The Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction assessments for 28 November are BOOKED OUT. Sign up for our waitlist here to find out when they will be running again. In the meantime, check out our list of current courses or sign up for our Newsbite weekly newsletter for updates.

Do you need expert insight to help your manuscript reach its full potential? Do you need advice on character, story, dialogue, tone, pacing, or style? In a one-hour session, one of our industry-experienced manuscript assessors will provide guidance to help your manuscript reach its full potential.

What should I expect?

This is an opportunity to discuss your work-in-progress with our industry-experienced assessors. Feedback may cover topics such as plot, structure, character development, dialogue, pace, point of view, voice, tone, style and/or readership. Though your synopsis is provided as a guide for the assessor, the assessor may provide feedback on it as relevant.

You will receive a brief written summary of the assessor’s key feedback points; however, you will not receive edits on your manuscript submission. This one-on-one meeting is a chance to discuss issues and potential solutions, and to ask questions.

All of our assessments are carried out via Zoom or a phone call. Occasionally, we hold in-person assessments at our building in Callan Park, Sydney, and this will be made clear when you choose your time slot.

Please note: There is a limit of one booking per person.

Is my manuscript eligible?

Our assessors will accept adult fiction manuscripts in any genre, as well as narrative non-fiction including memoir, biography, and travel. Please note, short story collections are not eligible for our manuscript assessments. For feedback on short stories, we recommend our online short story courses.

If you’re writing other forms of non-fiction, such as self-help, cookbooks, or instruction books, please see our non-fiction assessments.
If you’re writing YA, please see our YA assessments.

Next dates:

• Thursday 28 November 2024, with Laurel Cohn – in person at Writing NSW – BOOKED OUT. 
• If this date doesn’t work for you, Join the waitlist for future Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction Manuscript Assessments

Submission requirements

You will need to provide the following in one document at least 10 days before your assessment:

• the first 4000 words of your manuscript*
• a one-page synopsis, up to 300 words (need help with your synopsis? Please see our guide to writing a synopsis)
• a brief writing CV including a statement of goals for this manuscript, no more than one page

*Please note that if your manuscript excerpt exceeds the word limit, it will be truncated at 4000 words before being forwarded to the assessor. Please respect the time the assessor is dedicating to reading your work by sticking to the industry standard formatting and word limit. Thank you.

Submitting your work

Once you have paid for your appointment, you will need to submit your materials at least 10 days before your assessment as one document in MS Word format. Your document must be formatted to industry standards, as follows:

• Line spacing: 1.5 or double
• Font: Times New Roman
• Size: 12 pt
• Margins: minimum 3 cm all round (Word default margins are fine)
• Paragraphing: indent all paragraphs except the first paragraph of a new chapter or section; only put spaces between paragraphs where you wish to indicate a section break
• Text should be range left (which means the right edge is ‘ragged’), not justified
• Page numbers: consecutive from beginning to end

You can submit your document via our submission form.

Please note: There is a limit of one booking per person.