents and format your work using Ariel font size 12 with a 1.5 line-space.
I trust Rebekah to review my novels because I know she will provide an impressively forensic critique of my writing. She’s able to make practical suggestions about how I might fix any problems with my novel, which is a rare talent. Rebekah is friendly with a lovely sense of humour, which makes working with her really good fun. If you’re looking to improve your writing style, your plot or your story structure, I’d strongly recommend that you consult Rebekah.
Former mentee, Kati Rynne
Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone’s course at City University was the best I’ve ever done. I know others feel the same. High-level and demanding without being uncomfortably pressurised, the course helped me make significant advances in my writing. The course balanced attention to detail with an appreciation of depth; it balanced experimentation with the conventions of success; and it allowed for discussion as well as providing valuable information. Rebekah herself was always clear, concise and knowledgeable – especially when the rest of us weren’t. And she created a very successful group dynamic, balancing her urging of us to be better with an understanding of why we didn’t always succeed. I’d recommend working with Rebekah to anyone.
Former Student, Leslie Mapp