Course Information

This course has payment options. Please click the ‘Enrol Now’ link to view the payment options.

Prerequisite: 10-Month Novel & Script First Draft course

Maya Linnell
“I always knew I wanted to write a book, but the idea of a framework made me more confident to start the journey. My tutors were my cheerleaders throughout the process. The course gave me a great insight into the classic novel structure, with great hints, tools and suggestions along the way, and the all-important accountability.”
Maya Linnell

A Three Draft Process

To write the best story you are capable of writing, you need to follow a three-draft process.

The First Draft

Writing a first draft is where you discover the possibilities of your story. You need to let it go and hang out there in the uncertainty exploring new possibilities. “The first draft is the down draft. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something, anything, down on paper. You just get it down.” Anne Lamott

The Second Draft

This is where you will nail your story down, so that it works from beginning to end and you get the action, character arc and theme all working together. Something that is not possible in the first draft. “The second draft is the up draft – you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately.” Anne Lamott

The Third Draft

The third draft is where you learn the craft of re-writing and editing. You focus on the writing making sure every scene works, indeed every word is doing its job. “The third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it is loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.” Anne Lamott

We write to re-write

Writing a second draft requires a very different mindset, skill set and process to a first draft. Without a step-by-step process, accountability and constructive feedback along the way, you can easily go off track and waste a huge amount of time.

One Writer’s Experience doing the Second Draft course

Below is an email one of our writers, Suzanne King, spontaneously sent us during the course.

“I wondered if you could publish the below review on your website?  I feel strongly about the benefits of this course.  It has been such a learning curve and has so significantly lifted my story, that I just had to tell the world about it!

The Review

You might be tip-toeing around, wondering whether to commit to this course, but all I can say is – don’t think, just dive in!  You will be in for an exhilarating ride.  You will feel stretched emotionally and creatively as you climb a massive learning curve and grapple with new concepts and new ways to see your story with fresh eyes.  You’re not alone though!  Your tutor will be there every step of the way and really help you to dig deep and find how to make your story really shine.

“If anyone thinks they have a fairly good First Draft that just needs a polish and tweak – think again!  It is only with hindsight that you will look back and see the truth about your First Draft; that it was an insipid, pale version, lacking the thrill, grit and intrigue that should be there to make sure that your reader keeps on reading! 

“So this course will definitely result in you achieving a vastly improved story.  All you have to do as a writer is hold on to your resolve to keep going, keep moving forward, shake off the desire to just focus on your First Draft story and allow your creativity to soar.  You won’t regret it!”


Expect a dramatic improvement

Theresa Miller
It's taken me many years to finish & publish my book but if it wasn't for the Writers' Studio, I would still be wandering around in the wilderness. It is all about asking the right questions and pinpointing what is working and what's not. The process is rigorous and sometimes I resisted ... but when I finally knuckled down and followed the steps I turned my notebooks of scribble into a book I'm proud of. Readers have commented on how richly drawn my characters are and how fast-paced the plot is. Most of that is thanks to the Second Draft course. I learned more at the Writers' Studio about crafting a novel than I did doing my Masters of Creative Writing. Really!
Theresa Miller

Pre-Course Work

Before the course begins you will be provided with a series of templates to flesh out and explore your story in more depth and explore your story from all your major characters’ points of view to ensure that the characters are driving your story.

This is a very important part of the process because in the Second Draft, rather than forcing your characters into the structure, you want to have your characters driving the structure of your story.

This will set you up to revision your story with your characters driving the story.

On The Process Of Re-Writing

“Finishing a first draft doesn’t make you a novelist. Anyone can do the rough draft of a novel and it probably won’t look much worse than the first draft of any good novel you can name.

“The difference between anyone and a serious writer is re-writing, re-writing and more re-writing, some times over a period of years. I can’t emphasise strongly enough how important this is, that writing leads to writing, that failed attempts lead to eventual success, that the solution of writing problems is made up of all the attempts that lead nowhere…

“The trouble is that when you’re just beginning to write, you may believe that words committed to paper are sacred, fixed, immutable. But you’re not dealing with a finished, printed, copyrighted book; only with an idea, a pile of words that change shape many times before they take shape as a book.” Dorothy Bryant


During the course you will:

Find and clarify the spine of your story. This is where your “story concept” will really pop to a level that is way beyond the scope of your first draft.

Work through the spine and craft your novel or screenplay one step at a time so that your story works logically and dramatically from beginning to end. You will dig much deeper into your story and characters and flesh out in any gaps.

You will produce a work that has a strong dramatic spine. The action, character journey and theme will all working together to create a cohesive structure that will resonate with readers.

Jan Christie wrote, “The Second Draft Course has made me acutely aware of the gaps in my story, things I thought I’d deal with later. Well, later is now and I have to deal with them before I move on.

“The clear methodical spine in the second draft has been instrumental in highlighting, sometimes in an acutely uncomfortable way, what works and what doesn’t. But in the process I’ve discovered new characters, new motivations, depth to both people and situations that wasn’t there before. It’s a challenge, but it’s also lots of fun.”

Don’t let what you perceive as the lack of quality of your First Draft put you off. You don’t have to go back and make your First Draft more complete. The pre-course work and the work you do in the first session will take care of this.

Many people only really start connecting with their story and falling in love with it in the Second Draft.

Gilbert Mane
I must confess to being a bit skeptical when I was told the Second Draft would improve my story 200%. I had spent a year driving my story forward, putting my hapless main character under intense pressure and finding out how my story ended. The Second Draft Course didn’t improve my story 200%. It improved 1000%! Irrelevancies were discarded, subsidiary characters came to life and revealed formerly hidden depths, events took on an internal logic and my main character, Aaron Stern, deepened and broadened before my astonished eyes. I saw the same thing happen with everyone else’s stories as well.
Gilbert Mane

Course Structure

Part One: Finding the Organic Spine

You will start the process by finding a fresh Seven Turning Point Spine (this is more organic than the Eight Turning Points in the First Draft course). The new turning points ensure that you have the action, character arc and theme all working together.

Even though your story can and will continue to evolve, the Seven Turning Points you come up with in the first session will clarify the story you want to tell and provide a solid spine for your Second Draft.

Part Two: The Nitty-Gritty of Storytelling

Once you have identified your Seven Turning Points, you will systematically work through each of the Turning Points one at a time focusing on and maximizing the drama, emotional depth and character development.

You will start using Sequences, which are very different from the Sequences used in the First Draft Course, to create the dramatic spine of each Story Step. This extra layer of structure enables you to take what you have in your first draft and really flesh it out.

As well as focusing on the structure for each Turning Point, you will also do a series of writing exercises that will develop your connection to your character’s emotion and voice and help bring your writing to life on the page.

In each session you will work on the structure from one Turning Point to the next and do most of the heavy planning in class.

The Second Draft also features Sequence Outlining which allows you to be creative in your writing, character development and story structure without being bogged down in writing every scene. This we find to be the most effective approach.


What if I want to write a Different Story?

The vast majority of people continue working on their story from the First Draft Course. However, if you feel it necessary to write another story, there is scope to develop a new story from scratch.


Workshop Calendar Dates

3 February 2024 Course

All sessions run from 10am to 6pm except final session.

Workshop 1: Saturday 3 February

Session 1: Weekend Intensive Saturday and Sunday 17 & 18 February (including TP1)

Session 2: Saturday 16 March (TP2)

Session 3: Saturday 13 April (TP3)

Session 4: Saturday 11 May (TP4)

Session 5: Saturday 15 June (TP5)

Session 6: Saturday 13 July (TP6)

Session 7: Sunday 11 August (TP7) 2pm to 6.00pm & celebration.

Interested in signing up for the Second Draft – Novel & Script course?
Second Draft – Novel & Script - Sydney

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