Rescue the Draft: How to Fix a Story That Isn’t Working
About the course
Course Fee
95
Course Length
1 Day
Weekly Study
90 mins
Testimonial
“Litro Masterclasses pushed me to see my strengths and weaknesses clearly, with honest feedback and detailed critique. The experience helped me develop work I could take beyond my local scene and into international opportunities.”
Course summary
Live on Zoom: Thursday 17 September 2026, 6:00–7:30 pm UK / 1:00–2:30 pm ET | 90 minutes | seats capped at 15
Rescue the Draft: How to Fix a Story That Isn’t Working is a practical live workshop for writers with a flash piece, short story, opening, or abandoned draft that has potential but isn’t quite working.
Maybe you can’t put your finger on what’s wrong. Maybe the piece keeps getting rejected. Maybe it has lost its spark, or you’re trying to bring an old idea back to life.
In this session, Jo Gatford will show you how to diagnose the problem, tighten the prose, sharpen the tension, decide what to cut, and find the heart of the piece. You’ll look at practical ways to edit and redraft with more objectivity, and troubleshoot some of the most common reasons a story stalls.
By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a clearer way to approach a stuck or abandoned draft, and a sharper eye for how your own writing works best.
How you will learn
You’ll learn through a focused mix of craft teaching, practical diagnosis, discussion, and guided revision exercises during the session — leaving with a clearer way to approach a draft that feels stuck, flat, rejected, or not quite working.
- Live Zoom session (90 minutes): practical teaching, discussion, examples, and guided exercises.
- Draft diagnosis: learn how to identify what may be weakening a story, opening, or flash piece.
- Revision tools: work through what to sharpen, what to cut, and how to build tension and momentum.
- Practical Q&A: bring a question about a stalled, rejected, or abandoned draft.
- Optional sharing: you can share a short extract or question if you want — sharing is always opt-in.
- Workshop takeaway: a clearer method for rescuing a stuck draft and seeing how your writing flows best.
- Replay: not recorded unless agreed in writing in advance.
The Tutor
Jo Gatford
Jo Gatford is an award-winning author, editor and mentor with over 15 years’ experience teaching creative writing. Her short fiction has been selected for the Wigleaf Top 50, Best Small Fictions and Best Microfictions, and published in more than 70 anthologies and literary magazines. Her novel, White Lies, was published by Legend Press, and her hybrid chapbook, The Woman’s Part, was published by Stanchion.
She has devised and run hundreds of writing workshops and courses, from weekly online flash fiction challenges to literary festival programming. She was co-editor of Thread lit mag and has read for and judged several writing competitions. Her newsletter, The Joy of Fixion, is about following the fun, reconnecting with creativity and finding flow.
