The Finished Novel Programme: Support, Suitability, and Next Steps
This one-to-one partnership helps you handle both the technical side of writing and the self-doubt that often halts the writing of a book. To see if this level of support is right for you and your project, see how we work together below.
The Finished Novel Programme: Is It Right for You?
Not every writer needs the same kind of support.
Some writers benefit most from an ongoing community, regular feedback, and the freedom to explore different projects over time.
Others reach a point where one novel matters more than anything else. They want to stop circling around possibilities and commit to taking a single book all the way through to completion.
The Finished Novel Programme was built for that second situation.
The Kind of Support This Programme Offers
There are many good ways to learn about writing fiction.
Books can teach craft principles. Courses can provide structure. Memberships can offer community, accountability and opportunities for feedback. I offer these kinds of opportunities myself.
This programme serves a different purpose.
It is built around a single question:
How do you take one novel from an idea, a partial draft, or a promising beginning and turn it into a complete manuscript that works as a whole?
The work happens in conversation and in the manuscript itself.
We examine the novel as it develops. We identify where uncertainty is emerging, where important decisions need to be made, and where the story’s direction is becoming unclear.
The emphasis is not on giving you answers to follow. It is on helping you understand the options available, recognise the consequences of different choices, and make deliberate decisions about your work.
Writing a novel requires far more judgement than most writers expect.
This programme is designed to help you develop that judgement while completing the book.
How This Differs From Storytellers Elite
Storytellers Elite is designed to support writers over the long term.
It is for writers who want ongoing opportunities to develop their craft, receive feedback, participate in discussions, and become part of a community of people who take storytelling seriously. The focus is the writer.
The Finished Novel Programme is different. Its focus is a single novel.
For a defined period of time, one manuscript becomes the centre of attention. Every discussion, decision, and piece of feedback serves the same goal: helping that book become a complete, coherent manuscript.
The programme is more intensive, more focused, and more individual.
The membership offers breadth. The programme offers depth. Neither is a higher level than the other. They simply solve different problems.
Some writers might begin with the membership and later commit to a novel through the programme.
Others complete the programme and then move into the membership as they continue developing their writing life.
The right choice depends on what you need now.
Who The Programme Is For
The Finished Novel Programme works best for writers who already understand that writing a novel involves more than inspiration.
You do not need to be an expert. You do not need a completed draft. You do not need to know exactly how the story ends.
What you do need is a willingness to stay with one project long enough to discover what it could become.
This programme tends to suit writers who:
- Want to focus on a single novel rather than several competing projects.
- Are prepared to make decisions before every uncertainty has disappeared.
- Care about writing a coherent, satisfying book rather than pursuing perfection.
- Value thoughtful discussion and professional standards.
- Want to understand why a manuscript works, not simply be told what to change.
- Hope to become more independent and confident in their decision-making over time.
Who It Is Not For
The programme is unlikely to be the right fit if you are looking for:
- Continuous line-by-line editing throughout the drafting process.
- A rigid method or prescribed formula.
- Support spread across multiple projects at the same time.
- Someone else to make the major creative decisions for you.
- An indefinite mentoring arrangement without a clear endpoint.
None of these preferences is wrong. They simply require a different kind of support.
Investing in Your Finished Manuscript: Fees and Timeline
The Finished Novel Programme is a focused one-to-one collaboration lasting approximately six to nine months.
Programme fee: £4,500. Payment plans are available.
Your Milestone: A Coherent, Completed Novel
What you’ll leave with
By the end of The Finished Novel Programme, the goal is not simply to have finished a manuscript.
The goal is to understand how you finished it.
You will have completed a novel.
You will have made hundreds of creative and structural decisions.
Most importantly, you will have a clearer understanding of how to approach the next novel, because the judgement developed during the writing of one book carries forward into every book that follows.
Apply for The Finished Novel Programme
Submitting an application doesn’t commit you to anything. It is simply the first step in a thoughtful conversation.