online
online

Stay the Course – Finish Your Draft

w/ Emily O'Grady

Stay the Course is an exclusive online program designed for alumni of Writing a Novel (of any graduating year) to help students keep up momentum, maintain a sense of community and maximise their writing time. This is a chance to stay on track with your word count and finish your manuscript, ahead of submitting to an agent or publisher.

Mondays 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm (AEDT), 12 October 2026 – Sunday 28 February 2027

$1100/ $935 (alumni)


Stay the Course – Finish Your Draft with Emily O’Grady is a five-month-long, online writing course presented by Faber Writing Academy.

For some students, there is a strong desire to continue with the structure and collegiality that Writing a Novel provides, while they begin to write more independently. Stay the Course – Finish Your Draft is designed to keep you productive and accountable in the months after the course, to help you work through any issues you might face on the way to completing your full manuscript, and to accompany you over the finish line.

Across 5 months, you will attend monthly online ‘check-in’ sessions with acclaimed novelist and Writing a Novel director Emily O’Grady. You will also join an open online forum for ongoing communication and support, featuring monthly exercises and prompts from Emily. You can work at your own pace through the monthly lessons and exercises, while always keeping in touch through the private class forum. You will also be able to partake in two one-on-one sessions, with Emily or, if available, your original Writing a Novel tutor.

The program will culminate in an Industry Weekend, featuring conversations with guest writers and editors about the process of finishing a manuscript, and a series of sessions with a leading literary agent, who’ll provide invaluable tips and tricks to help your manuscript stand out when it comes time to finally hit submit.


Writers you'll be working with:

Emily O’Grady

Emily O’Grady is a writer from Brisbane. Her debut novel, The Yellow House won the 2018 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction. Her work has been published in Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue fiction edition, and New Australian Fiction 2021. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Queensland University of Technology, where…

Course outline

The course consists of five online monthly sessions (Mondays 6.30pm to 8.30pm), two 30 minute one-one-ones and an Industry Weekend. Times are in AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time). Please convert the times if you live outside of this time zone.

5 x 2-hour “check-in” sessions with Emily O’Grady:

Monday 12 October 2025, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Monday 9 November 2025, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Monday 14 December 2025, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Monday 18 January 2026, 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Monday 15 February 2026, 6.30pm – 8.30pm

2x 30-minute semi-structured one-on-ones. Time and date to be scheduled w/ tutor and student.

Industry Weekend:

*Please note that the Industry Weekend is held in Australian Eastern Daylight Savings time and convert the time accordingly.

Full day conversation series: Saturday 27 February 2027 – 10am – 3pm (AEDT)

10am: Identifying and fixing narrative problems
11am: From Faber Writing Academy to publication with recently published alumni
12pm: Lunch break
1pm: What to expect when you’re editing
2pm: Dealing with rejection and success

Agent discussion day: Sunday 28 February 2027 10am – 2pm (AEDT)

11am: Everything you ned to know about agents
12pm: Lunch Break
1pm: Pitching workshop

All sessions are held online on Zoom. The exact course content could be adjusted according to the experience and concerns of the group and availability of guest writers. The detail of the course is at the discretion of the Course Director and Faber Writing Academy at Allen & Unwin.

Praise for this course

“I was hoping for community, accountability, inspiration and feedback and it delivered in spades!”

“The weekend festival was AMAZING! I felt so inspired afterwards because it was full of practical and useful advice that I felt really helped to demystify the whole writing/editing/publishing process.”

How to Book

To secure your place in Stay the Course with Emily O’Grady, please pay via the following link.

Please note, if you are an alumni or a graduating student you may apply the alumni discount at checkout to receive 15% off. Please reach out to faberwritingacademy@allenandunwin.com if you do not have this code.



Includes 10% tax

Checkout

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