Heroines Festival Director Sarah Nicholson will take the Masterclass through the process of finding inspirational women’s stories and the structure of a heroine’s journey. Novelist Pamela Freeman will take guide participants through the process of researching and developing authentic characters and plot. And finally, publisher Bernadette Foley will give advice on editing, working with publishers, and how to perfect your pitch.
Develop your novel
Award-winning author Pamela Hart will guide you through the process of developing a novel from that first idea through to first draft. She will suggest a variety of ways you can take your inspiration and turn it into a complex, satisfying story. Pamela will help you trouble-shoot any writing problems which are stopping you from achieving your writing goals, including planning/pantsing, character development, and plotting through character interaction.
You will come away from this session with a number of processes which you can apply to your own writing to create the story you want.
Have you finished your manuscript and now you’re wondering what to do next?
Experienced publisher and editor, Bernadette Foley, will take you through the steps of reviewing and editing your own work. She’ll suggest ways to bring your manuscript to the attention of publishers and agents, which include the standard submissions process as well as entering competitions and submitting work for mentioning programs. She will explain the acquisitions’ procedure in a publishing company and what happens in the weeks of silence after you have submitted your work. Very importantly, Bernadette will help you develop your pitch so you can tell people about your work, capture their attention and entice them to read it, all in just a few sentences. Pitching sessions are now part of a writer’s life and to make them work for you, you need to be prepared – and stay calm!
You will come away from this session with an overview of the commissioning process and a realistic plan to follow to improve your writing and perhaps even secure a publishing deal.
