Date/Time
Date(s) - Tue 2nd Sep - Thu 25th Sep, 2025
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Explore the wonders of writing fiction set in the past
Join historical novelist Victoria MacKenzie for a lively online course exploring the art of writing compelling and vivid historical fiction. This 4-week course is aimed at anyone interested in writing a historical novel, whether you’ve already completed a draft or just have the first spark of an idea.
We’ll discuss some of the key aspects of writing historical fiction, including different research methods, and how to combine research with more imaginative approaches to the past. We’ll look at excerpts from published novels as we consider different ways of creating convincing characters whose worldviews might be very different from our own, and think about how to fully inhabit characters living through tumultuous historical events. We’ll explore some of the potentials and pitfalls of writing dialogue, including using historical vocabulary and slang. Finally, we’ll look at how to shape a novel and different ways of structuring your writing to build a compelling story. Each interactive workshop will include writing prompts and time for your own writing.
Moniack in a Month: Historical Fiction includes:
- a short introductory welcome session
- four stimulating online workshops, preceded by optional drop-in social time
- one 30-minute tutorial
- a final ceilidh session – sharing of work
- Contact and support from your community of writers via Google Classroom (optional)
- Drop-ins before each workshop to help you get to know your group (optional)
- Support from your Moniack Mhor host
Victoria’s workshops will focus on the following themes:
Workshop 1 – Research and the Imagination
In this workshop we’ll discuss how to approach the research process, but not get swamped by it! We’ll explore ways to balance fact and fiction, consider when it’s okay to make things up, and how to bring history to life.
Workshop 2 – Both Like Us and Not Like Us
This workshop will focus on creating convincing, vivid characters that readers are drawn to, as well as considering the fascinating tension between characters that are both of their own time yet speak to ours.
Workshop 3 – Talking to the Past
Dialogue can be one of the trickiest aspects of fiction to get right – especially when your work is set in the past. In this workshop we’ll consider some of the key issues around getting your characters to sound like real people.
Workshop 4 – Telling the Story
An exploration of different ways to shape and structure your novel, thinking about pacing, shifts in time, flashbacks and flashforwards, and the importance of narrative tension.
Timetable
Week 1 Tuesday 2 Sep 18:30–21:00 Welcome Session and Workshop 1
Week 2 Tuesday 9 Sep 19:00–21:00 Workshop 2
Week 3 Tuesday 16 Sep 19:00–21:00 Workshop 3
Week 4 Tuesday 23 Sep 19:00–21:00 Workshop 4
Week 4 Thursday 25 Sep 19:00–21:00 Ceilidh
Tutorials
Your one-to-one tutorial with Victoria will be scheduled when the course starts and will most likely take place in weeks 2 or 3.
Tutor
Victoria MacKenzie is a fiction writer and poet based in Scotland. Her debut novel, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain (Bloomsbury, 2023), explored the lives of the medieval mystics Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. It won The Saltire Society First Book Award and was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Her second novel, Each leaf, each curve of stem, about the Victorian art critic John Ruskin, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2026.
Fees
The full fee for this online course is £360. A deposit of £100 is required to secure your place, which is non-refundable after a 14-day cooling-off period. The balance payment of £260 is due six weeks before the course begins.
Bursaries are available, and you also have the option to pay in instalments, please email online@moniackmhor.org.uk to enquire.
All activity takes place on Zoom, and workshops include a short break. Moniack Mhor staff will be on hand to support you during your course.
For more information please email online@moniackmhor.org.uk.
Access
Please let us know in your booking form if you have any access requirements when working online so we can do our best to support you. For more information about access to our courses, please visit our Access page.
Terms and Conditions
Please read our Terms & Conditions before booking.