22 July 2021

How to stay motivated when writing your novel

by Abby Parsons How To ..., Writing Tips

Have you started writing a novel, but found yourself stuck somewhere in the middle of the first draft? Even when you have a brilliant idea and characters you love, it’s common to encounter problems once past your opening chapters. From writer’s block, to plot holes, or scenes that are difficult to write, there are always reasons to put down the pen.  But as […]

22 July 2021

10 TV drama series aspiring screenwriters should watch this summer

by Katie Smart Screenwriting, Writing Tips

If you are an aspiring TV dramatist in need of inspiration, look no further! We’ve collated some of the best TV drama series that are available for you to watch now. Remember, when you’re watching a really gripping TV show for research and inspiration, you should think about how each episode is constructed. You’ll notice […]

14 July 2021

Vaseem Khan: ‘If you’re serious about your writing you need to find time every day to read, write or edit’

by Lyndsey Ng Author Interviews, Writing Tips

We are thrilled that our brand-new six-week online course – Writing Crime Fiction – is open for enrolment. The course features exclusive teaching videos, notes and tasks from Vaseem Khan, the author of two award-winning crime series set in India: the popular Baby Ganesh Detective Agency series and the historical crime Malabar House series. We caught up with […]

06 July 2021

Jenny Colgan: ‘If you love a character you’ll follow them anywhere’

by Abby Parsons Author Interviews, Writing Tips

We’re so excited that our brand-new six-week online course – Writing a Romance Novel – is open for enrolment. The course is led by the brilliant Jenny Colgan, author of numerous bestselling novels including the Little Beach Street Bakery and Scottish Bookshop series. We caught up with Jenny to talk about her approach to writing […]

01 July 2021

#WriteCBC tip and task from Kirsty Capes

by Katie Smart Events, Writing Tips

Welcome to our July edition of #WriteCBC. I hope you’re ready to be inspired by our latest writing challenge! If you haven’t taken part in a #WriteCBC competition before, we’re excited to welcome you to our writing community – and you can quickly get up to speed by reading this blog with information about how to […]

30 June 2021

Meet our latest cohort of talented Breakthrough mentees

by Katie Smart Events, From Our Students

The Breakthrough Writers’ Programme is an initiative offering free courses, mentoring and scholarships for under-represented writers. It is fully funded by CBC, Curtis Brown Literary Agency and partners. We caught up with some of the talented writers currently taking part in our nine-month Breakthrough Mentoring Programme to find out more about what they’re working on […]

24 June 2021

London courses to return this autumn!

by Anna Davis Course News

I’m cautiously excited (if there’s such a thing as cautious excitement) to announce the return of our much-loved and much-missed London-based courses this autumn. We’re open for applications now for three courses starting in September: our six-month Writing Your Novel course led by Laura Barnett, our three-month Writing Your Novel course with Lizzie Enfield, and […]

24 June 2021

Selali Fiamanya wins the Borough Press open submission competition

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, From Our Students, Writing Tips

Selali Fiamanya was a student on our inaugural Breakthrough Novel-Writing Course for Black Writers at the start of the year. We were thrilled to hear that his debut novel Between the Train and The Platform will be published by Borough Press following his win of their open submission competition. We caught up with Selali to […]

23 June 2021

Tina Orr Munro: ‘I wanted to delve deeper into my character’s life and really test her’

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, From Our Students, Writing Tips

Tina Orr Munro studied on our six-month online Writing Your Novel course back in 2017. Tina is a journalist, specialising in writing about policing and security. In another life, she was a police scenes of crime officer. We were thrilled to hear the news earlier this month that her agent Lucy Morris (Curtis Brown) has […]

16 June 2021

Discoveries Prize Class of 2020-2021

by Discoveries Discoveries, Events

Discoveries is a unique development programme and prize, which we launched in partnership with Curtis Brown Literary Agency, the Women’s Prize Trust and NatWest, seeking to encourage and support talented and original new female writing voices from across the UK and Ireland. Discoveries did not require writers to have finished a novel – only to have started […]