Our story
The fiction writing school built by a novelist, for novelists.
We are working writers and editors who love the business of storytelling. We bring books to life, and it’s a privilege to be there for every milestone from first idea to finished novel.
How it all began
In the spring of 2017, author Louise Dean had a problem: the loneliness of the long-term writer. Here she explains why she started The Novelry and what it has come to mean to writers.
Could we write together?
After almost 20 years working solo, with four novels published, I began to wonder why of all the arts and crafts, writing was an exception to the benefits of collaboration. All those years, I’d been writing in the dark, and when I finally got some feedback from my agent or an editor, it came late in the day when the novel was done! I felt I could use some company while I was writing. I was tired of writing alone.
So I decided to write a different way, with other writers writing alongside me to help each other stay on track; to share the journey and have fun. The Bookseller publicized my experiment and some 200 writers offered to join me. For the next 90 days I wrote ‘live’ and put together the materials for what would become our first online writing course, The Big Write.
I recorded the videos for the course daily as I wrote my novel, simply telling people what I was doing and when, and sharing the creative process. I’d been figuring out how writers write for more than 20 years, and en route I consulted with great writers, living and dead — how Kerouac drops you into a scene and makes it all feel familiar, how Muriel Spark uses flash-forwards, how J.M. Coetzee’s prose is composed like poetry. Showing how to structure and pace a novel using my own method, The Five Fs, has proven useful to many, and I’m grateful to so many writers for trusting me with their journey.
The Novelry USA Inc. is certified as a Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) by the New York City Department of Small Business Services.
A different writing school
A different writing school
Because writing can be so daunting, it’s good to have someone show you how it’s done in a practical way. We have a lot of fun in the coaching sessions and at the community. We get to know each other at The Novelry. We know what drives us to put pen to paper. By being open and honest, we become close for sure. But there’s more. You need to tap into your human frailty if you want to write a book that feels real.
It’s thanks to our writers sharing their writing lives with each other so generously that we have an Excellent rating on Trustpilot. We have created a warm, safe place in which writers can grow their writing skills and confidence.
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Building the best team
Writers should learn their craft from a mentor who has not just been published but has nailed a spot in the bestseller charts too. They need novelists with expertise in their fiction genres: literary fiction, crime and suspense, fantasy, science fiction, historical, romance, memoir and children’s fiction. Our writers deserve the best... but I had to be careful to find authors who could genuinely care for my writers as much as I did.
Bringing brilliant editors
What if we could bring the gatekeepers of the publishing deal to the starting line? Imagine the advantage that would give an ambitious writer, and how much time and frustration it could save to be writing in the right direction. No other writing school deployed the skills of the experts from the famous publishing houses this way. Why not?
We recruited some of the very best publishing editors in the business; editors with phenomenal reputations, who had worked with global bestselling authors at Big Five publishers like Penguin Random House, Pan Macmillan, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette, and who knew exactly what readers, publishers and agents needed from the pitch or plot.
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Celebrating our writers
In testing times, writers need live writing classes and workshops that inspire, delight, entertain and offer a sense of community. So, during the pandemic, we began a program of online writing classes with the famous names of the literary world.
Now we have a recorded library of masterclasses with the likes of Kristin Hannah, Julia Quinn, Joanne Harris, David Nicholls, Tess Gerritsen, Tayari Jones, Bonnie Garmus, Adele Parks, Lucy Foley, Chris Whitaker, Yann Martel and many more, and a thriving, friendly community open 24/7 worldwide. We get together for parties in the USA and in London annually to raise the roof and give our writing buddies hugs and thanks.
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Our Chief Wellness Officer, Blue
Small, fluffy and formidable, he insists on a healthy writing-life balance.
Writing is open to all
In 2025, The Novelry took its mission to over one million incarcerated people in the USA through Edovo, and we are proud to serve the widest community. We want people from all walks of life to discover the life-enhancing joy of writing fiction . If you’re going to write fiction, write to get published! Learn from the best, and have fun.
Our Method
We support our writers by doing some of the heavy lifting of plotting and planning together, with hands-on help to guide you all the way. But we never forget: you’re the author. We’re here to help you tell your story. Read about our method — Tools not rules · The Story First Method™ · Our one-hour-a-day writing method · The Plan · The Five Fs®.