What we are often taught as simply how fiction works is one dominant fictional structure.
Women writers have long questioned what can become material for fiction—and how that material can be shaped into a story.
Their work widened the possibilities of fiction.
My work is not about replacing one formula with another.
It is about helping women writers discover more possibilities for shaping their own material into fiction.
Hi, I’m Madeleine
My business card says Instructor in Women’s Writing.
I teach women writers how to search for their material and discover more possibilities for shaping it into fiction.
I began by teaching women’s literature in small online groups. When my students began asking for a course on writing, I went deeper into narrative theory, feminist approaches to fiction, and the work of women writers across literary history.
That work gradually became the basis of the teaching I do now: exploring the relationship between material and form, and the different possibilities a writer has for shaping material into fiction.
My formal studies in creative writing include Forfatterstudiet in Norway, developed in collaboration with the University of South-Eastern Norway and the Norwegian Authors’ Union, as well as Forfatterakademiet.
Alongside my teaching, I work as a second-hand bookseller with a particular interest in women’s writing.
My work brings together creative-writing practice, narrative theory, feminist approaches, women’s literary history, and years of teaching women writers.
Write your story
What’s my story? That’s it.
Not the stories they’ve been and keep handing me.
My story.
For me, this is where women’s writing begins:
with the freedom to discover what is yours to write—and the knowledge that there is more than one way to shape it into fiction.
Testimonial
"I am in awe and wonder with all these amazing doors that Madeleine Ferre is opening in such a non-linear, but very, very relating way to each other. My mind is going so many places with every new thread that unravels of this great tapestry that is women's writing world. Thank you all also for sharing your insights and adding value to this amazing non-linear trajectory that we are walking together here!"
- Rita Ruivo, participant in the courses Find your Female Tools of Expression and Find your Female Narrative Tools
Testimonial
"I am 46 years old and for the first time in my life I felt validated as a woman writer and not just validated but celebrated. I had never seen those aspects of myself as I did doing this course. It helped me uncover me, myself, my hidden self, my blind side. I am much more alive, excited, empowered and enthusiastic about the future and I am ready to embrace it all without apology. This course was like therapy and wisdom, and coaching and teaching all in one! Do it!"
- Michelle Foulia, participant in the course Find your Female Tools of Expression
Testimonial
"I was taken on a journey of discovery, an adventure into the labyrinth of my mind. It began with me tentatively creeping round corners of creativity to find what may be lurking there. There were twists and turns, moments of uncertainty that ultimately led me to personal awakening. I now have a clearer understanding of myself both as a writer and as a woman. I have learned to embrace both!” – Linda Coventry"
- Linda Coventry, participant in the courses Find your Female Tools of Expression and Find your Female Narrative Tools
When you work with me
You learn to pay closer attention to your material before deciding what shape it should take.
You deepen your understanding of narrative form and the possibilities available to you as a fiction writer.
And you experiment with those possibilities in your own writing—so that form becomes something you can investigate rather than something you simply have to get right.
The aim is not to give you another formula.
It is to give you more ways to work with the material you want to write.
Ready to write your story?
If you want to begin by searching for your material, start with my free 30-day email course.
Over 30 days, you’ll receive prompts and reflections to help you notice what keeps returning in your writing:
subjects, images, voices, scenes, memories, questions and fragments.
The aim is to begin recognising what you want to write about.
We respect your privacy.
© Mad Women Writers 2025