Writing Crime & Thrillers – Advanced
Applications
Writing Crime & Thrillers – Advanced
Work on your crime novel or psychological thriller with dedicated online teaching from a genre expert and award-winning author.
Tutor
Sarah HilaryLength
9 weeksLocation
OnlineWriting Goal
Develop your writingAre you plotting the perfect murder – perhaps in the mode of Tana French, Richard Osman or Abir Mukherjee? Or maybe you’re channelling Patricia Highsmith, Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins to craft your suspense novel?
Everything was useful, practical, inspiring. Sarah showed such grace and compassion for her students, connecting in meaningful ways with each of us. She was stellar.
Former Writing Crime & Thrillers – Advanced Student
On this high-level course for people writing crime fiction and psychological thrillers, Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year award-winning author Sarah Hilary will draw you deep into the workings of your genre and reveal the tricks and techniques that can help you take your novel to the next level.
You’ll join a group of 15 crime/thriller writers, tutored by Sarah, for flexibly-timed weekly writing workshops delivered on our bespoke online learning platform, plus live group teaching sessions via Zoom covering important genre-topics, and an in-depth one-to-one tutorial with Sarah towards the end of the course.
This course will run from 30 Sept to 2 Dec 2024.
Tutor
Sarah Hilary
Sarah’s debut, Someone Else's Skin, won Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year 2015 and was a World Book Night selection, and a Silver Falchion and Macavity Award finalist in the US. Her next book, Sharp Glass, is out in July 2024. Her short stories have won the Fish Criminally Short Histories Prize, the Cheshire Prize for Literature, and the SENSE Prize. As well as writing, Sarah teaches and mentors crime fiction’s rising stars. She is Programme Director for St Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend, and co-founder of Ledburied, a crime fiction festival in her home town.
What does this course give you?
- Live teaching sessions on Zoom: On six Monday evenings, Sarah will welcome the group for a 90-minute Zoom class, covering topics of significance to crime and thriller writers, such as how to plot a mystery, build suspense and construct a killer twist.
- A community of writers: 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 trusted readers with us and formed strong working friendships that go on long after the course is over. 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 tutors.
- Writing workshop: You’ll get a dedicated workshop centring on a 3,000-word extract from your novel-in-progress. Workshops offer in-depth feedback from your fellow students and tutor, and are also designed to help develop your self-editing skills.
- One-to-one tutorial: You'll get a 45-minute tutorial with Sarah, based on a 3,000-word extract from your novel-in-progress. Use this tutorial to address your specific concerns about your writing.
- Industry masterclass: Join a live Zoom session with a crime/thriller writer as well as a literary agent for a special Q&A. They'll discuss the writing and publishing of crime and thrillers, as well as answering students’ questions.
- End-of-course submission: All students will be invited to submit the 3,000-word opening from their novel, plus a synopsis, to be shared with the agent teams at Curtis Brown and C&W. This is not a formal submission but a chance to give the agents a taste of your work at this stage. When you are ready to formally submit – no matter how long after your course has finished – the CBC team will give you guidance and support with your submission to the Curtis Brown and C&W agents.
- Alumni services: You’ll be given access to 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, editorial reports on your completed novel and submission reports on your ‘pitch package’. Read more about the opportunities available to our alumni here.
MASTERCLASS SPEAKERS
Join special live Zoom sessions with leading publishing professionals and literary agents.
Course schedule
Please note that precise dates of sessions and details of course speakers are subject to change.
Week 1
Mon 30 Sep – Fri 4 OctWeek 2
Mon 7 Oct – Fri 11 OctWeek 3
Mon 14 Oct – Fri 18 OctWeek 4
Mon 21 Oct – Fri 25 OctWeek 5
Tues 28 Oct – Fri 1 NovWeek 6
Mon 4 Nov – Fri 8 NovWeek 7
Mon 11 Nov – Fri 15 NovWeek 8
Mon 18 Nov – Fri 22 NovWeek 9
Mon 25 Nov – Fri 29 Nov
Course fees
The course fee of £960 (inc VAT) per student is payable, in full, by bank transfer or cheque before the start of the course. However, if you are unable to pay the full fee upfront, let us know and we can arrange an instalment plan.
Ready to apply?
Our application form asks some questions about you and your writing – and it also asks you to send us the first 3,000 words of the crime novel or thriller you’re working on and a one-page synopsis.
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 8 September, and we will respond to applicants by Thursday 12 September.
We read all application material promptly after the closing date and make our selection of students swiftly at that time. However if you require an earlier response from us in order to be able to take part in this course, please email us with full details and we will consider and respond on a case by case basis.
If you encounter any problems during the application process, or have any more questions about the course, please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk for assistance.
