How To Write a Bestseller: a Masterclass in Popular Fiction with Sheila O’Flanagan
Info
Date: October 17, 2026
Time: 10.00 am – 1.00 pm
Duration: 3 Hours
Level: Advanced | Intermediate | Beginner |
Cost: €75 (€68 Members)
Location: Irish Writers Centre
This masterclass will take place in-person on Saturday 17 October 2026.
Course Summary
This masterclass will help new and intermediate writers to craft engaging fiction with authentic characters, realistic dialogue and contemporary plotlines.
Course Outline
The participants will focus on the elements that make a readable, engrossing popular fiction novel.
- A brief exploration of the genre
- Structuring your novel
- Characterisation and dialogue
- Research
- Working with an editor
- How to pitch to an agent
- Publishing your book
Course Outcomes
A clearer understanding of how to plan and structure a novel. How to write realistic dialogue. How to work with an editor. An understanding of the publishing world both as a creative and a business space and how popular fiction sits in that space.
Sheila O’Flanagan is the award-winning author of 30 bestselling novels and 3 collections of short stories with global sales of 9 million books. She has been a director of Fighting Words and has contributed novellas to the Open Door and Quick Reads series of novellas. Her latest novel Secrets Between Friends, was released in 2026.
