The Advanced Fiction Workshop
A natural continuation for graduates of Writing a Novel, or a great support group for writers who need to really get their head down and get to the end, this fortnightly, six-month course is all about reaching your goal.
Level
What do these levels mean?
Location
Length
- Start Date
-
- Time
- Thursdays, 18:30–21:00
- Application Deadline
- Sunday 07 Sep 2025
Places available
£1950
£1950
£300 / month for 4 months and a £750.00 deposit
View payment options
Time to get to 'The End'
Spend six months in the company of nine fellow workshoppers, getting down to business as you work towards the next draft of your novel. You'll bring newly written or edited material to be critiqued by the group and your tutor every month. And in the meantime, the online classroom will offer prompts and structure to help you to focus your writing time, and ensure you get the most out of the fortnightly sessions.
Sustained, rigorous and constructive feedback on your work with a brilliant tutor is the absolute core of the Faber Academy experience. This course offers just that. You won’t study dialogue or set texts or the elements of writing fiction – you’ll have a grasp of those things already, and be ready to knuckle down and whip your draft into shape. Instead, we'll answer difficult questions – ‘does this work?’; ‘how do I know what to keep and what to discard?’; ‘how should I change this to make it even better?’ – and work together towards the finishing line of a polished draft.
Is this the right course for me?
This is an advanced course that requires you to have some knowledge of the craft of writing fiction. Accordingly, it’s not suitable for writers who would consider themselves complete beginners. It’s an ideal follow-on from our Writing a Novel course but you also don't need to have to have done a course before. But you will have started your novel, be some way into the draft and have some idea of where it's going, and be ready to submit texts for workshopping.
If you’re stuck and need help with how to unstick, if you want encouragement and sustained feedback, if you want to be part of a group that truly understand the ambition of your novel, this is the course for you.
As well as a supportive writing group to help you achieve your writing goals, you'll also receive a place on one of our masterclasses and one of our Industry Days, and be sent two free Faber titles, chosen by your tutor, to support your writing journey.
This course consists of an innovative blend of intense, tutor-led in-person workshops with structured writing time and unsupervised online joint-writing sessions.
The supervised sessions will focus heavily on workshopping one another’s works-in-progress, with every participant having their novel focused upon.
Course Programme
Session 1
Thursday 9 October, 18:30–21:00
Introductory session...
Session 2
16, 18:30–21:00
Workshop with Gillian Slovo...
Session 3
23 October, 18:30–21:00
Online Writing Room...
Gillian Slovo
Gillian Slovo has published thirteen novels, a family memoir and has also written four verbatim plays. She started in crime...
More About This TutorHow to Apply
Places on this course are limited and keenly contested, so you'll need to apply. When doing so, we'll ask you to provide two documents:
Covering letter
Reading your application, we're looking to get a sense of you as a writer and as a member of the group. As such, we don't have specific requirements from your covering letter, but it's a good opportunity to tell us what you want to get out of the course, what sort of writing experience you've had, why you've chosen us and why you've decided to do it now.
Prose sample (2,000 words max)
Send us up to 2,000 words from your manuscript – this must be from the novel you'll be working on during the course.
Submit your application
That's it! We'll aim to respond to all applications within ten days of the application deadline.
Gillian Slovo is an exceptional tutor. She creates a free space to discuss ongoing writing. Her comments were always constructive and lead to better writing.
Location
The Bindery
51 Hatton Garden
London EC1N 8HN
How to get here
Faber’s office, The Bindery, is well connected by public transport, with Farringdon Station just five minutes’ walk away, and stops for several bus routes in the area too. If you’re coming from outside of London, the office is a short bus or taxi journey from Kings Cross, Euston and St Pancras stations.
Browse the Reading Room
From author interviews and writing tips to creative writing exercises and reading lists, we've got everything you need to get started – and to keep going.
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