How To … Posts

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 […]

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 […]

Almost every crime novel has at least two interconnected central mysteries – Who is the murderer and Why was the victim killed? But good crime novels set up multiple layers of intrigue, a range of questions that demand answers. When I’m planning a crime novel, I start by asking myself all the questions I can […]

We are so excited to announce that Discoveries 2022 is now open for entries! We and the Curtis Brown Literary Agency and proud to be partnered with the Women’s Prize Trust and Audible to run this unique writing development initiative for a second year. Discoveries invites all unpublished women writers aged 18 and up, currently […]

When it comes to planning and building the central characters for your fiction, you’re likely to do copious work to really get to know them – possibly constructing detailed character profiles exploring their lifestyle, personality, psychology, backstory and more. But none of that very good work will add up to much unless you can effectively […]

It’s impossible to underestimate the importance of the first page of your novel. Readers at every stage of the process – from the friend you’ve asked to read your first draft, through to agents and publishing professionals, and right on to potential buyers in bookshops and online – make their decisions about whether to read […]

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 […]

Last Thursday our founder and Director Anna Davis took to Twitter to answer your burning questions about writing and publishing – from advising on how best to approach literary agents to discussing the current book market. It was clear from your questions that many of you have set the goal to submit your novel to agents […]

CBC and Curtis Brown are proud to be partnering with the Women’s Prize Trust and NatWest to create Discoveries, a writing development prize and programme that offers aspiring female authors of all ages and backgrounds encouragement and support at the beginning of their creative journeys. This week Discoveries team member, experienced editor and Curtis Brown literary agent, […]

Last week, we hosted a very special webinar with top Curtis Brown literary agent Stephanie Thwaites and two of her clients, former CBC students, Cynthia Murphy and Michael Mann. These special webinars are an exclusive component of our Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course, and they give our students the chance to discover more about […]