INSTANT ACCESS
101 video lessons
You can achieve a lot in 3 months. Learn the foundations of writing and storytelling through daily video masterclasses with Tom Bromley.
Write
Finish your first draft
Structure that supports you as you write your first draft. Stay accountable, get feedback, and apply what you learn as you write.
Engage
Forum & live webinars
Join expert writing coaches and bestselling authors for weekly webinars and live Q&As when you add a membership.
Add on
Community membership
Find your writing community. Enjoy six online conferences per year and access weekly live webinars with writing coaches and authors. Learn more
Student Reviews
"One of the best decisions I’ve made for my writing journey."
The practical dos and don’ts taught throughout the course gave me a clear understanding of what works and what doesn’t when it comes to writing. It was like being allowed to peek behind the curtain of that secret author’s club that had always felt so elusive.
Blair R.
"By far the best writing class I have ever taken."
There’s an age old adage that to be a writer, you must first, and always, be a reader. Reedsy puts this into practice with the structure of this course, helping writers understand what makes a passage powerful by dissecting it with a skillful teacher.
Nora S.
"It feels like a mini MFA in fiction writing."
Such a thoughtful, clear, inspirational course. It more than earns its investment in time and money.
Jesse G.
"The course was superb."
The daily lessons worked really well for me; I loved that I could watch them anytime and the topics, content and books covered were really helpful.
Simon H.
"I feel much more confident in going forward with my story."
I really enjoyed this course, it has helped me so much at a line level — it has elevated my writing in ways I didn't even know needed elevating.
Alana V.
"Going well beyond the simple."
Anyone can write a book. But it takes more than a simple understanding to write a good book. The time I spent in the Reedsy Masterclass with Tom Bromley were the best three months I could have invested. Without a doubt, it made a vast improvement in my abilities.
Michael B.
"Writing a novel has never been easier, thanks to Reedsy."
The course is so well presented and expertly taught, with a huge amount of resources to help you finish that first draft. I'd recommend it to anyone!
Lucy R.
Course overview
Support that empowers you to finish writing your first draft.
Prepare
Get ready to write
Tom will go over the “5 P’s” you need to consider before embarking on 101 days of writing.
Pitch
Protagonist
Plotting
Point-of-view
Place
Start
A great book grabs the reader from the get-go. This course begins at the beginning, then guides you through the writing process, right to the closing sentence. It’s everything you need to write your novel, except the coffee (we haven’t worked out how to digitize that yet).
Week One
Beginnings
We start with the start. What is the best way to begin your novel and hook the reader’s attention? How do you introduce elements like character and backstory?
Session Topics: Beginnings, Starting Again, Introducing Character, Backstory, Grounding the Reader.
Week Two
Secret Sauce
In this week’s sessions, we’ll look at the magic ingredients that you need to sprinkle into your story to make your characters and narrative come alive.
Session Topics: Movement, Change, Space, Peril, Voice.
Week Three
Character
Character and Plot are both crucial for your story. But thinking about character first often helps to answer any plot questions you might have.
Session Topics: Caring and Liking, Flaws, Inner Tension, Change, Feeling.
Week Four
Plot Skills 1
Plot and structure is a theme interweaved throughout the course. In this first week of plot skills, we’ll focus in on some of the principles of plotting to help you tell your story.
Session Topics: Story DNA, Scene Versus Summary, Revealing Information, Flashbacks, Mystery and Surprise.
Week Five
Description
A good story has a good place at its heart. But how do you bring your settings to life? We’ll analyse some of the key techniques to help you write dynamic description.
Session Topics: Senses, Movement, Colour, Small Details, People and the Past.
Week Six
Dialogue
Speech is central to good fiction: get it right and you’ll add voice, pace, and tension into your telling. We’ll show you how.
Session Topics: Voice, Conflict, Rhythm, Real Speech, Body Language.
Week Seven
Texture
Dialogue and Description are two key textures in writing a story. This week, we’ll look at additional textures, and how to mix them to compelling effect.
Session Topics: Action, Thought, Dialogue Vs Description, Dialogue Description, Pace, Mixing Together.
Week Eight
Middles
The halfway point of the course (and hopefully in your writing journey as well). We’ll spend this week studying the challenges of writing effective middles, stress testing your narratives so far and thinking ahead to the second half.
Session Topics: Soggy Middles, The Midpoint, Wants and Needs, Links, Thinking Forwards.
Week Nine
Writing Skills
We begin the second half of the course with a fortnight’s focus on writing skills and techniques. We’ll start by taking your writing back to basics, and exploring some of the tools at your fingertips.
Session Topics: Words, Verbs, Sounds, Sentences, Paragraphs.
Week Ten
Writing Techniques
In this second week of writing skills, we focus in on some key techniques for emphasis, and how you can make the most of the most important moments in your book.
Session Topics: Rule of Three, Repetition, Build, Contrast, Imagery.
Week Eleven
Chapters
Chapters and chapter structure give shape to your story and create signposts for your reader. This week, we’ll look at how you make the most of these building blocks, from beginnings and ends to chapter lengths and pacing.
Session Topics: Chapters Overview, Beginnings and Ends, Lengths, Chapter Structure, Pulling Together.
Week Twelve
Plot Skills 2
A second full plot week where we focus in on some further skills to boost your writing.
Session Topics: Foreshadowing, Group Scenes, Dovetailing, Time, Punctuating a Scene.
Week Thirteen
Doubling Up
This week we’ll look at making your writing work twice as hard, delivering on not just one element, but two at the same time.
Session Topics: Action and Story, Action and Character, Description and Story, Description and Character, Dialogue and Story.
Week Fourteen
Endings
In the final full week of the course, it’s all about thinking about your endings. How do you finish your story in a way that leaves the reader fully satisfied?
Session Topics: Resolution, Bookending, Imagery, Movement, Possibility.
Week Fifteen
Next Steps
As we approach the end of our 101 days together, we’ll think about the next steps to take with your first draft. How do you go about editing? What’s next?
Session Topics: Editing Plan, Editing, The End.
Learning Dashboard
Support your writing with daily masterclasses
Work through video lessons and exercises at your own pace, then apply what you learn as you write.
ADD A LEARNING MEMBERSHIP
Supercharge your learning with expert knowledge
With a Learning Membership, you get twelve months of access to our exclusive online conferences and live masterclasses.
YOU CAN DO IT
Write your first draft on your timeline
With video lessons, expert insights, and a supportive community around you, this course will help you write the first draft of your novel on your timeline. It’s designed for writers of all levels, backgrounds, and genres.
Meet your instructor
I’m Tom Bromley, your instructor. Over the past 25 years I’ve published ten books under my own name, fifteen as a bestselling and prize-winning ghost (not the scary kind), edited over a hundred titles, and taught novel writing to thousands of students around the world. Now it’s your turn!
Read Tom's Bio →Learn from professional authors and writing coaches
AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
As you progress through the course, you can attend interviews with incredible authors who share their story — and their tips and tricks — with you.
Membership exclusive
Participate in live webinars every week. Learn from expert writing coaches, literary agents, and bestselling authors. Access all live webinars and recordings for 12 months when you add a Learning Membership.
Add on
Community membership
Find your writing community. Enjoy six online conferences per year and access weekly live webinars with writing coaches and authors. Learn more
Frequently asked questions
Who should take this course?
How does the course work?
What does the course cover?
How long is the course?
What do the lessons look like?
How long will each session lesson take?
How much writing do I need to do each day?
It’s worth saying too that over the course of the novel, your weekly word count may well change: some writing weeks may be more productive than others, so these numbers are an average to aim for. And of course, your novel might end up longer than 75,000 words! We’ll give you a word count calculator so you can update how much you’ve written and how far you have left to go.
