The Clarendon House Master Author Programme - an Update

It’s been a while since I’ve spoken about the Clarendon House Master Author Programme. You may have seen the ad for it in the monthly Inner Circle Writers’ Magazine. As some of you have expressed an interest, I thought I’d give you a quick update and as much guidance as I can at this stage as to how it works, costs and so on.

The whole idea of the Master Author Programme is to create confident and creative authors, who go on to become published and successful. Success would be defined by each individual, but the programme would offer an opportunity for a graduate to get published and achieve commercial gain as well as recognition and a secure knowledge that they could write and sell good books.

A large proportion of the programme would be going ‘back to school’ to study many of the greats and what made them great — the secrets of structure, character design, rhythm, pacing, authorial voice and all the rest of the ways in which master authors have established themselves through the centuries. This would be done through both modular courses and personal tuition.

The programme will require serious commitment, not only of time but of money. It will be laid out like a course in a college or university over a two year period, with a comprehensive curriculum, with regular personal tutoring, commensurate with studying at a university. Costs will be in the region of £4,800.00 for the complete two years of studies, though scholarships and payment plans will be available.

Like a university course, the programme will consist of weekly tuition and assignments leading up to major tasks which will form the foundation of graduation. One of the final products will be a fully-fledged work of fiction with a guaranteed publishing contract and marketing plan.

This isn’t going to be for everyone, not just because of the costs involved. So, who exactly is the Master Programme designed for?

You should consider the Master Programme if:

• you want to learn about literature — poetry, prose, plays — at a fundamental level, studying its principles in a way not possible through any other course anywhere in the world

• you are prepared to make a commitment of time each week over a two year period (with regular seasonal terms and holiday periods allowed for)

• you want to learn with a view to applying techniques and principles to your own writing, guided by personal tuition

• you have access to finances sufficient to cover the costs of the programme (as mentioned, scholarships and payment plans will be available if you are financially qualified)

• you have a sufficiently free lifestyle to enable you to do the programme without serious distractions.

You should probably not consider the Master Programme if:

• you consider that you have enough of a working knowledge of literature and its underlying principles, including the key principles of marketing fiction, to become a successful author

• you do not think you will be able to make a commitment of time each week over a two year period

• you do not have access to finances sufficient to cover the costs of the programme even allowing for scholarships and payment plans

• your lifestyle would not enable you to do the programme.

The prices related to the programme and details of how it will work are available upon application only, as only writers who are seriously committed to long-term goals usually apply. If you’d like to know more about the Clarendon House Master Author Programme, please email me:

grant@clarendonhousebooks.com

We can have an interesting discussion about it and how it might apply to you.