quilt your story

Personal book coaching to design a project that softly holds your most fearless work.

quilt your story will:

  • help you to right-size your project.

  • support you to create a soft and sustainable writing practice.

  • give you the tools to create your most fearless work.

  • provide accountability and gentle encouragement.

  • allow you to finish your book on your own terms.

why quilting?

Many of the writers I work with struggle with perfectionism and guilt: even if they carve out the time to do their work, they experience feelings of shame about prioritising their own needs and desires.

Quilting your story allows flexibility, gentleness, and care into the work, while also leaving space for the unexpected. It can feel easier to work on a single piece at a time than to battle with the entire project.

Once you have created the heart pieces, your work will hold together softly, without rigidity or strain.

elizabeth macneal

Author of Sunday Times bestselling novels The Doll Factory and Circus of Wonders:

“Laura was absolutely pivotal to the development of my writing, and I do not believe I could have conceived of, or written, my novel without her support, guidance and advice.”

Kate Simants

Bath Novel Prize-winning author of Lock Me In and A Ruined Girl:

“Laura was indefatigable: I came away from every meeting knowing that she had read and thoroughly considered every submission and was taking a sincere interest in helping me make my novel the best it could be.”

quilt your story

£500 per month.

What you get when you sign up for quilt your story

  • Three months of expert, personal guidance on designing a book project that has artistic and technical integrity. 

  • Tools to help you to create the foundational pieces of your book.

  • Gentle support, encouragement, and accountability.

  • Bi-weekly written feedback.

  • Monthly 1:1 editorial calls.

  • A database of personalised reading suggestions.

month one: preparing your project

This month we will explore the load-bearing aspects of the book that will provide a stable foundation, no matter how ambitious the project. We will discuss:

  • Do you have too much plot or too little?

  • Is it easy for a reader to follow the thread of your narrative?

  • What is the subject of the book? Is it the right one?

  • What is the scale and complexity of the project? Are these right-sized for the plot, subject, and form?

  • What is the zone your world takes place in?

  • What is the narrative filter?

month two: designing the heart pieces

We will plan and create the pieces that make up the central design of the project. You will be supported to:

  • Sketch out the key scenes and character journeys that form the heart of the book.

month three: choosing the colours and creating the pattern

You will bring everything together to create the pattern that will softly hold your book. You will have a design for your project that can be made more complex or simple, and which you can transform, deviate from, or shift as you go. You will weave together:

  • The right-sized plot

  • The zone your book exists within

  • The narrative filter

  • Key scenes and character journeys

add-on: writing the book

Once you have successfully completed Quilt Your Story, you will have the option to continue working with me and receiving monthly written and verbal feedback on your work-in-progress.

quilt your story

£500 per month.

Sarah A. Denzil

Million-selling crime fiction author of Find Her and Little One

“I really enjoyed working with Laura. In particular, I enjoyed our Zoom call to discuss the direction of the book. I was at a point where I was stuck and wasn't sure how to fix the plot holes in the book. Talking it through with Laura really helped me get out of that issue. Many thanks, Laura!”

Naomi Booth

Saboteur-award winning author of Exit Management and Sealed

“Laura Joyce is a brilliant writer, a gifted editor, and an inspiring and generous facilitator. She knows how to stimulate creativity, and how to nurture the best and most interesting aspects of writing. There's no else I'd rather work, write and read with.”

Helen Jukes

Author of critically-acclaimed memoir A Honeybee Heart has Five Openings

“I cannot recommend Laura highly enough. Her insightful, eloquent and in depth feedback has helped me through numerous fiction and nonfiction projects, from ideas stage right through to completion. I'm a better, more committed writer because of her. Thank you Laura!”

Femi Kayode

Little Brown-award- winning author of Lightseekers

“Dr Joyce is a supportive teacher who goes beyond the academic and seeks a deeper understanding of the issues that can help unlock the possibilities within a student's mind. From follow-up calls to little notes of encouragement, Dr. Joyce's influence goes well beyond the classroom, and this is what makes her unique, inspiring, impactful and effective.”

quilt your story

£500 per month.

What other writers are saying about working with Laura

“I am sending my work out regularly and courageously! I am able to tolerate the negative feelings that come with sending work out and with rejection… I think before I was writing with my hands tied behind my back, which is a challenge as I am sure you can imagine. I now feel able to bring all parts of myself to my writing which is alarmingly liberating and fun.”

— Dulcie Few, writer

“I’ve learnt how to make writing a regular habit, something I didn’t think I could be capable of ever doing. You are kind, warm and supportive. Your feedback is never rushed and always thoughtful and encouraging, whilst also being honest and to the point. My self-confidence has grown as much as the quality of my writing during this process. I can finally call myself a writer without blushing!”

— Matilde Pratesi, shortlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award for Pig

“Through thought-provoking questions and technical advice, Laura has really nailed not only the areas I asked for help with but ones I wasn't aware needed addressing. I feel very positive about my manuscript now and I am eternally grateful to Laura for her help. Gold dust!”

— Caroline Bloor, novelist

“Since our collaboration, using my edited manuscript, I have won a writing competition. I used the updated synopsis and cover letter and got a full manuscript request from an agent.I don't think that would have happened if I hadn't used Laura's services. Thanks Laura, I can see us working together again very soon, I have another MS to edit and pitch shortly!”

— Michelle Elaawar, author of When Arab Women Walk on Air

“This was my first experience working with a professional editor, and I was so nervous about it, but Laura Joyce made me feel at ease through the entire editing journey. She is an amazing editor and a joy to work with. I look forward to working with her again in the future. Thank you so much, Laura!”

— Joanna Wolford, novelist and screenwriter

Hello, friend. I’M LAURa.

I am a creative mentor for writers who crave innovative strategies to expand their practice, soothe their inner critic, and solve creative problems.

Many of the writers I work with struggle with perfectionism and guilt: even if they carve out the time to do their work, they struggle with feelings of shame about prioritising their own needs and desires.

For years, I worried at this problem. I worked as an instructor on creative writing programs, and I worked as an editor and mentor. I tried to create a unified theory of book-writing as the route to a sustainable practice. I wanted to make this accessible to as many people as possible.

There were many aspects of this work that did help writers, but what I discovered was that what most writers I work with need is to feel safe enough to make their most fearless work.

Almost by accident, I discovered a way to soothe the nervous system by not demanding too much at once. For some writers consistency is key, but for others this is a way to replicate shame-based trauma.

As a person dealing with nervous system issues and autism, I am familiar with the pain of wanting to create while being unable to feel safe enough to create the fearless, truthful work that my soul is thirsty for.

If I tried to work on something I was supposed to be doing, it would begin to feel like pressure. If I took a deep dive online, followed an oblique rabbit hole, or wrote a surprise scene for a character in an existing story, I could overcome my own defence mechanisms long enough to write myself back into the work.

Because this felt like something secret – a little bit deviant – it silenced my inner critic who warned me not to try in case I failed.

When I realised that it was the deviancy that broke down resistance, I was able to see this as a strategy that could be applied across my practice and process.

I believe that writers are the experts on their own stories and lives, and I craved a way to work with writers concretely, while allowing them space to experiment, explore, and follow their curiosity.

I realised that the only way to create a sustainable writing practice, and to write the kind of book that magnetises readers, was to work intuitively and to bring softness to the process.

I’ve worked with writers to connect to their own intuition. Writers who now call themselves writers without blushing. Writers who can stake their claims, articulate their ambitions, and follow their own curiosity instead of someone else’s formula.

These writers are changing the ecosystem by writing books that are meaningful to them and to their dream readers.

Like mystics, these writers are following their own visions as the precursor to mainstream acceptance.

I can tell you three things:

I know this works; I see results. 

I don’t know exactly how.

But I can show you.

quilt your story

£500 per month.

“It’s been a blast. It’s been so helpful. I feel like we have created a space together where I can not only write, but most importantly, focus on how I write, which is of course related to how I live… I like the mix of the recognition that we live in a capitalist society where we do have to be ‘productive’ and get things done in order to survive, including writing for economic reasons; but at the same time, always with an eye on the real prize: on what can truly nourish us and on why we really write. This is a rare combination.”

May Ngo, writer and critic

Have questions?

  • Three months of expert, personal guidance on designing a book project that has artistic and technical integrity. 

    Tools to help you to create the foundational pieces of your book.

    Gentle support, encouragement, and accountability.

    Bi-weekly written feedback.

    Monthly 1:1 editorial calls.

    A database of personalized reading suggestions.

  • There is so much power in the workshop model. I have worked as an instructor on MAs and MFAs at universities including the University of East Anglia, the University of Sheffield, Birkbeck, University of London, and Sussex University. Working this way can be transformative.

    However, it is rare for a writer to complete a manuscript while they are in an MA or MFA programme. What most writers truly need to finish their book is individual, tailored feedback on the whole project.

    All this for a fraction of the price of an MA or MFA.

  • You will work on a variety of assignments, including questions about your book, sketches for scenes and characters, tools and exercises, and a detailed outline for the project.

    You will receive written and verbal feedback on each of your assignments.

  • I can't promise you a bestseller, a top agent, or a million-pound book deal. I can promise you that if you do the work, you will havc the foundations of the best book that you are capable of writing, and one you will be proud to share with readers, agents, and editors.

  • If you are ready to do the work, then you are ready for Quilt Your Story.

    If you are a writer who seeks to truly learn about your book, your processes, and your deeper writing practice, then Quilt Your Story will offer a foundation for your future writing career.

  • Even experienced authors are in need of support and accountability. Quilt Your Story offers perspective to experienced writers who need a fresh pair of eyes.

  • Quilt Your Story is for anyone who is ready to create their most fearless and truthful work.

    This could be literary fiction, thriller, narrative memoir, narrative nonfiction, queer writing, experimental fiction, upmarket fiction, horror, weird fiction, romance, paranormal, magical and spiritual non-fiction, or speculative fiction.

    It is unlikely to be suitable for technical non-fiction, or stories with a focus on external narrative without an emphasis on the emotional aspects of writing.

  • As an author myself, I know what it means to struggle with a book, and to bring it to completion without sacrificing your vision.

    My clients and students have published with the big five publishing houses, as well as indie presses, digital-first publishers, and Kindle Unlimited. They have won major writing prizes, secured literary agents, and sold international and screen rights for their writing.

    I’ve got a PhD in Creative & Critical Writing, and I’ve taught at several top creative writing programmes. I developed and ran the Crime Fiction MA at the University of East Anglia, and I was shortlisted for an innovation in Teaching award at UEA for my work on the Prose Fiction MA. During my time on those MA programmes, I taught writers who launched successful writing careers as bestselling authors.

    I love working with writers on story knots and deep, structural issues, but I’m also called to the work of helping writers connect to their intuition and vision.

quilt your story

£500 per month.