Q. What qualifications route did you take to realise your career?
I didn’t go to university. I learned much from hanging around community centres and joining writers groups in East London. I learned how to write by listening to others comments, accepting criticism and working hard at improving my skills – and became published after badgering agents and publishers.

Q. Please explain in detail what students will learn during your course?
Before joining the Novel Approach class, students should have a work-in-progress. It might be a substantial manuscript or maybe just some ideas and notes which they want to develop. They will learn how to share their work and give and take criticism in a non-competitive, mutually supportive environment. I offer technical advice but students mainly require tactics to keep on working and the encouragement to enable them to complete their novel.

Q. What’s the first thing you teach your students?
Writing a novel has to be a labour of love. If you want to be a commercial success, that’s great. But you need to want to become a good writer first.

Q. What qualities do you need to succeed in your industry?
Talent and skill. A thick skin and a realistic attitude about breaking into the world of publishing. Never put yourself down – there will be others who will do that for you.

Q. What are the benefits of studying your subject?
Studying means reading and writing – things which you should enjoy anyway. You can only learn how to write novels by writing one. Sharing your work personally with others is worth a hundred ‘How to Write’ type books.

Q. Please explain why you love your subject?
I love writing but I love hearing what other people are writing. So many individual ideas and different ways of expressing them.

Q. What skills do your students have by the end of the course?
To structure a piece of fiction. To develop confidence in reading their work aloud to the class. To improve critical overviews of their work and others work. To complete or sustain a piece of fiction. To edit, revise or re-structure their work.

Q. What do students normally do once they’ve finished their course?
Writing a novel takes a long time. They might sign up for another year, consider other courses or take the experience  of the course home with them to help finish their novel.

Q. What’s the best way to go about getting a job in your industry?
For most writers, novel writing isn’t a job, more an occasional triumph. But to get their work published it is wise to read up as much as possible about agents and publishers, study trends in fiction and present their work in as professional manner as possible.

Q. Can you describe a typical day in your working life?
Even established writers will go out of their way to avoid actually writing. So getting over that is hard work in itself. Writers groups are valuable because they provide support and discipline.

Q. What advice do you have for people interested in studying a course like yours?
Maybe join a more general writing course first. Start to explore your style and technique before attempting your first novel. Having said that, some first time writers have arrived at the group and blown everybody away with their stories.