02 December 2021

From left: Lorraine Blencoe, Grace Quantock, Nichola Ibe & Hattie Clarke

Meet our latest group 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, the 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 […]

29 November 2021

#5ActFestiveStory writing challenge

by Katie Smart Events, Writing Tips

Welcome to #WriteCBC’s #5ActFestiveStory! This blog has the details of the story and competition structure, and will also be where we announce our daily winners. Find out more about our special festive writing competition, which is taking place on Twitter @cbcreative (Mon 29 Nov – Mon 6 Dec), including instructions of how to play, the […]

25 November 2021

From left: Irenosen Okojie and Ayisha Malik

Winter 2021 | Our social media writing competitions

by Katie Smart Events

It has become a much-loved tradition here at CBC to run exciting winter-themed writing competitions on Twitter @cbcreative and Instagram @curtisbrowncreative to help celebrate the festive season. Read on to find out how to take part in this year’s competitions… Twitter: #5ActFestiveStory Every December our popular monthly Twitter competition #WriteCBC gets a festive twist. Instead […]

25 November 2021

Anthony Anaxagorou: ‘Write poems that surprise and behave in unusual ways’

by Katie Smart Author Interviews, Writing Tips

We’re so excited that our brand-new six-week online course – Writing Poetry – is open for enrolment. The course is led by the brilliant Anthony Anaxagorou. Anthony is an award-winning poet and spoken-word performer. His poetry has been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poetry London, New Statesman, Granta, and elsewhere. His second collection After the Formalities, published with Penned in the Margins, is […]

24 November 2021

How to write a great opening line

by Discoveries Discoveries, Writing Tips

An opening of a novel should transport you into the world of the story. These writing tips and examples from fiction will help you write a powerful opening.

23 November 2021

Gillian Perdue: ‘You can approach a story from a myriad of different angles… the magic happens in the cracks between the angles’

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

Gillian Perdue started her journey with us on our Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2016. Gillian has also taken our alumni Summer School and several of our short online courses including Edit & Pitch Your Novel and Writing a Psychological Thriller. We caught up with Gillian to talk about her debut crime novel […]

17 November 2021

How to prepare your synopsis for Discoveries 2022

by Discoveries Discoveries, How To ..., Writing Tips

CBC and Curtis Brown are proud to be partnering with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible to run Discoveries, a writing development prize and programme, which offers practical support and encouragement to aspiring female novelists of all ages and backgrounds, from across the UK and Ireland. Discoveries will culminate with a prize, the author of the winning […]

16 November 2021

Emily Randall: ‘Don’t write something just because you think it will sell’

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

Emily Randall was a student on our three-month online Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2019. She went on to win the Mslexia Children’s & Young Adult Novel Competition and the 2021 Times/Chicken House Award (which includes a publishing deal with Chicken House) for her children’s book The Flood Child. Read on to find out […]

11 November 2021

Meet Sashawne Smith, our HW Fisher novel-writing scholar

by Katie Smart Course News, From Our Students

We’re pleased to announce that Sashawne Smith has been awarded the HW Fisher Novel-Writing Scholarship for Writers with Low Income for her novel-in-progress The Grosvenor Estate Pseudocides. Sashawne has won a fully funded place on our three-month Writing Your Novel course in London, with some teaching on Zoom. The CBC team were captivated by Sashawne’s […]

10 November 2021

How to start writing your novel and stay motivated

by Discoveries Discoveries, How To ..., Writing Tips

CBC and Curtis Brown are proud to be partnering with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible to run Discoveries, a writing development prize and programme, which offers practical support and encouragement to aspiring female novelists of all ages and backgrounds, from across the UK and Ireland. Last week we ran the free Your Novel: How to Get […]