The Mindful Novel Course
Join me to write your novel
Applications reopen in January 2025 for the April 2025 start date
If we want people to feel all the emotions when reading our work, we have to feel them too when we are writing and we have to create complex characters that crackle with life.
The Mindful Novel course can help you to connect more deeply to your characters, your themes, and the world the story takes place in, so that your writing really resonates with you as you write, and with the readers it reaches.
It’s an opportunity to work with me in a small group to focus on the art and craft of novel writing and create a draft you feel invested in that explores the elements about being human that really matter to you.
How can you join?
Spaces are by application only and are limited to four writers. This course is being offered on a dana basis. Dana is a Buddhist concept meaning generosity and mutual support. If accepted for the course you can pay what you feel it is worth.
When offering dana, please consider how much you value my knowledge, time and input creating the craft content, facilitating the workshops, providing feedback, and bringing you support and inspiration in the forum.
A suggested minimum dana offering is £50 a month. However, if you cannot afford that much please don’t let that stop you from applying as if your application is approved, I will accept whatever you offer. If you can afford more and believe the course is worth more, then you can offer more. You can pay a lump sum for the entire year in one go, or you can set up a monthly payment. The choice is yours.
How does it work?
It’s a mix of craft lessons, readings and workshopping:
At the start of each month, I will share craft lessons that will guide you through writing a novel with depth and nuance, from idea development to complete draft. It will include inspiration and ideas from my own practice and from the teachers who have influenced me. There will be readings and exercises to get you writing and developing your characters, story and the world it all takes place in.
Once a month we meet on Zoom for a workshop to share work for feedback and dig deep into the craft of writing and the meaning of the work you’re creating. At each session, each writer can read and receive feedback on up to 1500 words.
These workshops will be arranged as we go along at a time that suits everyone each month. Please note that they will take place in UK time and will never start before 10am or later than 4pm so if you are in a different time zone, please consider whether the timings will work for you.
We will have a private online forum space where the content will be shared and where we can chat with each other outside of the workshops.
Craft Lessons
Month 1: How novels work and ideas for finding your way into the story
Story structure, character arcs, themes and more to set you up to write a compelling story that brings new insights into being human through the themes you explore.
Month 2: Getting to know you
Figuring out who this character is that wants you to tell their story for them. We’ll dig into their past, present and ideas for the future. Their hopes, dreams, fears and foibles to ensure they jump off the page and come alive in yours, and the readers’, minds.
Month 3: Letting characters lead the way
We’ll look at how to set your story up so that it follows structure but that what unfolds in the plot is driven by the journey your character needs to go on to grow and develop as a person by the end of the story. Or not, depending on the kind of story you’re writing!
Month 4: Creating connections
The characters that surround your protagonist need to be just as alive for you and the reader and we’ll look at the ways in which they interact can develop your characters, themes and story in meaningful ways.
Month 5: On location
The world that your novel takes place in needs to be much more than just a backdrop for the action. Us humans experience the world through our senses and our cultural conditioning, our thoughts and our dreams, and we’ll look at how you bring all of that fully alive.
Month 6: Making it compelling
We’ll look at the different tools you can use that will compel your reader on from the start and keep them moving forwards through the story. You’ll discover ways to play with pace and ensure that your reader goes on an up and down journey throughout the course of the novel, discovering what you want them to when it matters most.
You can also join me for free writing hours once a week for communal writing, which helps you be really focused. I am currently using these to write the first draft of my new novel and have been delighted with my progress!
Why work with me?
As an indie publisher at my creative venture, Retreat West, which I started in 2012, from 2018-2023 I published 24 books. These were novels, memoirs, short fiction collections and anthologies. Retreat West Books won the 2020 Most Innovative Publisher Prize at the Saboteur Awards (shortlisted 2019) and many of the books I published were commended, listed and won awards too. In 2022, I launched the literary magazine, WestWord.
I have been designing and teaching online creative writing courses, and live workshops, for many years and have helped many people write their novels. I’ve also worked as an editor on hundreds of manuscripts. I’m passionate about helping writers get to the heart of their characters to create memorable narrators that really come alive for the reader.
I’m also a writer myself and the author of two novels, As If I Were A River (2016), and Remember Tomorrow (2019), and a novella-in-flash, Pressure Drop (2024). My short stories have been widely published in journals and anthologies, listed and placed in many international prizes, were nominated for Best Small Fictions 2023 and selected for Top in Fiction in 2024. I’m now working on my third novel. I write The Tao of Storytelling too.
So I bring experience of both sides of the publishing world to you and your words, as well as many years of experience and a real passion for writing stories of all kinds.
What writers say about working with me
“Amanda motivates you to develop a kind of courage that takes you deep inside yourself — to the place where your characters and their stories live and breathe.”
— Loretta Finan
“I wholeheartedly urge anyone who is interested in understanding, improving and refining their writing to work with Amanda. Not only does she give valuable advice about the nuts-and-bolts of storytelling, she digs so much deeper into what your story is about, exposing what is missing but also revealing hidden layers to be explored, helping you craft stories with depth which are meaningful and memorable.”
— Sally Curtis