step one of the finished novel course
The Big Idea
From idea to outline.
Find your story and get it signed off by your coach.
1
The Big Idea
Find your story
2
The Big Write
Draft the novel
3
The Big Edit
Revise to a submission standard
4
Manuscript Assessment
A full read by a big five editor
For a story worth writing
How do writers come up with the ideas for their books? In stages. They begin with the ember of an idea and put it through its paces. The Big Idea walks you through the power moves behind the books you love from The Great Gatsby to The Secret History, from Normal People to Life of Pi to build your own idea into a story readers will love.
By the end you’ll have an outline and:
- A powerful plot
- Your author voice
- A storyline vetted by a bestselling author coach
- Confidence you have a story that will sell
The course
Two phases. Thirty Lessons. Work through them in order at your own pace, with a year to enjoy them.
PHASE ONE · 15 LESSONS
The Secrets of Storytelling
- Lesson 1: You, the Writer
Storytelling is your birthright, a cunning art that can reverse inequalities, unsettle the natural order, and work magic even where none exists. Stories rely on credibility in the voice and bait in the promise, and both must work together. You should write first for yourself, choosing an idea that satisfies your own needs. Story and voice are inextricably linked. Find a natural voice and leave bad writing habits behind. Begin with a task to hear your own voice, capture it, and use it from here on out, starting your writing like a real writer from today. - Lesson 2: Find Your Story
Story is the answer to almost every writing problem, and this lesson shows you how a strong premise grows from simple ingredients arranged with structure, taste, experience, and outlook. You will be shown the sources of great ideas and stay open to humble beginnings, personal meaning, dreams, music, and the books you love, all of which point you toward the kind of story only you can write. The task will help you study the patterns of the stories personally meaningful to you, to enable you to mix the elements to begin shaping the building blocks of your own idea. - Lesson 3: Make It Mission Impossible
A great story begins with a problem at the edge of plausibility, a dilemma or quest no ordinary person could survive. This lesson shows you why starting with the impossible gives your novel power, ambition, and momentum. You learn how realism disguises artifice, how detail keeps the reader convinced, and how a bold premise lets you outwit doubt and stay committed. The task will introduce you to a natty way of producing the silver bullets your story will need to fire, in less than five words per idea. - Lesson 4: The Elements of a Bestselling Classic
Discover the big moves of the all-time great stories so you can spot the ingredients that give fiction its lasting power. You will learn why writers steal, recycle, and remix ideas, how comps guide the industry, and how classic tales rely on extreme situations, magic, or misdirection, and an immersive “walk in my shoes” experience. Discover why readers want familiarity with a twist, why small stories endure, and how fairy tales and folk tales act as potent story starters. In the task, you will produce five more ideas using these prime movers. - Lesson 5: The Wound
Powerful stories grow from flaws, failures, rejection, and old hurts to find the authentic and highly individual material that gives a story its universal force. You will see how childhood losses, transformations, and hidden selves shape voice, theme, and character, and how honesty, not performance, brings your work to life for readers. Explore how authors rewrite what they couldn’t fix in life by giving the problem to someone else in fiction. Tap the most unique source for your idea, (behind you!) to create a story with real human stakes. - Lesson 6: Write What You Need
Your sense of justice shapes the narrative arc of a story. Your values drive every choice, from crime to romance to comedy. The expert author has the skill to work with their own nature to reveal crucial aspects of the players they need. Explore unrealized possibilities within yourself, learn how desire and conflict form the spine of a story. In the task, you will get a good grasp of the art form of the novel as the moral journey of one individual and use the arc of their character development to deliver a satisfying outcome. - Lesson 7: The Main Squeeze
Explore how stories hinge on the one person who experiences change and grows. Understand how main character, hero, and narrator are three roles you can assign for your different purposes. Discover how to build sympathy without making them “you,” in order to choose someone capable of transformation. Load them with flaws, danger, and desire to begin plot development. Find out how physical detail, predicament, and personality shape the reader’s attachment. In the task, you will gather candidates for your main character, sketch their traits, and test who has the strongest problem to drive your story forward. - Lesson 8: The Hero
A hero is shaped by resistance, tested by circumstance, and revealed through their curiosity, decency, and sometimes a flaw that marks them as chosen. You will explore how ordinary people become heroic when pressed by injustice, how kindness earns allegiance, and how a cosmic flaw can be the sign of grace that drives the story. Discover how stories align the reader with the rebel who resists. In the task, you will map the tests, trials, and setbacks that could forge a hero worthy of your story. - Lesson 9: The Friendly & Familiar
Familiar people, places, and objects give your story its grounding, even when the plot sends your main character into danger, magic, or mystery. You will see how a benevolent presence — a guide, sidekick, or moral anchor — keeps the reader safe, and how chosen objects act as emotional tokens that signal home, history, and values to steady the reader before you lead them into the unknown. In the task, you will identify the friendly forces and familiar tokens that will reassure your reader and keep your story world worth fighting for. - Lesson 10: The Villain
Every story needs a worthy enemy that both the outer antagonist who blocks the hero and the inner foe the hero must face down to grow. You will explore why villains are charismatic, why they mirror the hero, and how their certainty, charm, and self-regard sharpen the story’s moral stakes. Understand how the villain embodies the shadow side of your theme, defending the status quo while the hero pushes for change, and why the story only ignites when these forces collide. In the task, you will cast a convincing villain and shape the dance with the devil that drives a great plot. - Lesson 11: Justice
Discover the hidden universal code of stories that quietly shapes the consequences of the best-loved tales. Learn how even the wildest plots obey a simple principle: something wrong must be set right. Understand how decency, retribution, restitution, and moral growth underpin the great stories. In the task, you will sketch how each of your budding story ideas might be developed to rebalance the scales and deliver justice. - Lesson 12: The Garden of a Story
Explore the garden as the world of your story; a place that is transformational. You will see how great writers use setting not as wallpaper but for the purpose of revelation: a landscape that exposes desires, fears, illusions, and the deeper truths for the main character. You will discover how your choice of place can act as sanctuary, or tighten the screws. Understand why setting is a state of mind, not a surveyor’s map. In the task, you will make your first sketch of the setting for your best idea in play so that you, as the author, can begin to spend time there in your mind as you develop the strongest idea so far. - Lesson 13: Toward Conflict
Explore how temptation, bribes, and taboos push a story by shaking a character’s moral balance. You will see how a hero is tested not only by hardship but by desire, distraction, and the quick fixes that expose their flaw. Learn why characters must lose control before they gain it, why injunctions spark plot, and how conflict arises when two value systems collide. You will learn that the battle is short, sharp, decisive and reveals what your main character truly stands for. In the task, you will define the value-based clash that drives your story toward the all-important drama of conflict. - Lesson 14: The Treasure
What your character thinks they want is not as valuable as the deeper revelation they (and the reader) actually gain. Learn how withholding the treasure keeps pages turning, how great stories create endings that never truly end, and how the finest tales offer a form of resurrection: hope, renewal, continuity beyond time. In the task, you’ll define your character’s concrete desire, draft the message-in-a-bottle that reflects the story’s deeper wisdom, and chart the trials and gifts that frame the journey from suffering to reward to produce the spine of a plot. - Lesson 15: The Story So Far
You will gather everything you’ve created so far and test it for strength and staying power. You’ll stretch the ideas that still excite you, try which voice feels right for each, and compose the story elements that belong together. We will ensure your chosen idea suits your natural storytelling instincts, aligns with the books you love, and carries the big moves that make a story worth writing. You will shake down your ideas against a clear set of criteria to select the strongest contender and firm up the elements you need before we start outlining.
PHASE TWO · 15 LESSONS
Outlining Your Story
- Lesson 16: Story Structure
Begin shaping the strongest of your ideas using our five-part structure that underpins long-form fiction. You’ll see how writers across genres use a clear sequence to organize plot, deepen character, and guide the reader toward a meaningful ending. You will discover how this structure sharpens your thinking, reveals gaps in your idea, and helps you test whether your story has the fuel it needs for The Big Write. In the task, you will map your idea against each point of our unique method, The Five Fs®, to see how your emerging story can take shape on the page. - Lesson 17: The Big Question
Every great novel sets one clear pursuit in motion from the outset, then keeps it alive through reveal, concealment, setbacks, and rising stakes. You will discover how the question shapes your story’s pitch, your opening, and the reader’s hunger for more, and how even literary novels work hard to keep that question front and center. In the task, you will write your core question then raise its urgency by testing the stakes, adding obstacles, and framing it in the simplest, strongest form possible. - Lesson 18: The Treatment
Explore how the treatment of your story, the narrative perspective and sense of time, shapes the story itself. You will learn why first person draws us into an individual’s condition while third person reveals the wider social view, and how the choice determines the kind of justice your story delivers. Discover how timeframe influences tension, how a ticking clock sharpens change, and how perspective affects connection, theme, and pace. In the task, you choose the viewpoint that serves the theme of your strongest idea, and test timeframes to heighten drama. - Lesson 19: The Theme
Let’s pin down the engine that sits beneath your story. Learn why a theme must stay hidden, why it must be humble rather than grandiose, and explore how the genre, casting, and structural essentials like the midpoint reveal the truth your story will be circling from page one. In the task, you will sketch possible themes, note what your main character gets wrong at the start, and identify the midpoint moment when the truth will surface; your best test of whether this idea deserves a book. - Lesson 20: Starting to Plot
Begin shaping the chain of cause and effect that will carry your story from its opening hook to its resolution. You’ll discover how theme and character work together to generate plot. Explore your character’s before and after, and identify which antagonist embodies the opposing end of the value set of your theme. In the task, you will map the conflict across The Five Fs, create early plot beats using desire, denial, and resistance, and sketch the first passes of your story’s journey; your first true blueprint for the story ahead. - Lesson 21: The Cast
Consider how your characters line up on the rope of your theme, each pulling in a different direction to create tension. Our Four Types give you a way to balance your core cast; a Type A anchor, a Type B hothead, a Type C charmer, and a Type D villain create the necessary push and pull to keep a story moving. You’ll see how their company, circumstances, and contradictions reveal who they are without heavy description. In the task, you will position each cast member along your theme, decide who is pulling your main character off-course or keeping them steady, and begin a very private (!) list of minor characters borrowed from real life to bring instant depth to your world. - Lesson 22: Feeling for Your Main Character
Make the reader’ care from the first page by grounding them in essentials like where we are, who we are, and what’s happening before anything dramatic occurs. Simple, steady opening passages reveal a character through tokens, habits, and the way others react to them. Develop craft skills to avoid over-exposition and overwriting... for good! In the task, you will draft a clean opening snapshot, clarify what your main character wants and why, choose the form of agency that drives them, test whether they truly have the most at stake, and build a list of artifacts to bring them convincingly to the page. - Lesson 23: The Midpoint
Refine your storyline by nailing the pivotal moment that spins your story on its axis and forces your main character to change. The midpoint is the point of no return; it kills false hope, exposes the flaw, and breaks their old coping strategy so completely that your character can no longer delude themselves. This moment reveals the theme, strips away the cover story, and triggers the transition from BEFORE to AFTER...where the fightback begins! In the task, you will identify the event that changes everything, test how your character suffers the consequences of earlier errors, and nail the reversal: flaw exposed, want disproved, and the first glimpse of what they truly need. - Lesson 24: The B Story
A secondary storyline strengthens the theme and sharpens the main character’s journey. The B Story shows the far end of your theme: an alternative life, a dangerous promise, or a tempting delusion. It must come into conflict with the A Story to expose what your main character needs. You’ll see how the B Story accelerates the crisis, reveals the risks of the opposite value system, and prepares your character to stand on their own two feet once both ends of the rope are dropped. In the task, you will generate possible B Stories tied to your theme and identify which one collides most powerfully with your main storyline. - Lesson 25: The Second Character
The second character stands at the opposite end of your theme, shaping conflict and growth. This character is never a duplicate of your main character; they often hold the qualities your hero lacks, and their presence creates light and shade to amplify your theme. This figure can function as sidekick, nemesis, antihero, or love interest. Ultimately, theylose something in the exchange while your main character gains what they need from them. In the task, you will design a second character who contrasts with your hero to give your main character the lessons they cannot learn alone. - Lesson 26: The Wider Cast
Now we are ready to widen the cast! You’ll revisit the four personality types, explore archetypes for inspiration, and learn where to find your minor characters. Supporting characters bring energy, conflict, humor, contrast. Understand how to use the subconscious emotional “messaging” of even the most minor character. The lesson closes with the “20 Vital Signs”; a lightning-fast biography exercise that brings your principal players into focus and generates plot ideas as you write. It all adds up to a richer world, sharper dynamics, and a cast ready to cause trouble. - Lesson 27: Writing the First Outline
Now you are ready to shape a first working synopsis. You will gather the fundamentals: where we find your main character, what they want, why the reader cares, and how the agent of change tips their life off its axis. You will sketch the early beats of pursuit, failure, pressure, and the turning point that destroys their old strategies. You will also consider theme, genre, setting, treatment, and the forces that stand against your hero. In the task, you will draft a one-page outline. This helps you test the mechanics of your drama. - Lesson 28: Testing the Opening Chapter
Test your treatment on the page with simple, unfussy writing that serves the story. Develop craft skills to deliver an opening that is steady and confident, and learn how to use ordinary detail to create atmosphere. Apply visual “framing” to slow the scene to show what matters. Explore the keyboard tools of a working writer’s kit that guide the reader’s attention. In the task, you will sketch a rough first chapter outline, try famous chapter structures for sandboxing yours, and draft an opening to test how your story behaves on the page. - Lesson 29: Please Yourself
Learn what it means to write for yourself first, choose the company you want to keep on the page, and trust the routine that makes writing possible. Understand how reading unlocks ease, how early beginnings stay loose until the ending is known, and why play, doubt, and curiosity are part of the work. Use a practical set-up that protects your process; your folders, rolling documents, notes, problems page, and small daily checks on theme, treatment, and character. In the task, you will organize your writing life and consider the signals of pleasure, discomfort, instinct that help you choose the version of your story you really want to write. - Lesson 30: The Last Piece
Enjoy time with your main character and enter their inner life. Learn how to keep the story warm when you’re not writing. Lean to keep eyes on the real sources of drama; the problem, the want, the flaw and how to spot issues clearly by returning to the outline. Discover why cutting creates space, why you rule the process, and be rewarded with the key that opens the door to your story.
your coaching session
A bestselling author vets your storyline before you write a word
Your course includes a 45-minute one-on-one session with the author coach of your choice. Every coach is a published, bestselling, or award-winning novelist and an expert in their genre. They’ll help you make sure your story is the strongest it can be for today’s publishing market.
from the founder
A story that sells.
Bestsellers don’t happen by accident, they’re constructed.
Louise Dean, Founder, on how The Big Idea delivers.
90 seconds
What The Big Idea writers say
Questions
Anything else? Read the full FAQs.
Is it for me?
I’m not looking for any old course. What makes this one different?
A great course goes beyond textbook guidance. This one teaches storytelling principles and practical tools you won’t have met before; it’s taught by a Booker-listed author, a team bestselling authors and world-class editors who know how books succeed. It gives you a step-by-step path from idea to outline that actually holds together; puts you on a firm footing for drafting with confidence; and it welcomes you into a global writing community. Actionable tasks to build your book.
I don’t just want to write. I want to be published. Will this course help?
In The Big Idea you’ll learn what makes a story irresistible from the very beginning, what keeps readers turning pages, what gives a story emotional pull. You’ll build those elements into your outline from day one, before you write your chapters. To save you time and put your passion into the plot from the get-go.
I love to write, but I’d love to write in good company. What do I get beyond the lessons?
You join a global, supportive community of writers, editors, publishing professionals and cheerleaders. The largest online writing community exclusively for novelists. Workshops, feedback sessions, get-togethers and safe spaces for sharing the ins, outs, ups and downs of the novelist’s journey.
I want to write a full-length book. Is this where I start?
Yes. With The Big Idea you’ll discover what your novel is truly about and how to build it with purpose. You’ll learn how strong stories work, why bestsellers grip readers, and how to use those principles in your own outline. You’ll refine your voice, and gain the confidence that comes from knowing your story will sell.
The practicalities
Can I upgrade to The Finished Novel Course later?
No. The Finished Novel Course is a single program, not a bundle you can build up to, so it can’t be applied retrospectively. You can buy each later stage on its own as you reach it, but the full journey is only available as The Finished Novel Course from the start: idea, draft, edit, and a full read with the Ultimate Manuscript Assessment from our editorial team, at a saving of over $1,000 on the stages bought separately. If you think you’ll want the whole journey, this is the moment to choose it.
Is this course right for a complete beginner?
Yes. The Big Idea is where most of our writers begin. You need a notebook, a pen and a decent internet connection. Lessons are written and on video, with a translation app in 99 languages and a read-aloud option.
What if it isn’t for me?
A full, no-questions-asked refund within fourteen days of purchase. Just email us.
How do I choose my writing coach?
We guide you on this in the opening lessons. Once you’ve scoped your story and clarified your genre, the best-fit coach is usually clear and we’re happy to advise once we’ve seen your storyline. You’re free to work with different coaches as your project develops, whether for specialist craft input, a fresh perspective or expertise at a particular stage. Behind the scenes, our coaching and editorial teams keep careful records and share insights, so your story is always supported by the team as a whole.