Course Information
This course has payment options available, click ‘Enrol Now’ to view the payment options. Pre-requisite: 7-Month Third Draft course.
The Third Draft Part 2 course group meets once every two months at our Sydney Studio. The sessions run from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm on either a Saturday or a Sunday.
The Power of Feedback
You will receive feedback on larger sections of your story and will be pushed to a far greater degree than in the Third Draft course. The feedback is more tailored to your personal needs, is more intense and demanding.
The combination of advanced feedback templates, writing exercises to further develop your craft and more personalised and challenging feedback will uncover what is unique about you, your writing and your story.
Finding your unique voice and take on the world is what will make your story and writing stand out.
The cumulative effect on your writing will be profound and will take your work way beyond where you were in the Third Draft Part 1 as you delve deeper into the art and craft of re-writing and editing.
Getting ongoing feedback makes all the difference.
Ed Catmul, the founder of Pixar, who made such classics as Finding Nemo and Toy Story, said, “All the Pixar writers no matter how smart, talented and well organised they are become lost somewhere along the way.
“We believe in the power of embracing candid feedback and the iterative process of re-working, re-working, re-working and re-working … The story steadily improves with each step of the process. In my experience, creative people discover and realise their vision over time.”
“Alternating between creating and the critique process is the most effective way to learn in any creative field.”
Dwight Swain – Techniques of the Selling Writer

The Process
Pre-Course Work
Before the course starts, you will follow a process to explore and clarify your entire story. Often you will find that the insights you’ve gained through the writing in the Third Draft will impact your character development and story structure.
Class Sessions – 10 am – 6 pm
The mornings are dedicated to feedback on the writing.
In the afternoons, you will work on the art and craft of re-writing and editing. Including, sub-text, subplots, relationship arcs, exploring and developing your theme, fleshing out the antagonists, minor characters and inner character journeys.
When doing the re-writing and editing, it is critical that you are clear about all your characters’ motivations and that your story structure is sound for you to get the most useful feedback on your writing.
You will be given targeted exercises designed to keep you on track and help you further develop your characters, story and writing skills.
As you start incorporating the feedback and what you’ve learnt, your writing will jump to another level.
“As I was reading everyone’s work for this session, I felt that the writing in general has reached a close-to-publishable standard, better than many of the printed books I read.”
Wallace Lee
End of Course
Towards the end of the course, your assigned editor will read and critique 12,000 words of your story and you will have a one-on-one consultation.
You will have all the tools you need to complete your novel.

Course Outcomes
During Third Draft – Part 2 you will:
1. Learn how to develop the right pacing in your story so the character journey and the action of your story work in tandem in a dramatic, seamless and engaging way. The idea is to keep developing and revealing layers of your characters while pulling the reader through the story, having them wanting to know what happens next. You will do this by rigorously examining the structure of chapters, taking the drama and depth to another level
2. Develop the generic tools of Third Draft to further cultivate your voice so that your novel is unique to you and your characters. This involves digging deeper into your characters and story by weaving inner dialogue, back story and finding surprising and revealing emotional responses to the events of your story in a way that reveals more and more about who your characters are and makes them come alive over the course of your story.
3. Further develop irony and subtext so that you are aware of the deeper themes running through your story and revealing them in a subtle yet emotionally engaging way. We touch on this in Third Draft and take it much further in Third Draft Part 2.
4. Explore why you are the perfect person to write your story and learn how to make that reveal itself on the page and enrich your story. This is how you create your unique voice in a way that is individual to you and makes your story different to all the other stories in the world. Finding your unique voice and take on the world is what will make your story and writing stand out.
5. Reveal information about your character in a systematic and dramatic way that builds without feeling forced and creates maximum impact on your reader. By the time you submit your 12,000 words, you will be thrilled by the advances you have made as a writer and storyteller and have all the tools you need to finish your novel.
You can also come to a bonus class in October where we will explore and develop your moral dilemmas and your opponent giving greater depth to their motivation.
Kelly Rigby
Kelly Rigby is an editor and coach who is passionate about helping writers tell their stories and polish their words. Over the past 20 years she has developed a unique combination of writing, marketing and teaching experience, and holds qualifications in creative writing, business and TESOL.
Kelly has edited and assessed manuscripts from most genres, and mentored writers at all levels of ability, including two who have gone on to win Varuna Fellowships. She has also written two short films and numerous short stories, and been published in a Louise Hay book – Modern Day Miracles, as well as on the web.
Kelly first came to the Writers Studio in 2004 and discovered she had a natural instinct for story structure. Since then, she has continued to study writing and hone her craft, and is at the final edit stage of the first book in a new urban fantasy series.
Zahid Gamieldien
Zahid Gamieldien is an author, editor, screenwriter, tutor, and lawyer. He has a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a major in writing. He’s served as a member of the Australian Classification Board and has also worked as a solicitor in the areas of migration law, media law, and government.
Since 2015, his fiction has been regularly published in major literary journals, including Overland, Meanjin, Mascara Literary Review, and Tincture. His short stories and television writing have also been shortlisted for awards, such as The Cupboard’s 2015 international short story award and the Australian Writers’ Guild’s John Hinde Award 2016. Zahid tutors writers in our Novel & Script Second & Third Live and Online Courses. He is working on a collection of short stories, a television series, and a novel.
Session Dates and Times
Third Draft Part 2 Live – 13 July 2025
All workshops run from 10am to 6pm except final session: 2.00pm to 6.00pm & drinks.
Session 1: Sunday 13 July 2025
Session 2: Sunday 31 August 2025
Session 3: Sunday 19 October 2025
Session 4: Sunday 7 December 2025
XMAS BREAK
Session 5: Saturday 31 January 2026
Session 6: Sunday 3 May 2026
Third Draft Part 2 Live – 10 August 2024
All workshops run from 10am to 6pm except final session: 2.00pm to 6.00pm & drinks.
Session 1: Saturday 10 August 2024
Session 2: Sunday 29 September 2024
Session 3: Saturday 16 November 2024
XMAS BREAK
Session 4: Saturday 8 February 2025
Session 5: Sunday 23 March 2025
Session 6: Sunday 15 June 2025