Ready to revise and refine your work?
Editing a novel is a challenging and time-intensive process that demands a sharp critical eye and a willingness to make tough decisions. This online short course acclaimed author of One Small Voice and Deviants, is designed to help you approach your work with fresh perspective and refine your manuscript to its full potential.
Over eight weeks, you’ll dive into your writing on both a granular, word-by-word level and a broader, structural level. You’ll explore how experimenting with elements like structure, perspective, and point of view can transform your narrative and deepen the connection between your story and its readers.
This course is tailored for writers with a novel in progress — you don’t need a completed manuscript to participate. It’s ideal for those feeling stuck in their draft and seeking practical tools to move their narrative forward. As part of the course, your tutor, Santanu Bhattacharya, will review up to 3,500 words of your writing, culminating in a one-on-one tutorial to discuss your work and plan your next steps.
Start date
Monday 22 March 2027
Location
Online
Length
Eight weeks (please see course schedule below)
Price
£300*
*Payment plans available. Drop us a line at academy@nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk to find out more.
Course format
This course is delivered weekly (see course programme below). The majority of the content is presented in text form via Teachable, allowing you to progress through the material chapter by chapter at your own pace. You will submit two assignments directly to your tutor for personalised feedback and guidance, due at the end of week three and week six.
The course also includes up to two live Zoom sessions: a welcome session in the first module, followed by a one-to-one tutorial with your tutor later in the course.
Click to find out more about the course structure and the equipment you may need.
Course programme
Please note, the module order and/or content of the course may be subject to change.
Week one – Introduction
In the first week of the course, you’ll begin working through writing exercises focusing on mood. You’ll attend a live session where you will meet your course mates, and your tutor will give you an overview of the course structure and materials, and you’ll discuss how to read your own writing with the eyes of an outsider.
Week two – Plot
Focusing on plot, we’ll begin to examine the central threads that hold your narrative together. You’ll choose a 500-word excerpt from your novel, and spend time polishing its structure and timing, paying close attention to how plot emerges through action and choice.
Week three – Language
If plot is the scaffolding, then words are the bricks that construct your novel. Looking at language, you’ll look at how your sentences sound and feel on the page, and how voice emerges through word choice, before submitting a 500-word excerpt to your tutor for feedback.
Week four – Pace
Pace determines how long a reader stays inside a moment. This week, you’ll focus on how scenes unfold and time moves in your novel, and how momentum is sustained to hold a reader’s attention across the narrative.
Week five – Finalising
This week, you’ll focus on the final stages of revision, creating a personalised checklist to evaluate your writing. You’ll then apply these essential pre-submission checks to a 3,000-word excerpt from your manuscript.
Week six – Polish
Drawing on everything you’ve learned in the course, you’ll polish your excerpt before submitting it to your tutor for feedback and guidance.
Week seven – Feedback
Your tutor will read and return your 3,000-word excerpt with feedback during this week.
Week eight – Tutorial
In the final week of the course, you will have a one-to-one tutorial with your tutor to discuss feedback and plan next steps in your writing.
Live sessions
There will be two live sessions for this course, which will take place over Zoom.
Timings for these courses will be confirmed shortly.
Hear from former students
Meet the tutor
Your tutor will review up to 3,500 words of your assigned writing, as well as providing guidance and support. You will also have a one-to-one tutorial with Santanu towards the end of the course to discuss your potential next steps.
Santanu Bhattacharya
Santanu Bhattacharya is the author of two novels, One Small Voice and Deviants, and several works of short fiction.
One Small Voice was an Observer Best Debut Novel for 2023, and was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize. Deviants won the Rainbow Award and BLF-Atta Galata Prize 2025, and was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. Santanu is the recipient of the Desmond Elliott Prize Residency, the Mo Siewcharran Prize, the Life Writing Prize, and a London Writers’ Award. He grew up in India, and now lives in London.
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Read more about editing a novel
Expert tips, tricks and advice from established novelists and NCW tutors
Editing a novel
In this article, author and NCW tutor Santanu Bhattacharya (One Small Voice and Deviants) discusses how to approach editing a novel, or any of other piece of creative writing, effectively.
5 March 2026
Editing your novel: How to revise, rewrite and redraft your book
Writer and tutor Lynne Bryan explains the stages of revising a novel, from words to chapters and beyond, and how to approach editing your novel.
30 July 2022
The basics of self-editing
Writer Simon K Jones demonstrates how you can make real improvements to your first draft through simple self-editing techniques.
28 October 2021
A writing life in four edits
Mary Paulson-Ellis, author of The Other Mrs Walker, shares four experiences of editing and a useful exercise for your work-in-progress.
28 October 2021
Endings & re-writing
Acclaimed author of The Last Days of Roger Federer Geoff Dyer shares his insights on how endings are a prelude to re-writing.
16 December 2021
Working with editors
Assistant editor Hannah Chukwu from Hamish Hamilton of Penguin Random House discusses her work and the editing process.
28 October 2021
Got a question?
If you still have questions, get in touch with the NCW Academy team by email academy@nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk or phone (+44) 01603 877177 between our working hours of 9am – 5pm BST, Monday to Friday. We’re here to help!