There’s no getting away from it. Writing a novel is a lot of work.

Even if you’ve done it many times before, it’s easy to lose faith when the first 26,592 words look worthless (hello, wall).

There’s a reason that deadlines are a writer’s best friend, but wouldn’t it be even better to do it with a small team of fellow writers all working towards the same deadline?

And what if you could have all of that, plus guidance and support from people who know your work and are behind you all the way?

And if you could get all of that online, so that it fits into your life? Perfect.

Think of us as your guides, cheerleaders and personal trainers. Charlie runs Urban Writers’ Retreat, and has been helping writers apply bum to chair and just do it  since 2008. Amie is an author, an editor working with small publishing houses and independent authors, and director of an independent press.

We’ll break the process of writing a first draft down to make it easier, then guide you through with loads of tools and support along the way.

We only work with small groups of writers to make sure there’s personal accountability. Did we mention the deadlines?

Carrot and stick, folks, carrot and stick.

4-week plotting bootcamp

Make sure your plot and characters work before you start writing, with tasks that explore everything from character, point of view and setting to conflict, structure and subplot.

You’ll then write a plot outline – your map to save you from the swamp of saggy middles – and a plan for your writing months complete with those all-important targets.  Everything feels much easier with a sensible, workable plan in place, and if you ever get lost during writing this will be the map that you use to get back on-track.

Plot outline review

Once you’ve done all this work your plot should be pretty solid, but to make sure it is you’ll get a review of your outline from Amie, our editor to make sure your character and story arcs make sense and will satisfy readers.

Personal accountability

We are now entering a no excuses zone! Nothing motivates a writer like a deadline, so you’ll set your own targets and submit your words to us monthly. We don’t read or judge them, but submitting your words is a non-negotiable condition of the Six Month Novel. And yes, we chase if they don’t appear in our inbox!

Weekly motivational emails

Every week you’ll get an email from us to help you keep going. Some will be pep talks, some will discuss the monthly theme, and we may even occasionally tell you to eat cake or take a day off.

Weekly accountability check-in

Every week you’ll keep yourself on track by setting goals in the forum, setting goals for the week based on your monthly targets and cheering on your fellow writers.

4-week editing bootcamp

We don’t want you to just spew out words for a few months then throw them away in horror. We’ll help you identify and fill in big-picture gaps before you gradually hone and polish your first 3,000 words.

You’ll leave with a system and tips for editing the rest of your manuscript and a plan for making it happen, and we’ll also cover publishing options so you know where you’re going next.

Comprehensive professional edit of your first chapter

You will submit an edited version of your first 3,000 words at the end of the six months for review by Amie (who is a professional editor in real life).

When you click the enroll button, you’ll be taken to an application form. 

We can only work with a small group of writers to ensure that we can support you personally, and we work with you end to end, from idea to a finished draft (and beyond, in the editing bootcamp). This is a big commitment for both you and us, so we want to make sure that the places go to writers who are serious about finishing a novel and that we feel we can genuinely help. We don’t want you to waste your money on something that isn’t right for you any more than you do.

Things we’ll ask for on the application form include:

• Brief synopsis of your novel, 250 words max (see below)
• Confirmation that you’ve done/can do all of your research in advance
• What genre and audience you’re aiming for

We’d also like to know:

• A little about your main characters
• A little about your setting
• What your fears and concerns are, what’s holding you back

The Mini Synopsis

We don’t expect your ideas to be fully-formed yet (what would be the point in a plotting bootcamp if it was perfect?) but we do want you to have given it some serious thought, and to see that your idea is or can become a workable plot.

This is 1-2 paragraphs (around 300 words please) outlining the story. Tell us the big-brush strokes of your story, but make sure to include: who the main character is, what they want, what the central conflict/question is, who/what stands against them and how it ends. The more information about what actually happens within that 300-word limit, the better. You’ll have a separate space to tell us more about the characters, so focus on the story here.

Rules:

1. Please don’t send us 800 words. 300 should be enough.
2. PLEASE TELL US HOW IT ENDS. We aren’t agents and we aren’t picking your book up off a shop shelf. We don’t want to be tempted, we want to know about your story construction, so we need to know the ending.

The Six Month Novel is everything we wanted someone to give us to help us to the end of a first draft.

We had both seriously considered doing a creative writing MA, but realised that we really needed to learn by doing, and that actually completing a novel, not just writing the first 20,000 words then abandoning it, was what we really wanted. We looked around but couldn’t find anything that explicitly helped writers finish that critical first draft. So we made it.

Like many writers, we spent years getting in our own way, getting discouraged, feeling like there was no point in finishing because it was bound to be rubbish. We still feel that way sometimes. But now we know that expecting yourself to overcome all of the practical problems and insecurities of writing through sheer force of will is ridiculous, and that it’s much easier to keep going with the right support.

This is perfect for you if

• You’re longing to write this novel.
• You know you’re capable of doing the work and dedicating the time. In fact, you’ve probably completed novel drafts before or even had something published… but it’s still daunting.
• You know you can do it, but seem to have lost faith in yourself. You’re struggling to start your next project. You’d love a little extra help and support.
• You’ve done all of your research, or can complete it by the start date.
• This makes you think: accountability, yesssssssssss! If it sounds awesome then it’s probably right for you.

We’re not right for you if

• You’re already half way through your draft; this is only for novels at the planning stage (or up to 15,000 words in at most). Mentoring might suit you better if you’re a long way in.
• You don’t like planning. If you always stall though, it might be worth reconsidering your approach?
• Your creative process is to circle back and perfect small sections before you move on and you are able to finish work this way. If it works for you, don’t force yourself into the ‘write fast’ box. If you aren’t finishing, we’d suggest not editing as you go…
• Your aim is to write a Great Literary/non-narrative work. Nobody aims to write bad fiction, but if this is your prime concern then our draft-fast-and-lock-up-your-editor approach may not work for you, Have you considered mentoring, or an MA?
• You don’t have the time. You’ll probably need to do equivalent to an hour of work every day. Yes. Every day. There are no shortcuts, 
• You have serious mindset/emotional blocks stopping you writing. Trying to logic or power through this stuff without having addressed the root causes just doesn’t work, and you’ll end up disappointed. Only join once you’re ready – we’ll still be here.

Only you can decide that. Think about it this way… how long have you been wanting to write that novel? We’re willing to bet the answer is years. Are you going to actually sit down and write it in the next six months? If not, how much do you want to? Enough to put your money where your mouth is and finally commit?

You need to think about whether this is the right approach for you too, whether you want to be part of a group, whether planning well then writing relatively fast will benefit you, whether you’re able to just write without stopping for another round of research, whether you like having submission deadlines. Because these are all things we will expect you to do, so, you know, it’s probably better on balance if that sounds great rather than awful.

We think the Six Month Novel is pretty reasonable. The alternatives that we’ve considered ourselves in the past, including postgrad degrees and courses with big names, cost many thousands of pounds, may take years to complete and tend to focus on being taught how to write rather than actually sitting down and writing a novel. Sometimes you’re only asked to prove you’ve written 20,000 or 30,000 words, and people tend to run out of steam and find it really hard to write those extra 50,000 words once that support is over. We think that what you’ll get from a focus on actually completing that draft is priceless, and that pushing through and reaching the end is one of the best ways you can learn and improve your writing.

But you don’t need us to tell you that. If this isn’t for you then you’ll know, and that’s cool. There are many ways to write a novel and we wish you safe travels, friend. If you secretly reallyreallyreally want to join us though, you’ll already know that too. Maybe you just want a little nudge, or for someone to tell you it’s okay to take your dreams seriously.

If that’s the case, then nudge. We think your dreams matter. You should too.