A live 12-week online programme for aspiring psychological thriller writers.
Have you always wanted to write a psychological thriller but aren’t sure where to start? Or perhaps you’ve already begun your novel and need the structure, guidance and support to move it forward.
Led by bestselling psychological thriller author Alex Stone, this live online programme will help you develop your idea or work-in-progress into a compelling psychological thriller.
Across 12 weeks, you’ll move through three carefully structured stages — building the foundations of your thriller, developing the craft of a page-turning story, and strengthening your novel as you look towards completion and publication.
1 October – 17 December 2026
Thursdays, 7–9pm | Live online
Full 12-week programme: £595 | £565 Author Events members
Prefer to join for one block? Four-week blocks are £199 each.
Secure card payment via SumUp
The Course
You don’t need to arrive with a finished manuscript — or even a fully developed idea.
The programme is designed for writers at different stages. You might have an idea you love but not know whether there’s enough story to sustain a novel. You might already be writing but have reached the point where something isn’t quite working. Or perhaps you have a completed draft and want to understand how to make it stronger.
Throughout the 12 weeks, you’ll apply what you’re learning directly to your own psychological thriller, gradually developing the different elements of your story as the course progresses.
More Than a Weekly Class
This isn’t a pre-recorded course to work through alone. The programme is built around live interaction, practical application and access to an ongoing writing community.
You’ll benefit from:
- 12 weekly live online teaching sessions with Alex Stone
- Practical exercises and downloadable resources to apply to your own novel
- Five specialist guest experts across three dedicated sessions, covering crime and investigation, professional editing, literary representation and publishing
- Live discussion and Q&A
- Access to the Author Events Writers’ Hub, where you can submit questions in advance or ask them live, chat with Alex and other authors, and gain feedback, insights and different perspectives
- A small, supportive cohort of fellow writers developing their work alongside you
- 12 months’ Author Events membership included for non-members
Your Course Leader
About Alex Stone
Alex Stone is the bestselling author of five psychological thrillers, with more than 275,000 books sold.
Alex brings the perspective of someone who has built a writing career from the ground up. Drawing on her own route from accountant to published author, she shares the practical techniques, decisions, challenges and lessons that have shaped her novels and career.
Rather than focusing solely on writing theory, Alex will show you how she approaches the craft in practice — including what has worked, what hasn’t, and what she wishes she’d known when she began.
The result is a practical, interactive programme designed to help you take what you learn and apply it directly to your own psychological thriller.
MEET YOUR GUEST EXPERTS
Across the programme, you’ll also hear directly from professionals working across crime investigation, editing, literary representation and publishing.
Stuart Gibbon
Former Senior Detective & Crime Consultant
Stuart spent more than 30 years in policing, serving as a detective at every rank from Constable to Chief Inspector. As a specially trained Senior Investigating Officer, he led murder investigations and worked within major crime support across the East Midlands.
Now a crime consultant, Stuart advises authors on police procedure and investigative authenticity and has also advised Alex on her own novels.
Joining Week 4: Crime, Investigation & Authenticity
Emily Reader
Professional Editor
Emily is an experienced structural editor, copy editor and proofreader who has worked on hundreds of commercial fiction titles for publishers including Boldwood Books and Head of Zeus.
She has also worked professionally on Alex’s novels and brings extensive experience across thrillers, romance, historical fiction, fantasy and cosy crime.
Joining Week 8: Through an Editor’s Eyes
Meet Your Publishing Panel
In the final week, Alex will be joined by a literary agent and two leading publishers for a live conversation exploring what happens when a manuscript leaves the writer’s desk and enters the publishing world.
Emma Grundy Haigh
Editorial Director, Boldwood Books
Emma Grundy Haigh is Editorial Director at Boldwood Books and has spent nineteen years working across Man Booker Prize shortlisters, dazzling debuts and commercial bestsellers for publishers large and small.
Her list focuses heavily on romance, romantasy and thrillers of all genres. Previously at DK, Joffe Books and Avon Books, Emma was named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2022 and shortlisted for Editor of the Year at the 2024 British Book Awards.
Joining Week 12: From Manuscript to Publication
Nicky Lovick
Literary Agent, WGM Atlantic
Nicky worked in-house for big and small publishers for almost a decade and has freelanced continuously for twenty years. She currently works for Penguin, Random House, Transworld, BBC Books, Orion, John Blake, Blink, Bonnier, Quercus, Profile and Atlantic, among many others. She also works with many self-publishing authors and as a book agent at WGM Atlantic.
Joining Week 12: From Manuscript to Publication
Phoebe Morgan
Executive Publisher, Simon & Schuster
Phoebe Morgan is the Executive Publisher at Simon & Schuster UK, running the Adult Fiction list. She is also a bestselling author of five thrillers, published by HarperCollins. She was shortlisted for Editor of the Year in 2022, and runs a Substack called The Honest Editor, aimed at improving transparency within the publishing industry. She is passionate about finding new voices and building brands.
Joining Week 12: From Manuscript to Publication
The 12-Week Programme
The programme is divided into three four-week blocks, taking you from the foundations of your psychological thriller through the craft of building suspense and intrigue, to strengthening your manuscript and understanding the route towards publication.
Each block combines live teaching with practical exercises, discussion and opportunities to apply what you’re learning to your own work. Selected sessions will feature specialist guest experts, bringing real-world crime, editorial and publishing insight into the programme.
Block One: Foundations
Develop your idea, characters and story world
Week 1 — Premise, Hook & Opening Pages
What makes a compelling psychological thriller? Develop your central premise, identify the question that will keep readers turning the pages and explore how to create an opening that immediately draws them into your story.
Week 2 — Characters, Secrets & Psychological Motivation
Create complex, believable characters whose fears, desires, relationships and secrets drive the story. Explore motivation, internal and external conflict, power dynamics and the psychology behind your protagonist and antagonist.
Week 3 — Setting, Atmosphere & Creating Unease
Discover how setting can become an integral part of your thriller. Explore atmosphere, isolation, confinement and sensory detail, and learn how familiar places can be transformed into environments filled with tension and unease.
Week 4 — Crime, Investigation & Authenticity
Featuring Stuart Gibbon — Former Senior Detective & Crime Consultant
Go behind the scenes of real-world crime and investigation. Explore police procedure, evidence, interviews and investigative realities, with the opportunity to put questions relating to your own story directly to an experienced former detective.
Block Two: Craft
Build a story that keeps readers turning the pages
Week 5 — Structure, Plot & Story Architecture
Turn your idea into a compelling narrative. Explore turning points, escalation, cause and effect, timelines and different approaches to plotting, and develop a structure that supports both your story and characters.
Week 6 — Suspense, Tension & Pacing
Learn how to control the reader’s experience. Explore escalating stakes, uncertainty, threats, chapter structure and pacing, and discover techniques for creating and sustaining tension throughout your novel.
Week 7 — Voice, Point of View & the Unreliable Narrator
Explore who should tell your story — and what they allow the reader to know. Look at first and third person, single and multiple viewpoints, distinctive narrative voice and the particular opportunities and challenges of unreliable narrators.
Week 8 — Through an Editor’s Eyes
Featuring Emily Reader — Professional Editor
Discover what happens when a professional editor approaches a manuscript. Explore what an editor looks for, the different stages of the editorial process and the author-editor relationship, with an opportunity to ask your questions live.
Block Three: ADVANCE
Bring the pieces together and take your novel forward
Week 9 — Twists, Reveals, Clues & Misdirection
Learn how to create twists that surprise without cheating the reader. Explore clues, red herrings, misdirection and carefully timed revelations — and how to work backwards from a major reveal to plant what the reader needs along the way.
Week 10 — Endings & Delivering the Payoff
Bring your thriller to a satisfying conclusion. Explore climaxes, final revelations, character resolution and how to deliver on the promises and questions established at the beginning of your novel.
Week 11 — From First Draft to Submission-Ready
Learn how to step back from a completed draft and identify what needs strengthening. Explore structural revision, scene and prose editing, working with beta readers and feedback, and the stages involved in moving towards a submission-ready manuscript.
Week 12 — From Manuscript to Publication
Featuring Emma Grundy-Haigh, Nicky Lovick, and Phoebe Morgan
Take an inside look at what happens when you’re ready to send your novel into the world. In this live panel session, a literary agent and two publishers will share their perspectives on what they look for, submissions and acquisitions, positioning your novel and what happens when someone says yes, followed by an extended opportunity to ask your own questions.
Your Wednesday Writers’ Hub
The learning doesn’t stop when Thursday’s class finishes.
Course participants will also have access to the Author Events Writers’ Hub on Wednesday evenings — an informal, interactive online space where you can submit questions in advance or ask them live, chat with Alex and other authors, and gain feedback, insights and different perspectives as your work develops.
Stay Part of the Community
Non-member bookings include 12 months’ Author Events membership, so your support and writing community don’t end when the 12-week programme finishes.
Membership includes continued access to the Writers’ Hub, member discounts on selected Author Events masterclasses and events, opportunities to connect with other writers, and access to member resources and opportunities.
Ready to develop your psychological thriller?
1 October – 17 December 2026
Thursdays, 7–9pm | Live online
£595 standard | £565 Author Events members
Payment plan available.
Non-member bookings include 12 months’ Author Events membership.
Places are limited to keep the course interactive.
Secure card payment via SumUp