Writing a Literary Novel

The course

A novel and writer transformative programme

This immersive, deep-dive course for experienced writers values serious play as the engine of art, and allows space for experimentation and innovation as you progress a novel under the guidance of leading novelist and creative educator, Sarah Moss.

Over eight months, get to know your writing process from the inside out, rethinking approaches and challenging expectations. You’ll learn to ask the right questions to move your novel forward, allowing your tutor to focus on what you really need to know in order to refine and recalibrate your work.

There is space for freedom and wildness in this course – we encourage participants to take creative risks while working within a tight structure that leads to measurable progress. We put peer exchange at the heart of the learning because it is so effective at developing writerly intelligence, so week by week you’ll read and learn from a small group of fellow writers. We hope you will experience a gradual process of iterative transformation in your ideas and writing voice, as you develop a more bold and confident practice as a novelist.

There are eight monthly sessions divided into four weekly parts, running as follows:

Week 1 – Creative Playground
Activities to stimulate your creativity, challenge habits, build writing muscles and inject fun into the process. After completing short practical writing tasks, share thoughts on what you discovered about yourself as a writer and what you can take into your novel. The tutor reflects on your discoveries and breakthroughs.
Weeks 2 and 3 – Focused Writing Time
Two weeks to progress your novel. You could produce new work or build on ideas developed through the playground week – for example, you might rework the start of your novel based on a new voice you discovered in the play. Share 2-6,000 words from your novel each month for peer review. We’ll also learn from a short experimental novel each month. Sarah Moss hosts a live group Zoom call during this time, and there are one-to-one tutorials at set points.
Week 4 – Close-reading Week
Read extracts of your peers’ developing novels and offer responses. The aim is to hone your self-editing skills and use them to reflect on your own work-in-progress. This close work is at least as important to the writerly development of you, the reader as it is to the writer you are critiquing.

You’ll be given a free one-year digital subscription to Granta magazine, as well as access to curated extracts from Granta’s award-winning books, and the magazine, podcast and video archive. Throughout the course, there is regular monthly insight from guest authors and Granta staff through live and pre-recorded Zoom calls.

You’ll finish the course with at least 20-30,000 words of your novel, greater proficiency and confidence in yourself as a writer and editor, plus a new approach to your writing practice that makes you a more self-reliant and original novelist with finishing power beyond this project.

This course requires 10-12 hours work per week. Entry is by application to ensure you get the most out of the course.

Course completion opens up our Alumni Space, which provides ongoing access to industry professionals, including authors, Granta editors and literary agents.

Meet your course director

Sarah Moss

Sarah has designed and taught literature and writing programmes for twenty years. Her work has been listed for prizes including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the Wellcome Prize. She has a BA, MSt. and doctorate from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

In partnership with Granta

Professional Writing Academy works with Granta as education partner, to design and deliver world-class writing courses and nurture new voices and writing talent.

How it works

: We give you the theory in the form of videos, podcasts, written lectures and reading extracts. In the case of our live workshops, this includes a live online seminar.
: You put it into practice by completing the writing assignments.
: You share your work with the small group of fellow writers and the teaching team.
: Your tutor and fellow learners read your work and give professional-style feedback on your submission. Giving feedback notes helps to build your skills as an editor - a critical part of the writing process.
: You reflect on the exercises with the group and share what you’ve learned.
: You use what you learned from the feedback and discussions to review your work and improve it.

Things to know

: Advanced fiction writers

Graduates of MA/MFA programmes

Writers looking for an alternative to an MA/MFA

Novelists emerging from masters-level online learning

Those with an unfinished novel

Writers who have published or are preparing for publication

Practitioners of more literary/experimental fiction

Writers confident with craft skills such as character and setting, looking to be challenged

Anyone who enjoys the discipline of deadlines and peer feedback

Writers who can dedicate 10-12 hours per week for the duration of the course

Writers who want to join a friendly and supportive small group of learners.
: This course allows you to:

Go deeper with your novel-writing, interrogating your voice, motivation and expectations

Push at your own boundaries and those of the form

Explore how serious play can shape your art, and become more comfortable with experiment and risk

Tap into the magic that makes a truly original author

Make substantial progress on your novel. Depending on your starting point, you might complete a partial or complete draft, do a structural edit and rewrite, or reshape the first chapters with a new voice or focus

Leave with at least 20-30,000 words of your novel

Develop greater proficiency and confidence in yourself as a writer and editor

Engage a new approach to practice that helps you grow in confidence and build momentum.
: Session 1: New Approaches

Explore the power of play and metaphor in novel-writing, and find out how collaboration and close-reading can transfigure your creative practice. Leave the session with increased awareness of your current writing process and possible new approaches.

Session 2: Map-Making and Time

Chart your starting and likely end points for the novel, and play around with time. Challenge what you think you know about this novel. Produce a map for your novel, reflect on your approach to time, and gain necessary distance from your writing. Meet with Sarah Moss for a one-to-one tutorial.

Session 3: Realism and Other Stories

Reassess your approach to realism and your take on reader-expectations. From this month onwards, we will take apart a bold contemporary novel as we examine the session topics. Develop greater awareness of your relationship with your reader. From this month onwards, we will take apart a bold contemporary novel as we examine the session topics. This session focuses on Sharks in the Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn.

Session 4: Portaiture

Experiment with new ways to depict people in your novel, thinking about psychology, action, viewpoints and retrospection. How do you create genuine, true-to-life characters that feel emotionally resonant? We will read and learn from Weather by Jenny Offill.

Session 5: Midpoint

Looking back, looking forward. Many projects slow in the middle. It can be exciting to recognise the moment of change at this point as well as the importance of perseverance in long-form prose. For this and future projects, how can you learn to distinguish a rough patch from an impassable bog, and what is the compassionate and constructive response to each? Meet with Sarah Moss for a one-to-one tutorial, reflect on your progress, and learn from Spent Light by Lara Pawson.

Session 6: Jeopardy

Become more clear-thinking in how you use tension and pace in your novel, and play with their effect on your reader. We will look at balancing tension, pace and patience, and read and reflect on We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Attend a group Zoom call with a guest author.

Session 7: Endings

How can we innovate with endings, and how can we reach beyond the need for archetypes and meaning, aiming instead for wildness and freedom? We will focus on the endings of all our chosen novels. There will be a group Zoom call with a Granta editor.

Session 8: Revising, Rewriting

What makes a confident writer and self-editor? How does prose become ‘exquisite’? Discover editing without hurting, and how to maintain momentum after the course ends. Meet with Sarah Moss for a final one-to-one tutorial, and participate in a group Zoom call with a guest literary agent.

Publishing & Author Guests

Throughout the course, enjoy exclusive video interviews, podcasts and transcripts of conversations between Granta editors and authors. More information coming soon!
: Our courses and training are carefully designed to support accessible and inclusive learning.

The course is divided into monthly sessions, released week-by-week.

There’s no need to log on at a set time. You can work through the learning materials whenever suits you, day or night, wherever you are in the world. Just complete the assignments and join forum discussions by the session deadline. This asynchronous learning experience is supplemented by monthly live Zoom group calls with your tutor and guests, and regular one-to-one Zoom tutorials.

Our teaching method is based on the science of active learning: you read/listen/watch, try out, share and reflect. It’s a social experience – you become part of a small group, feeding back on each other’s writing to build a supportive bunch of readers you trust. Find out more here.
: Join the Granta alumni community

After finishing your course, you can join our online alumni community – a friendly group of writers supporting each other as they continue to explore and develop their writing. There’s no cost for this.

It’s easy to access via the online classroom, where you can:

Pitch book-length manuscripts to guest agents: agents are invited to access an exclusive online pitching forum for our alumni, where you can upload a book proposal and query letter for review. New agents are invited quarterly.

Join monthly live alumni events with expert tutors and industry guests, including agents, editors, publishers, competition and festival organisers, and prizewinning writers. Previous guests include authors Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Miranda France, Juliet Jacques, Marina Benjamin, Emmanuel Iduma, Jennifer Kabat, John Connell and Tom Bullough, alongside Granta editors and literary agents, including Jordan Hill of New Leaf Literary and Matthew Marland of RCW Literary Agency

Revisit all your course materials, including tutor notes, feedback, videos, podcasts and forum discussions

Rejoin your classmates, and continue working together in a private space

Meet alumni from other courses to find beta-readers and share work on our critiquing forum

Network with other writers working in your genre or area of interest

Take part in regular ‘sit and write’ Zoom sessions, to push forward with your work in progress.

Taking things further
If you’d like to continue to another course, please get in touch for advice and more information.

The team

Meet your course team

Sarah Moss

Course Director

More about Sarah Moss