Covid-19 update In-person courses temporarily on hold. Online course places are still available. Find out more here.

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Three-Month Novel-Writing Course

Deep-dive into your novel with expert tuition, a strong peer group and advice from literary agents. All online, and with flexible scheduling. *Scholarship Available*

COURSE DATES

Jul 13 2020 - OCT 19 2020

Apply by 28 June, 2020

Online

Take this course from anywhere in the world

Selective Entry

We offer places to the most talented applicants

Course Fee £1,600

Work on your novel with the experts

Overview

We’ve designed this online novel-writing course to be as useful and fulfilling as the courses we run in our offices, with contributions from agents here at Curtis Brown and C&W in London. This is a course for people who are serious about writing a novel. As well as being packed with useful content, it’s flexible so you can write and study at times to suit you.

Author and experienced tutor Andrew Michael Hurley will give direct feedback to students on their novels-in-progress via weekly online workshops, one-to-one tutorials and writing exercises. Via our online learning platform, you’ll get access to teaching videos, notes and resources from our CBC tutor team (listed below).

The Curtis Brown and C&W literary agents plus an experienced publisher, will offer writing and pitching advice in special events across the course. At the end of the course, students get to share the opening of their novels informally with the agent teams at Curtis Brown and C&W.

In the nine years since we first launched Curtis Brown Creative, over 90 of our former students have gone on to get major publishing deals for their novels. We’ve had some fantastic success stories across all genres, including online course students  Jane Harper (The Dry) and Nicholas Searle (The Good Liar), both now international bestsellers. The film adaptation of The Good Liar starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren was released in 2019. A film adaptation of The Dry is currently in production and will star Eric Bana. You can read more about our online course success stories here.

While we can’t guarantee publication or representation, we lavish our expertise on our students. The agents of Curtis Brown and C&W are hungry for new authors and will be actively looking for clients among our writers.

‘[Andrew Michael Hurley’s] The Loney is not just good, it’s great. It’s an amazing piece of fiction’
Stephen King

Tutor

Andrew Michael Hurley, Author

Andrew Michael Hurley, Author

Andrew Michael Hurley is currently based in Lancashire. His first novel, The Loney, was originally published by Tartarus Press as a 300-copy limited-edition, before being republished by John Murray. It went on to sell in twenty languages, win the Costa Best First Novel Award and Book of the Year at the British Book Industry Awards. Devil's Day, his second novel, was picked as a Book of the Year in five newspapers and won the Encore Award. Starve Acre is published by John Murray in 2019.

WHAT DOES THIS COURSE GIVE YOU?

Editing on a computer

Teaching Videos & Tasks

Advice on key topics from our tutor team

The course takes a new topic each week. You'll get teaching videos and notes from our tutor team, and Andrew will add his thoughts on each module and set tasks for the group - writing exercises or discussion. Topics tackled include plotting, characterisation, point-of-view and rewriting. 

Curtis Brown Creative learning portal

Writing Workshops

Led by Andrew Michael Hurley

You'll get two dedicated workshops centring on material from your novel-in-progress with your tutor and the group (Extracts of 3000 words, each time). These sessions offer in-depth written feedback and are also designed to help develop your editing skills.

Curtis Brown Creative learning platform forum

Student Forum

The hub of our online courses - find your writing community

We have developed a bespoke learning platform exclusively for our students. Here you can give and receive feedback, and discuss the week’s topics with your fellow students and tutor.

One-to-One Tutorials

Extracts of your novel will be closely reviewed by your tutor

You'll get two 30 minute, one-to-one tutorials with your tutor Andrew Michael Hurley, conducted over the phone or via Skype, based on 3,000 word sections of your novel-in-progress. Use these tutorials to address your specific concerns about your writing.

Pitch Workshop

Practise your elevator pitch with an experienced publisher

We'll give you advice on how to pitch your novel effectively, and then an experienced editor will give individual written feedback to all students.

Synopsis Advice

Our tips on how to conquer the dreaded synopsis

We'll draw on our agenting expertise to give you the vital ingredients of a great synopsis - then you'll write one, and Andrew will give you individual written feedback.

Literary Agent Q&A

Get answers from our team of literary agents

In a special session, you'll put questions to members of the Curtis Brown, and C&W agent teams in the discussion space, and gain their answers on how to navigate the choppy waters of the publishing industry.

Handwriting your novel

Agent Letter Session

Expert feedback on the all-important pitch letter

We'll give you the vital do's and don'ts of agent pitch letters - you'll then write your own and the agents from Curtis Brown and C&W will give you written feedback, plus their tips on how to bypass the slush pile.

End of Course Submission

Share your opening with the Curtis Brown and C&W agents

At the end of the course all students will be invited to submit the 3,000 word opening of their novel, plus a synopsis, to be shared with the agent teams at CB and C&W. This is not a formal submission to the agency but a chance to give the agents a taste of your work at this stage.

Webinar with a Literary Agent

Join a live video chat with a top UK literary agent

Students will take part in a special 90 minute video webinar with a leading agent from Curtis Brown or C&W. They will discuss what literary agents do and answer your questions about publishing.

WORKING WITH OTHER WRITERS

We pride ourselves on the tightly-knit writing communities that are established on our courses. As well as getting feedback on extracts from your own novel during the course, we’ll be asking you to read the work of your 14 fellow students week by week, and provide constructive written comments (both privately and in our online discussion space). We find this process helps students develop their own inner editor and has a hugely positive impact on their own writing. Each week three students will submit 3,000-word extracts from their novels-in-progress to be workshopped by the rest of the group and the tutor. It’ll be your turn to get the group’s dedicated workshop attention two times across the course.

Exclusive alumni services

By popular request we have now launched a range of exclusive writing services, available only to the alumni of our selective courses, which you’ll be able to access after your course finishes. These services include individual mentoring from some of our most experienced tutors (you get to choose your supervisor from the available tutors), a four-day annual alumni summer school at our London offices, editorial reports on your completed novel, submission reports on your ‘pitch package’ and coaching from experienced practitioners. If you’d like further details about these services, and current prices, before applying to this course, you can email us on cbccourses@curtisbrown.co.uk .

Additionally, any students from our selective course who want to formally submit their novels to agents from Curtis Brown or C&W will be given advice and support from the Curtis Brown Creative team with their submission. Full information about this free service is provided during the course.

Novel-writing student

Guest Sessions

This course offers direct interaction with literary agents at Curtis Brown and C&W and with an experienced publisher. You’ll also get teaching videos from your tutor Andrew Michael Hurley and from the author-tutors on our team:

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Anna Davis

Anna is the Founder and Director of Curtis Brown Creative. She is the author of five novels, published around the world in 20 languages: The Dinner, Melting, Cheet, The Shoe Queen and most recently The Jewel Box. A former Guardian columnist, Anna has been the recipient of the Arts Council of England’s Clarissa Luard Award (2001) and an h.Club 100 award – presented to the most influential, innovative and interesting people in the creative and media industries. Anna has worked for Curtis Brown for more than a decade as a book agent and has served on the management committee of the Association of Authors' Agents.  Previously she was a lecturer on Manchester University’s MA in Novel-Writing, and has also led many other writing workshops for organizations that include the Cheltenham Literary Festival and Ty Newydd.

Anna Davis


Author and CBC Managing Director
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Christopher Wakling

Christopher’'s six acclaimed novels include What I Did, The Devil'’s Mask, and On Cape Three Points. Born in 1970, he read English at Oxford, then worked as a farm hand, teacher and lawyer, before turning to writing full-time in 2001. As well as writing fiction, Christopher is a travel writer for The Independent. He is also the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Bristol University and has tutored numerous creative-writing courses for Curtis Brown Creative and The Arvon Foundation.

Christopher Wakling


Author
Jake Arnott, Author
Jake Arnott, Author

Jake Arnott

Jake is the author of six highly acclaimed novels. The Long Firm was the bestselling debut novel of 1999, and was followed by He Kills Coppers, Truecrime, Johnny Come Home, The Devil'’s Paintbrush and, in 2013, The House of Rumour. In 2006, The Long Firm was made into a four-part, BAFTA-nominated series for BBC 2 starring Sir Derek Jacobi and Mark Strong. In 2008, He Kills Coppers was made into a three-part series for ITV1, starring Rafe Spall and Kelly Reilly. Jake has previously taught creative-writing courses for the Arvon Foundation.

Jake Arnott


Author
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Suzannah Dunn

Suzannah Dunn wrote six critically acclaimed contemporary novels and a short story collection before her first historical novel, The Queen of Subtleties, was published in 2004. It has been followed by five more Tudor novels, the latest of which, Lady of Misrule, was published in May 2015 by Little, Brown. She has sold over a quarter of a million copies of her historical novels in the UK alone. Suzannah was picked alongside Robert Harris, Edward St Aubyn and Helen Simpson, in response to Granta’s first ‘Best Under 40’ list in 1993. Suzannah was Director of the MA in Novel Writing at Manchester University for six years and has taught many courses for the Arvon Foundation. She is a popular speaker at literary festivals and events including the Bristol Festival of Ideas and has given talks at several beautiful Tudor National Trust buildings including Newark Park in Gloucestershire and Ightham Mote in Kent.

Suzannah Dunn


Author
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Nikita Lalwani

Nikita Lalwani's first novel Gifted was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. It has translated into 16 languages. In 2008, Nikita won the Desmond Elliot Prize for New Fiction and donated it to human rights organisation Liberty. Her second novel The Village was published by Viking UK in June 2012 and was awarded the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. Nikita was born in Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff. She was a judge for the book section of the Orwell Prize in 2013. Nikita is a lecturer on the MA and BA in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University. She has Also taught at Goldsmiths University, Oxford University and the Arvon Foundation. She was writer-in-residence at University College London from 2007-2008.

Nikita Lalwani


Author
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Erin Kelly

Erin is the author of four acclaimed psychological thrillers, The Sick Rose, The Burning Air, The Ties That Bind and The Poison Tree (turned into a primetime ITV drama in 2013), all published by Hodder & Stoughton. She also wrote the official novel and short story series of the hit TV series Broadchurch published by Little, Brown. Erin studied English at Warwick University and has worked as a journalist since 1998 for newspapers including The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Express and The Mirror, and magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Psychologies, Marie Claire and Elle. She lives in London with her husband and two daughters.

Erin Kelly


Author
Lisa O'Donnell, Author and Creative Writing Tutor
Lisa O'Donnell, Author and Creative Writing Tutor

Lisa O’Donnell

Having returned to her native Scotland after working as a screenwriter in LA, Lisa O’Donnell sat down to write her first novel The Death of Bees, which was published by Windmill in 2012. The book, a razor-sharp black comedy about family values that follows the orphaned children of two Glasgow drug addicts as they rebuild their lives with the help of a caring neighbour, won the Commonwealth Book Prize in 2013. Her second novel, Closed Doors, is another tale of lost innocence set during the 1980s on the author’s childhood home island of Rothesay. She is currently working on her third novel.

Lisa O'Donnell


Author

Application Process

Our selective applications process means that you will be writing your novel in a peer group of 15 students working at a high level. Many of our former students have found their trusted readers with us – and form strong working friendships with class-mates which go on long after the course is over.

The course fee of £1,600 (inc VAT) per student is payable, in full, by bank transfer or cheque. Funds must reach our bank account before the course begins. If you are unable to pay the full fee upfront, let us know and we can arrange an instalment plan.

Please upload your application via the form at the end of this page. If you encounter any problems during the application process, or have any more questions about the course, please email cbccourses@curtisbrown.co.uk for assistance.

There is also one fully funded Write From Home Scholarship place available for a talented writer of limited financial means. Find out more and apply for a scholarship place here.

Course Schedule

WEEK 1

Inspiration and Reading as Writers

Monday 13 July – Sunday 19 July

With videos from Anna Davis, Andrew Michael Hurley and Chris Wakling

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WEEK 2

Openings

Monday 20 July – Sunday 26 July

With videos from Lisa O’Donnell

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WEEK 3

Writing from Life

Monday 27 July – Sunday 2 August

With videos from Nikita Lalwani

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WEEK 4

Story, Plotting & Planning

Monday 3 August – Sunday 9 August

With videos from Chris Wakling

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WEEK 5

Voice and Narrative Point of View

Monday 10 August – Sunday 16 August

With videos from Nikita Lalwani

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WEEK 6

Characterisation

Monday 17 August – Sunday 23 August

With videos from Suzannah Dunn

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WEEK 7

Description, Tone & Style

Monday 24 August – Sunday 30 August

With videos from Erin Kelly

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WEEK 8

Dialogue

Wednesday 2 September – Sunday 6 September

With videos from Suzannah Dunn

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WEEK 9

Building Suspense

Monday 7 September – Sunday 13 September

With videos from Erin Kelly

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WEEK 10

Endings

Monday 14 September – Sunday 20 September

With videos from Lisa O’Donnell

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WEEK 11

Editing and Rewriting

Monday 21 September – Sunday 27 September

With videos from Jake Arnott

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WEEK 12

The Synopsis

Monday 28 September – Sunday 4 October

With videos from Anna Davis and a synopsis workshop with your tutor

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WEEK 13

Final Questions

Monday 5 October – Sunday 11 October

A second synopsis workshop with your tutor and a chance to ask questions that have arisen for you across the course and get answers from your tutor in this final teaching week

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WEEK 14

End of Course Submission

Monday 19 October

Students to submit 3,000 word opening and one-page synopsis to be read by the Curtis Brown and C&W literary agents

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Applications now closed

Please apply with the first 3,000 words of the novel you’d like to work on during the course, and a synopsis of no more than a page (both need to be in the same document, as you can only upload ONE file in the application below). The CBC team will select applicants based on the quality of the writing sample provided. The deadline for applications is midnight, end of day Sunday 28 June, and we will respond to applicants by Thursday 2 July.

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