Overview

If you’re working on a novel and want to take your writing seriously, get the best out of your work-in-progress and learn how to pitch to agents and publishers with confidence, then our flagship six-month course is you.

We’re excited to be offering two brilliant author-tutors for this course – meaning you’ll get two experienced teaching perspectives and two distinct teaching voices focused on your work across six months. The first half of the course will be taught by Ali Shaw and the second by Laura Barnett. Your tutors will help you to maximise your potential (whether you’re in the early stages of writing or even reworking a complete draft), through weekly writing workshops, one-to-one tutorials and teaching sessions on key topics such as how to create memorable characters, write authentic dialogue and develop a strong arc for your story.

In addition to joining a group of 15 writers for weekly classes, you’ll take part in four publishing industry masterclass events, with Curtis Brown or C&W literary agents, top authors and a fiction editor (from a major publishing house) – during which our guests will share their experience and insights with and answer questions. Plus you’ll join a special two-part ‘mini-course’ from an acclaimed author.

You’ll also attend a pitch letter workshop with two literary agents and get feedback on your synopsis from an experienced editor. And towards the end of the course, you’ll get an industry-oriented tutorial with either a member of the Curtis Brown or C&W agenting team, or a CBC editor with substantial publishing experience, based on 6,000 words from your work-in-progress. Then, at the very 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 ten years since we first launched Curtis Brown Creative, over 160 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 Jessie Burton (The Miniaturist), Kate Hamer with (The Girl in the Red Coat), Rachel Marks (Saturdays at Noon) and Jane Harper (The Dry). You can read more about our 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.

Teaching in London

We love the energy of our in-person courses, and so do our students. However, we are carefully monitoring the ongoing Covid-19 situation, and will move classes to Zoom on a case-by-case basis if it should prove necessary in the interests of the health and safety of our students and staff.

In-person classes will be held at comfortable, spacious venues in central London (currently at Asia House) on Wednesdays, and will be fully compliant with any applicable government rules on distancing and hygiene. The current version of our Covid Protocol can be read here. The protocol is reviewed, ongoing throughout the duration of the course, and our students and staff will be kept fully informed of any amendments made in their interests.

Guest speaker sessions will take place in London where possible – though it may be necessary to hold some sessions on Zoom (subject also to the needs of guest speakers). Please read to the end of this course description and schedule for full details.

One-to-one tutorials may be held in-person or on Zoom.

The Zoom video conferencing platform enables you to connect with your class and tutor live as if you were all in the same room. It’s easy to use – we’ll send you a link to join the sessions by email – and the CBC team will be on hand to help if you have any problems.

If circumstances dictate that this course runs entirely on Zoom, the fee will be reduced to £2,990.

WHAT DOES THIS COURSE GIVE YOU?

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 comments (both at the group workshop sessions and in writing on our secure online forum space). We find this process helps students develop their own inner editor and has a hugely positive impact on their writing. Each week (see schedule) 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 three times across the course.

EXCLUSIVE ALUMNI SERVICES

We offer a range of writing services that are exclusive to the alumni of our selective courses – you’ll be able to access these after your course finishes. The services include individual mentoring from some of our most experienced tutors, a five-day intensive alumni summer school, editorial reports on your completed novel, submission reports on your ‘pitch package,’ and alumni discounts on many of our courses. 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, all students from our selective courses 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.