The Long Draft Live Weekend

The Long Draft Live Intensive

A live weekend intensive on understanding and shaping your novel  with focused teaching, practical exercises, and guidance from a published author.

Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 June
 1:30–4:00pm (UK time)
 Live on Zoom

Fees

  • Free for Lemonade members

  • £99 for REWRITE members

  • £350 for non-members

*LIMITED PLACES*

The Long Draft is a live, two-day intensive for writers who want to understand their novel and move it forward — without rushing, forcing, or burning out.

This weekend is for writers who know they have a book in them, but feel unsure about how to hold it, shape it, and keep going.

If you’ve been stuck at the beginning, lost in the middle, or overwhelmed by the idea of finishing, this intensive will help you slow the process down so you can see your work clearly again.

Who this is for

  1. Writers working on adult fiction
  2. Writers at any stage, from early ideas to later drafts
  3. Writers who are considering submission to agents or publishers, or simply want to ‘finish’
  4. Black women and women of colour looking for a supportive writing space

What you’ll gain

By the end of the weekend, you will:

  1. understand the full process of writing a novel
  2. know where you are in your draft
  3. gain confidence in your writing
  4. have a realistic plan for moving forward
  5. Understand the publishing process
  6. connect with a community of other Black women and women of colour writers

CONTENT

We’ll cover:

  1. Where are you in the novel process?
     Ideas, prewriting, early draft, messy middle, revision — and what each stage requires.
  2. Barriers and fears
     Naming what’s getting in the way (time, fear, perfectionism, clarity) and learning how to work with it, not against it.
  3. Moving forward intentionally
     Creating a healthy writing practice, setting clear aims for your novel, and choosing realistic next steps that fit your life.

We’ll cover:

  1. Writing the novel
     Ideas, outlining, and shaping plots 
  2. Craft: Character, plot, dialogue, POV, and setting
  3. Editing and revisions
  4. Routes into publication
     An overview of different pathways into traditional publishing

Meet Your Tutor

Christina Fonthes is an award-winning Congolese-British writer and the author of Where You Go, I Will Go—a powerful debut novel set between Kinshasa, London, and Paris. The book explores the intricacies of mother-daughter relationships, and queer African lives.

Christina is the founder of REWRITE, an organisation dedicated to supporting and championing Black women and women of colour writers.

In 2021, Christina was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Sky Arts Writers Award for Fiction and was mentored by acclaimed authors Bernardine Evaristo and Irenosen Okojie.

REGISTER HERE

GET REWRITE MEMBERSHIP HERE
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