Develop Your Book Idea 2026
We are really looking forward to welcoming you to ‘Develop your Book Idea’ with Natalie Young, where she will be helping you take your book idea from a kernel in your mind to something fully-formed!
Natalie will take you through each stage of idea and story development, asking you to consider structure and the all-important hook, character and voice, as well as how to define your plot. She'll share techniques and methods to keep you writing once the course is finished, and tell you everything you need to know about getting your writing ready to submit to agents and publishers. The course builds in regular workshopping sessions to allow for feedback on your story from both Natalie and your peers, as well as feedback on your book idea and pitch from a publishing industry professional.
Participants are encouraged to come to the course with an idea for a book in place or perhaps a couple of ideas that you'd like feedback on.
This course includes:
- Six online sessions
- 2 hours in length
- for a maximum of 15 students.
- Practical workshops with takeaway exercises to be applied to your work in preparation for the next session- The chance to pitch your book to a publishing industry professional and get instant feedback
- A private online Slack forum, for discussion and sharing of writing throughout the course
- A copy of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2026
- A book bundle from Bloomsbury Publishing
- Discounts on W&A editing services
Optional Extra: Bespoke Feedback. All course participants will have the exclusive opportunity to submit 1500 words (plus working synopsis/chapter outline) to their course leader ahead of a 30-minute one-to-one consultation. This is entirely optional and comes at an additional cost of £50, with details to be circulated ahead of Week 6.
Schedule
Week 1 - Monday 16th March
Structure in Theory - an overview on the importance of structure and what to bear in mind when putting your book together. How do we hook our readers? We'll discuss motivation and conflict and tension at the opening. And we'll also focus on voice. Is the objective or problem clear from the outset in fiction? Is there enough at stake? For non-fiction writers how do we hook? What do we want to convey to the reader by way of introduction?
Week 2 - Monday 23rd March
Structure in practice In this week we will workshop our beginnings. Participants will have written a beginning, however rough, for fiction ideas and non-fiction alike.
Week 3 - Monday 30th March
Character and voiceWho is speaking to the reader? Why is this the narrative stance we want to take? What is the vantage point? From where in time are we telling the story? Do we have a sense of character arc and development? What will our protagonists end up with or learn? For non fiction writers, how do we want to come across? Are we keeping it simple, open and direct, or hiding behind a voice that isn't ours? How do we tell the difference?
Monday 6th April - Bank holiday (no class)
Week 4 - Monday 13th April
Character and voice in practice In this week we will workshop around character and voice. By sharing our ideas and voices with the group we can learn a lot and develop fast.
Week 5 - Monday 20th April
Plot and Staying Power - how to keep writing to the end of a first draftPlotters and pantsers - what's the best way? Writing the Blurb and basic outline.Workshopping the plot and blurb
Week 6 - Monday 27th April
Submission. What happens next? What do agents and publishers want to see?Writing a synopsis and preparing our opening chapters for submission.In the final hour of this session, you'll have the chance to pitch your book idea to a publishing industry professional, and get instant feedback.
Suggested Reading List
Please note, sections of some of these texts will be provided for you to read during the course, but this is a selection of texts that Natalie recommends exploring as you go on your writing journey!
John Yorke : Into the Woods
Robert Olen Butler : From Where You Dream
Dorothea Brande : Becoming a Writer
Lizzie Harker : Plotters and Pantsers
Julia Cameron : The Writers' Way
Natalie Goldberg : Writing Down the Bones
Vivian Gornick : The Situation and The Story
Stephen King : On Writing
George Saunders : A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
JOINING INFO
The key details of the course are below, as well as the link you’ll need to join each class..
When: Monday 16th March - Monday 27th April, 7:00pm to 9:00pm (UK Time). Please note, there is no class on Monday 6th April because it is a bank holiday.
Where: Online
Joining Link: Develop Your Book Idea | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
You can download Teams free on your computer, or join via the web: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ww/microsoft-teams/download-app
PREP
Participants are encouraged to come to the course with an idea for a book in place or perhaps a couple of ideas that you'd like feedback on.
Ahead of your first session please could you send Natalie:
- A summary (max 500 words) of what the project you are, or would like to be, working on. If you have 2 or 3 ideas feel free to share these!
- An idea/ list of any problems you have encountered so far with the project
Please email that to her on [email protected] by 12th March, ccing me in on [email protected]
BOOK BUNDLE
As part of your course fee you are entitled to a book bundle which includes the Writers & Artists Yearbook 2026 and two books of your choice from Bloomsbury!
Please reply to this email with your address, and the two books you would like to select. You can find the Bloomsbury website here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/. Please ensure you select paperbacks that are under the £9 mark. Please send me your address and your choices by 22nd March, and we will get your books in the post!
SLACK
Finally, we will be using Slack during the course, which is a free, easy-to-use platform that enables everything related to the course to be stored in one place. Please click on the below link to gain access to the Slack workspace that we’ve created for this course.
https://join.slack.com/t/developyourbo-wa56189/shared_invite/zt-3rduoyfue-mgEIX5AqaDYTHfe1hqbTgg
When you arrive in Slack you’ll see the workspace is called ‘Develop Your Book Idea’, with several channels within that workspace. A quick bit of guidance on how these different channels will work:
- Course Etiquette: We’ve put together some course etiquette guidelines. Please have a read and comment to confirm that you’ve seen them.
- General: This is a general discussion board. Natalie, James and myself will all have access but it’s not something we’re going to get involved in. This is for you guys to chat amongst yourselves, discuss, share advice and book recommendations! A great way to start would be to introduce yourselves, share info about your writing journeys so far and let the rest of the group know what you’re working on and why you’re here.
- Develop Your Book Idea: We will be sharing the homework in here each week for your reference, as well as recordings of every class. You’ll also be able to find some excerpts from books on writing that you might want to have a read of ahead of, or during, the class.
Everyone involved in the course will have access to all channels by default. It’s therefore important to make Slack work for you, so please take a bit of time to manage your notifications. You can do this by right-clicking on the channel and then selecting ‘Change notifications’.
