Create a Big Story.
The Classic Course.
Our Classic Course will help you to start writing a book based on the secrets of the bestselling authors of all time. Learn the ingredients for story success and get started writing for adults or children. Unlock the story inside of you.
Start planning your book today.
Plan Your Story.
We'll combine the ingredients of the bestselling books of all time with your own unique life experience to create a powerful, original story. We're going to dig deep into the first stories that moved you to unearth the story only you can tell.
Learn the plot elements used by bestselling authors JK Rowling, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and more. You’ll leave the course with your story idea and plot mapped out, ready to write the book you're meant to write.
Create your book idea in 45 gripping lessons on this creative writing course. Suitable for all writers in any genre, including short stories.
Featured in The Independent's Top Picks for Summer.
Susie Bower's novel 'The School for Nobodies' is featured in The Independent's top ten picks, ranked alongside all-time classics such as The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
'This accomplished book clips along at a lively pace from the very first sentence: "I'm going to tell you a secret. Until the day of my tenth birthday, I had no name of my own." Ten-year-old Flynn's early life is full of mysteries: she's always had vivid dreams about the circus and has a scar that reaches from eye to chin. She's packed off to a boarding school for misfits by her cold and indifferent adoptive parents, kicking off a rip-roaring adventure featuring a lost twin, circus tricks and shape-shifting.'
Our graduate, Susie took the Classic course, the Ninety Day Novel course and our Editing course and The Novelry pitched her manuscript to our literary agency friends at Peters, Fraser + Dunlop.
From an interview with the Bath Children's Novel Award. “I joined an amazing online writing community called The Novelry. Up until then, I’d only written full-length fiction for adults but had got to the point where I’d lost momentum and couldn’t finish anything. I wailed to Louise at The Novelry that I had no ideas and she assured me that after the first week of The Novelry’s Classic course – I’d have something. She was right.”
A “Mind Blowing” Course.
Published author and University Creative Writing lecturer, Sara Bailey.
It's such an extraordinary and effective course that we have literary agents lapping up the works of the graduates of the unique course with a cult following.
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“Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course, but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards.”
JRR Tolkien
Delve into the secrets of the all-time bestsellers with over 45 exciting, inspirational lessons served as a box set.
(You'll be on the edge of your seat in anticipation of the next lesson.)
The Classic is a stand-alone course to take at your own speed in your own time. The lessons may take you 20 to 30 minutes to read, and the prompts or exercises can take as long as you want to give them. They'll certainly get you thinking, and creating! The course was created to help you come up with a big story idea. No previous experience or written work in progress needed. Here's where your story starts.
Once Upon A Time.
You will learn the great story structure that is the blueprint for the bestselling classics. Get a working model to use to start planning your story immediately. Find out where ideas come from and how to develop them from something small and innocent into something exciting with commercial potential.
Find the Story.
Draw upon your own experience to create the main characters of your big story. Put ‘memory’ at the service of ‘desire’ in a combination commonly known as ‘imagination’. Exercises that will help you discover that you have all you need inside of you. So many great stories originate from the author's wound.
World-Building.
What are the things you should include to create a reading experience that works a powerful magic? These lessons examine the mechanics of the epic adventure - the cosy start, the portal, the garden, the guide, temptation, decency, the battle, treasure, and noble sacrifice.
Heroes & Villains.
In adult fiction, the conflict is within, in the classic bestsellers it's externalised and there are clear agents of good and evil. You'll need the 'special' hero or heroine, singled out by fortune or misfortune, and villains who exude charisma. Learn why they need to have something in common and how to pit apparent opposites against each other for page-turning excitement.
The Reader.
You are your first reader. Locate the child within and draw upon your own favourites and heroes. Spend time with the old you. Remember the person you wanted to be. Attribute parts of you to your characters. Discover how to take readers on a thrilling adventure whilst keeping them safe in your story.
Become an Author.
Find out how the great authors told their stories, and why. Walk in their footsteps and plunder their toolkits. The sources of inspiration and the working methods are revealed. Leave the course with a big idea, colourful material, a plan, a plot and the confidence that you’re about to write the book of your life.
Our Reviews.
Read our testimonials and reviews. There's no course like this. It will change the way you write for good.
“This course will change your life.” Louise Goulding.
“No other course comes close to this.” Anna Pye.
“It was unlike any other writing course I've done, delving deep into the psyche of the writer that you are: what drives you, what your fears and hopes are, and how you will translate that into the characters in your story.” Xiuhui Lee.
“More Than a Writing Course.”
“Whether you are writing for adults or children it sprinkles glitter over necessary rules and gift wraps essential tools, then Louise waves her wand and sets you free. In one of the lessons Louise writes “It's about life within life, and reclaiming our lives for ourselves through our senses and ennobling our purpose. ” This is more than a writing course this is a course on how to enrich your life by really seeing what is in front of your eyes. And once Louise shows you how to see it you can never unsee it.” Trisha Smith, South Africa.
“The Classic course has given me more than I ever thought it could.”
“There were several points of the course that unlocked something or gave me an incredible high-five moment! This course has taken my idea from a single thought to a fully-formed concept, and something that I wholeheartedly want to pursue.” Sophie Taylor.
“The Classic course is rich with inspiration and guidance.”
“A great course to explore if you want to write any type of story, especially if you don't yet have a developed idea or concept. I have a notebook full of notes and plans, and a clear idea of how to move forward with my writing. This is not a watered down, lightweight course on writing a classic. It is rich with inspiration and guidance that will help you create a plot and process to write your story.” Amy Landisman.
“Five Stars.”
“I'd recommend the Classic course at The Novelry. Reading familiar and new classic books with a focus on style and content made me think about my own style of prose and how I could look at improving it. I have already made changes to the novel. I have come away from this course with a renewed vigour and excitement about my novel.” Hemmie Martin.
Gift The Classic Course.
( It's so easy, and such a kind and good gift to give.)
Send the course to someone special. Simply purchase the course, then email us at [email protected] with your friend's email address and we will send a personalised gift card from you to your lucky friend with a password for access to the course.
As Featured In:
“The ultimate productivity hack.” Forbes Magazine.
“One of the top ten creative writing holidays in the world.” The Telegraph.
“A place for writers to develop their work quickly.” The Bookseller.
“The best course to write your novel.” The Bookfox.
Rated "Excellent" on Trustpilot.
English as a Second Language?
Our online course content can be read aloud in multiple languages using a natural and engaging voice to transform your reading experience. We offer our pages in 99 languages; with speak translated text aloud in 40 languages. You will find a SPEAK button in your course and you can use it to start the text reading aloud to you. You can change the speed, and the language of playback. You can magnify text too. Simply perfect. Read more and try it for yourself here.
We believe in digital inclusion - where life stage, visual impairment, dyslexia or dis/ability aren’t barriers to learning to write a novel. Our courses are suitable for writers at all stages of their writing. Lessons are given by video and text and can be viewed on any internet-connected device - desktop computer, tablet, smart phone - through our website or our app for Apple iOS and Android.
Any questions? Try our FAQ page here.
Or contact us here.
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