Write Your Fantasy Novel - 7 Week Online Course

Were you the kid in school looking out the window and seeing dragons on the sports field?

Good! You need to join this course.

Write Your Fantasy Novel is our 7-week online course designed to give you the tools and structure you need to get your fantasy novel written.

Whether it's stuck in your head, lost in a sea of FINAL-FINAL-THIS-ONE drafts, or a mess of half-finished chapters that never quite glue together, we've got you.

This will be useful for you if you're at the start, lost in the maze of the middle, or trying to just FINISH THE THING.

On this course we'll be going back to basics. Well talk about premise, world creation, character journey, symbolism, metaphor, plot structure, and how to approach your writing and drafting process as if you're a writer AND then an editor.

We'll also offer a BONUS 1:1 mentoring session with Michelle on your chosen topic - including querying or self-publishing, to help you decide the best route for your novel.

Run by former educator, writer, and co-founder of Ironclad Creative, Michelle Allen.
The course is partly to celebrate the self-publication of her novel, Otherlings, by her new indie publishing house, Precocious Press, writer and Ironclad Creative Co-founder, Michelle Allen, is running this exciting online short course all about FANTASY NOVELS

Ironclad Creative is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company built by and for storytellers.

We run writers’ spaces, retreats, workshops, and offer short story publications and theatre bursaries, with a mission to support creators, especially those facing additional barriers or working on low incomes.

Course structure

Duration: 7 weeks

Time: Mondays, 7pm–8:30pm

Dates: 5th Jan 2026 - 16th Feb 2026

Format: Online, live, interactive

Group size

• `MAX of 10 students

Price

• £250 per person
• Creative Cauldron members receive 20% off (£200)

Format:

1 hour 30min classes:

40 minutes - teaching on the subject of the week

20 minutes - Read aloud exercises as a group (optional)

30 minutes - Writing exercise

Each week you'll be given a task to complete and email over to Michelle to read before the session. These are optional. The tasks will allow you the flexibility to apply the exercise to either a stand-alone piece or your current draft / characters.

You'll also be given the chance to read these aloud to the group for feedback - again, totally optional if reading aloud fills you with dread.

Michelle Allen

Michelle is a writer.

Michelle has worked in the creative industry for over fifteen years and was the Assistant Producer for Curated Acts at Reading Fringe Festival in addition to producing and writing independently as one half of Cast Iron Theatre.

After script reading for the BBC Writers Room and Theatre 503, Michelle gained an MA Screenwriting at Nation Film and Television School (NFTS) and was the winner of NBC Universal & SyFy Channel's Original TV Pitch Competition for the series Mimicry, which was developed to treatment stage with mentoring from Carnival Films.

​Michelle’s plays have been staged in London, the US and Brighton. In 2021 she was selected to attend the Curtis Brown Breakthrough Novel Writing programme for her manuscript, Otherlings, which will be released in 2025 as part of her new publishing imprint - Precocious Press!

In addition to being the Co-founder of Ionclad Creative CIC, ​Michelle is also a creative strategist and mentor, working with people who don’t fit into neat categories: creative thinkers, business owners, and neurodivergent people who want to build something real without burning out or boxing themselves in.

Michelle is currently qualifying as a personal trainer, bringing strength and body-based support into the wider work she does with creative clients.

She’s the host of the Resting Biz Face podcast.