The Next Draft 2026 with Laurel Cohn

An intensive course designed to help you survive the next draft of your work-in-progress.

Over six evening workshops, join established editor, Laurel Cohn, as she guides you through a structural edit of your work-in-progress. Laurel takes participants through her five-step approach to structural editing, providing strategies and tools to facilitate the process, and exploring the challenging inner terrain that underlies critical engagement with your own work.

The course is designed with time between sessions to practice the concepts covered. Committing to the process will reward you with deeper insight into your manuscript and clarity about how to approach the next draft.

Payment plans are available for this course. Please contact Queensland Writers Centre at admin@qldwriters.org.au or call (07) 3842 9922.

Learning outcomes

You will hone writing and editing skillset through practical exercises, group discussions, critique sessions, and homework in the key areas listed below:

• An understanding of what structural editing entails.

• Specific tools for writers to undertake a structural edit of their own work following a step-by-step approach

• Familiarisation with synopsis writing as a development tool.

• Strategies for chapter and scene outlines.

• An appreciation of the emotional ups and downs of manuscript development.

Course dates

• 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday 7 July 2026

• 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday 21 July 2026

• 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday 4 August 2026

• 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday 18 August 2026

• 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday 15 September 2026

• 5:30pm – 8:30pm, Tuesday 29 September 2026

All times Brisbane time, AEST.

Format

This is a 6-part online course with a focus on craft and sustainability; it will be hosted via Zoom. This course is best suited for intermediate writers who have completed at least one draft of their work-in-progress.
 

About Laurel

Laurel Cohn is a book editor passionate about communication and the power of stories in our lives. As a developmental editor and writing coach she has been helping writers prepare their work for publication for over three decades, and is a popular workshop presenter. Laurel has a PhD in literary and cultural studies.

For more information about Queensland Writers Centre’s Program of Events and answers to FAQs, please visit: www.queenslandwriters.org.au/program-info