• Introduce students to the key skills and knowledge that underpins successful historical fiction writing, including the organisational skills required for historical research, plotting and structuring, world building, character development and narrative technique
• Introduce students to constructive and focused critical reflection of their work
• Provide a stimulating and varied learning environment to enable writers to develop their skills around voice, style, point of view, pacing and prose
• Offer and discuss a series of writing exercises, along with discussion, textual analysis and a review of the ‘golden rules of historical fiction writing’ to support writers to develop their craft
• Support the development of drafting, editing and rewriting skills
• Develop the use of dialogue, crafting scenes, adding suspense and effective pacing  
• Examining how much historical detail/background to include
• Offer insight into the traditions, theory and responsibilities of the historical fiction writer
• Enable students to make clear authorial and editorial choices about their developing work

Unit 1: Research, Structure & Plotting 
22–23 February 2025, 11am-5.15pm | Intermediate | D2D33813 

The first unit will include: 

• An introduction to historical fiction 
• The rules of historical fiction 
• Historical research 
• Structure: Creating a solid foundation 
• The five key elements of plotting 

Suggested reading list in preparation for Unit 1:

• The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
• Clytemnestra - Costanza Casati
• A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles
• Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
• Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
• Beloved - Toni Morrison
• Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott

Materials to bring:
Your usual writing equipment, notebook and pen, and laptop.

Unit 2: Characters & Place
31 May–1 June 2025, 11am-5.15pm | Intermediate | D2D33814 

This second unit will include: 

• Creating memorable character 
• Understanding and experimenting with point of view 
• Crafting effective dialogue 
• Understanding the environment (using the Bloomsbury location) 
• World-building 

Suggested reading list in preparation for Unit 2:

• Katherine - Anya Seton
• Cold Mountain - Charles Fraser
• I, Claudius - Robert Graves
• All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
• The English Patient - Michael Ondatjee
• Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi
• The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco

Materials to bring:
Your usual writing equipment, notebook and pen, and laptop.

Unit 3: Writing Your Book
6–7 September 2025, 11am-5.15pm | Intermediate | D2D33815 

The third and final unit will include: 

• Using suspense to create drama 
• Pacing – keeping your reader engaged 
• Scene structure 
• Revising and refining – editing and rewriting 

Suggested reading list in preparation for Unit 3:

• The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Patrick Suskind
• Washington Black - Esi Edugyan
• Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
• The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
• The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
• The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock - Imogen Hermes Gowar

Materials to bring:
Your usual writing equipment, notebook and pen, and laptop.

At the completion of the final unit, students will submit the first 5,000 words of a piece they have developed on the programme within two months for feedback from the programme tutor. Feedback is given the following month. 

On successful completion, students will receive a Certificate of Completion and be offered an interview for the MA in Creative Writing and Publishing, should they want to continue their studies and project. The MA is set up to facilitate the production of a completed novel.