Creative Writing Tutoring

As some of you know, I have been working for Adventures in Fiction, a creative writing mentoring programme based in London, which takes a limited number of apprentices each year for various genres. I will now be offering this service privately, and hope to be able to offer it both online and in person (I met my previous student on a regular basis, but this is obviously dependent on geographical location!).

I will only be dealing with SF, Fantasy and Horror, or any related sub-genres, and will be offering:

- manuscript proposal appraisal (first three chapters and synopsis)
- full manuscript appraisal (novels and short fiction)
- submission package assessment

I can also offer tailor-made packages, depending on your needs and requirements. If you want an assessment of your initial three chapters, to see whether a manuscript is worth continuing, we can look at this. If you have a whole novel, and would like it taken up to the point where you are ready to submit to an agent, I can either do a lengthy one-off appraisal or structure a timetable for you and take you through a chapter-by-chapter assessment. This process is likely to take about a year (unless you’re a very quick writer!) and I will make you rewrite if I think it’s necessary.

You can start at any point. I am very thorough – this is aimed at the serious writer who is aiming at a professional career. We start with an appraisal, and if I think your expectations are unrealistic and that you would not benefit at this point from a full appraisal program, I will tell you. However, I am solution-oriented and my criticism will always be constructive!

The aim of this process, like the workshop itself, is to prepare work for publication. Obviously. I cannot guarantee that, although I would note that my last student has just had her first novel published as part of a 3 book-deal. I can put you in touch with former students if you wish. For other genres, including detective fiction, post-colonial fiction and literary fiction, let me know if you would like details and I will pass you on to Adventures in Fiction.

Please email me at liz(at)arkady(dot)org for further information, including a full breakdown of costs.