The London Writers' Salon - A Global Community of Writers

Outcomes

• Build a writing practice with 21 live weekly Writers' Hours
• Level up your writing craft w/ expert interviews & workshops
• Access 350+ interview and workshop recordings
• Monthly Goal Setting workshops to plan your month ahead
• Connect with creative friends around the world

What's included?

• Writers' Hour

  Join free, live writing sessions held multiple times a day across different time zones. These structured, silent writing hours help you build a steady writing habit alongside hundreds of writers worldwide.

• Private Online Community

  Connect with a global network of writers through the members’ portal. You can join genre-based rooms, discuss your projects, and find accountability partners or writing pods.

• Live Interviews, Workshops and Q&As with Agents & Editors

  Attend live conversations and workshops with bestselling authors, editors, agents, and publishing professionals who share their creative process, career insights, and writing advice.

Courses

Start Your Substack

5 sections • 22 lessons

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INTRODUCTION & GETTING STARTED

1.💌 Welcome to 'Start Your Substack'!

2.🎥 Q&A: Getting Started with Substack

WEEK 1: Clarify Your Creative Vision for Your Newsletter

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Clarifying Your Creative Vision

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Draft Your Creative Vision Statement

3.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Find Your Newsletter Role Models

4. ✅ ASSIGNMENT: Brainstorm Possibilities for Your Substack

WEEK 2: Branding & Visual Identity

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Branding & Visual Identity

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Write Copy for Your Welcome Page, About Page & Welcome Email

3.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Design Your Logo, Wordmark, and Cover Image (Optional)

4.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Set Up Your Substack Account & Create Your Newsletter

5.🎥 BONUS: Canva Walk-Through Video: Logo, Watermarks, Cover Image

6.🎥 BONUS: How to Set Up Your Substack Account & Create Your Newsletter

7.🎥 BONUS: How to Setup Your Newsletter and Upload your Logo & Designs

WEEK 3: Write & Publish Your First Post

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Brainstorm, Write & Publish Your First Post

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Write, Edit & Publish Your First Post

WEEK 4: Sustain & Grow Your Newsletter

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Sustain & Grow Your Newsletter

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Invite Your First 10 Readers

3.🎥 BONUS: Substack Tools: Notes, Threads, & Chat

4.🎥 BONUS: Substack Dashboard & Settings

5.🎥 Q&A: Katie O'Connell, Writer Programs Lead at Substack

6.💌 Substacks Launched from LWS Community

7.🎉 Congrats & Next Steps!

Query With Confidence

8 sections • 38 lessons

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Week 0 - Welcome!

1.🎥 Welcome! How This Course Works For Self-Paced Students (3:13 min)

2.✍🏼 An Overview of the Course

3.📃 All Resources (in one place!)

Week 1 - Introduction to Querying & The Publishing Landscape

1.🎥 1.1: Intro To Querying & The Publishing Landscape (4.15 min)

2.🎥 1.2: The Role Of A Literary Agent (7.15 min)

3.🎥 1.3: The Role Of An Editor (4.12 min)

4.🎥 1.4: Submitting To An Agent (4 min)

5.🎯WEEK 1 ACTION: Find Comparisons For Your Book

Week 2 - Drafting & Refining Your Query Letter

1.🎥 2.1 Craft Your Query Letter - An Introduction (3.16m)

2.🎥 2.2: The Anatomy Of A Query Letter - The 5 Sections (9.23m)

3.🎥 Section 1: The Opening (9.29m)

4.🎥 Section 2: The Hook (12.25m)

5.🎥 Section 3: The Positioning (10.08m)

6.🎥 Section 4: The Bio (13.05m)

7.🎥 Section 5: The Closing (7.02m)

8.🎯 Week 2 ACTION: Refine Your Query Letter

9.💡 Extra Resources

Week 3 - Organise Your Query System

1.🎥 3.1: Are you Ready To Query? (4.13 min)

2.🎥 3.2: Building Your List Of Dream Agents (7.52 min)

3.🎥 3.3: Staying Organized In The Query Process (11.18 min)

4.🎥 3.4: Additional Resources + Next Steps (1.46 min)

5.🎯 Week 3 ACTION: Organize and Strategize

Week 4: Sustaining the Journey

1.🎥 4.1: What To Expect When Querying (2.59 min)

2.🎥 4.2: Dos and Don'ts of Querying (4.32 min)

3.🎥 4.3: Following Up (> 1 min)

4.🎥 4.4: The Call (2.38 min)

5.🎥 4.5: Receiving An Offer (2.51 min)

6.🎥 4.6: Reevaluate & Revising Your Manuscript (1.41 min)

7.🎥 4.7: Keeping Your Creative Spirit! (3.21 min)

8.🎯 Week 4 ACTION: Submit Your Query Letter

9.❓Next Steps FAQs

Bonus Resources - Writing A Synopsis

1.🎥 Writing A Synopsis with Abigail Mann (51 min)

2.📃 Synopsis Examples

Bonus Resources - Q&A with Authors - My Query Journey

1.🎥 Q&A w/ Rachel - My Query Journey (16:24min)

2.🎥 Q&A w/ Abigail - My Query Journey (19:38 min)

Bonus Resources - Interviews w/ Literary Agents - What I'm Looking For

1.🎥Live Podcast Interview w/ Literary Agent Madeline Milburn (63 min)

2.🎥 Live Podcast Interview w/ Literary Agent Ed Wilson (68 min)

3.🎥 Live Podcast Interview w/ Literary Agent Lucinda Halpern: How to Get Signed 1hr 25 min

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Intro to Creative Writing

4 sections • 12 lessons

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WEEK 1: Opening the Creative Floodgates

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Opening the Creative Floodgates

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Discovery & Excavation

3.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Creation & Crafting

4.📚 BONUS: Prompts & Recommended Reading

WEEK 2: Form, Structure & Embodied Writing

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Form, Structure & Embodied Writing

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Write a New Piece in a New Form

3.📚 BONUS: Prompts, Exercises & Recommended Reading

WEEK 3: Deepening Emotional Truth & Meaning

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Deepening Emotional Truth & Meaning

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Write a New Piece Exploring Emotional Truth

WEEK 4: Revision, Risk, & Art as Offering

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Revision, Risk, & Art as Offering

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Revise a Piece of Writing

3.📖 BONUS: Weekly Creative Writing Prompts

Write Short Stories

7 sections • 21 lessons

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INTRODUCTION & GETTING STARTED

1.🗒️ Welcome to Write Short Stories!

2.🎥 Q&A: Get Started With Short Stories w/ Niamh Mulvey

WEEK 1: Discover Your Character

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Discover Your Character

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Explore your character’s wants

3.📚 BONUS: Week 1 Recommended Reading

Week 2: Explore Place & World

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Exploring Place and World

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT: Write the opening of your story

3.📚 BONUS: Week 2 Recommended Reading

4. 🎥 BONUS: Q&A w/ Award Winning Short Story Writer Lucy Caldwell

Week 3: Uncover Movement and Plot

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Uncover Movement & Plot

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT - Communicate movement in your story 

3.📚BONUS: Week 3 Recommended Reading

Week 4: Create a Powerful Ending

1.🎥 SEMINAR: Create a Powerful Ending

2.✅ ASSIGNMENT - Finish your story

3.🎥 Final Q&A w/ Editor Niamh Mulvey

Wrap Up & Bonus

1.🎧 What's Next and final tips from Niamh

2.📚 BONUS - Where to Submit Your Short Story

Bonus Interviews & Workshops

1.🎥 BONUS INTERVIEW: Jonathan Escoffery: Writing Life-Inspired Short Stories

2.🎥 BONUS WORKSHOP: Hooking Readers in Short Stories w/ Tommy Dean

3.🎥 BONUS INTERVIEW w/ Huma Qureshi: The Art and Craft of Short Story Writing

4.🎥 BONUS WORKSHOP: How to Receive Critical Feedback On Your Writing w/ Niamh Mulvey

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Idea To Outline

5 sections • 35 lessons

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Welcome To The Idea to Outline Course

1.👋🏼Welcome Self-paced Students

2.✍🏼 An Overview of the Course

3.📚 Resources List

4.❓FAQs

Week 1: Characters

1.🎥 1.1 Introduction To Character (2.53 min)

2.🎥 1.2 Exercise A: Character - Diving Deeper (4.06 min)

3.🎥 1.3 Be Specific In Language & Imagery (4.13 min)

4.🎥 1.4 Exercise B: Character - Diving Even Deeper (11.30 min)

5.🎥 1.5 John Yorke's 5 Act Structure (5.59 min)

6.🎥 1.6 What is Point of View (POV)? (4.09 min)

7.🎥 1.7 Understanding Dialogue (14.15 min)

8.🎥 1.8 Exercise C: Write a Scene Using Dialogue (8.59 min)

9.🎯1.9 Week 1 Homework (est time: 1 hour)

Week 2: Setting & World Building

1.🎥 2.1 Introduction To Setting & World Building (8.22 min)

2.🎥 2.2 Writing Exercise A: Creating a Path (8.16 min)

3.🎥 2.3 The Art of World Building (6.23 min)

4.🎥 2.4. World Building In Pullman's Northern Lights (6.47 min)

5.🎥 2.5 World Building In Mantel's 'Bring Out The Bodies' (6.11 min)

6.🎥 2.6 Writing Exercise - Visualization & Writing With All The Senses (17.39 min)

7.🎯 2.7. Week 2 Homework (est time: 1 hour)

Week 3: An Introduction To Structure

1.🎥 3.1 Introduction (3.05 min)

2.🎥 3.2 John Yorke's 10 Questions (3.05 min)

3.🎥 3.3 Exercise A - 10 Story Questions (5.19 min)

4.🎥 3.4 Why Do We Need Structure? (6.26 min)

5.🎥 3.5: Exercise B: Your Key Scenes (10.31 min)

6.🎥 3.6 A Reflection On The Exercise & Your Key Scenes (2.33 min)

7.🎥 3.7 Pace (2.14 min)

8.🎥 3.8 John York's 5 Act Structure - The Hobbit (7.05 min)

9.🎥 3.9 Exercise C - Use Road-Map (11.26 min)

10. 🎥3.10 Pixar Structure + Homework (est time: 1 hour)

11.🎯 Week 3 Homework - Write Your Outline (est time: 90 min)

Week 4: Common Questions & Next Steps

1.🎥 4.1 Recap + Inciting Incident (7.41 min)

2.🎥 4.2 Q&A (13.57 min)

3.🎥 4.3 Next Steps + Homework (4.14 min)

4.🎯 Week 4 Homework - Write Your Synopsis

Who is this for?

• Anyone who writes and wants help building a writing practice
• Professional writers
• Hobby writers
• New writers
• People who journal