Ready to get started with writing your novel?
Deciding to write a novel is an exciting journey — but it can also feel overwhelming. This eight-week online course, led by award-winning author Okechukwu Nzelu (Here Again Now, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney), will equip you with the essential tools and techniques to craft, structure, and refine your first novel.
Through a blend of expert guidance and practical exercises, you’ll explore the core elements of storytelling—developing compelling characters, experimenting with plot devices, building immersive settings, and keeping readers hooked from page one.
Designed for writers ready to bring their novel to life, this course provides structured support and hands-on feedback. Okechukwu will personally review up to 3,500 words of your writing, culminating in a one-on-one tutorial to discuss your work and map out your next steps.
Turn your novel idea into reality — book today!
Start date
Monday 23 March 2026
Location
Online
Length
Eight weeks (please see course schedule below)
Price
£300
The tutor was excellent, both in the welcome session where I picked up some useful tips and especially with the second more detailed feedback and one-to-one session. Very encouraging and supportive and seemed genuinely interested in my work.
Course programme
Week one – Character
In the first week of the course, you will attend a live, online introductory session (via Zoom). You will meet your course mates and Okechukwu will give an overview of the course structure and materials, before moving on to a discussion on how to tackle writer’s block. On the course website, you’ll begin to work through exercises to get to know your characters.
Week two – Plot and character
We enter the world of plotting and the ways in which the opening pages of your book are essential for establishing the plot of the narrative. We will look at the ways character and plot intertwine, and you’ll be encouraged to apply this to your novel. You’ll also be working on polishing up a 500-word excerpt to send to Okechukwu for feedback.
Week three – Voice and perspective
Now we’re starting to get a handle on what the story is, let’s work on who (or what) will tell your story, and how. In this module, we’ll work through exercises and prompts focused on voice and perspective.
Week four – Setting
Regardless of whether your novel is set ‘here and now’ in the real world, deep in the past or far in the future, or on a different planet or world entirely, this week will get you thinking about the ways you can make sure your reader knows exactly the story is set. You will also begin working on your final assignment, a 3000-word extract from your novel.
Week five – Structure
Will you write your novel in fragments? Short chapters? Will you start in the beginning, middle or the end? By this point in the course, you should have a rough idea of the story you want to tell, and now it is time to think about how to arrange and present that in the best way.
Week six – Editing
As you prepare your final assignment for submission, let’s go over some things to look out for as part of the self-editing process. This week, we will start to edit our final assignment ready for submission.
Week seven – Feedback
Okechukwu will spend the next week reading and returning your 3,000-word excerpt with feedback.
Week eight – Tutorial
In the final week of the course, you will have a one-to-one tutorial with Okechukwu to discuss your writing and next steps.
Live sessions
There will be two live sessions for this course, which will take place over Zoom. Timings to be confirmed.
Meet the tutor
Okechukwu Nzelu
Dr Okechukwu Nzelu is a Manchester-based writer. In 2015 he was the recipient of a Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North. His debut novel, The Private Joys of Nnenna Maloney (Dialogue Books, 2019), won a Betty Trask Award; it was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Polari First Book Prize, and longlisted for the Portico Prize. In 2021, it was selected for the Kingston University Big Read. His second novel, Here Again Now (Dialogue Books, 2022) was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award, the Polari Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Diverse Book Awards. He has made several appearances on national radio, and is a regular contributor to Kinfolk magazine. He is a non-executive director of ALCS and CLA, and Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. Image © Alex Douglas
Hear from Okechukwu as he discusses developing compelling characters in fiction, listen now →
Why study with National Centre for Writing?
National Centre for Writing has been supporting writers to develop their craft for over 25 years. Our online tutored courses are developed in partnership with University of East Anglia, home to the prestigious School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, which boasts award-winning alumni including Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan and Anne Enright. Our course tutors are all published writers, many of whom have studied or taught at UEA themselves.
While there are many online courses available to you across the world, ours are unique in offering:
- One-to-one feedback on up to two assignments, directly from your course tutor
- A tailored learning experience with 15 students maximum
- Flexibility to progress through the course anywhere, any time
- Support and structure to develop a writing routine
- Skills and knowledge to improve the craft of writing
- Confidence in your ability as a writer
- Opportunity to join our NCW Alumni, an international network of like-minded writers and translators.
How does this course work?
We have partnered with digital learning platform Teachable to host our self-paced courses. The platform is accessible across a range of devices, simple to use, and does not require any specialist equipment.
We want to make sure that you get the most out of our tutored online courses and feel confident that you’re choosing the right course. Each course contains a mixture of teaching content, reading to prompt discussion, writing exercises for you to hone your skills, and group and one-to-one feedback.
Click to read more about how they are structured and what equipment you may need.
Got a question?
If you still have questions, get in touch with the learning team by emailing [email protected] or call (+44) 01603 877177 between our working hours of 9am – 5pm BST, Monday to Friday. We’re here to help!