How To … Posts

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 […]

Ella Berman studied on one of our three-month novel-writing courses in 2016. Her debut novel The Comeback was published by Berkley in August this year and has been well-received – it was also selected as an August fiction pick for NBC’s Today Show. Read on to find out what tips and tricks Ella used to write this compelling […]

We are so excited to announce that the Discoveries Prize is now open for entries! We’re proud to be partnered with the Women’s Prize Trust, Curtis Brown and NatWest on this brand new opportunity for unpublished women writers. The prize also has a brilliant panel of judges which includes bestselling author and founder of the […]

Today – 5th May 2020 – is our ninth birthday. Yep, it’s a full nine years since Jake Arnott and I first walked into the agency’s reception area to welcome fifteen nervous students to Curtis Brown Creative, while trying not to let them see that we were at least as nervous as they were … […]

Every author will ultimately develop their own approach to planning and writing a novel and there’s certainly no one-size-fits-all solution. Nor is there a consensus among the professionals. If you’re wondering how to plan your own novel, here are ten steps to get you started.

Clare Alan is a tutor on our Writing an Original TV Drama Serial course, and an experienced script editor and producer who has worked on a range of TV and film projects in the UK and Ireland, including Solomon & Gaenor, factual drama The Investigator, Dangerfield, Silent Witness and The Vice. As the deadline for […]