Writing Your Novel – Six Months

£2,800

6 months

Online

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Writing Your Novel – Six Months

Make your story shine on our flagship online novel-writing course.

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. You'll join a group of 15 students for interactive online learning. Designed to be as fulfilling as the courses we run in our offices, with live industry masterclass sessions featuring agents from Curtis Brown and C&W.

We’re excited to be offering two brilliant tutors for this course – meaning you’ll get two experienced teaching perspectives focused on your work across six months. The first half of the course will be taught by author Lisa O’Donnell and the second half of the course will be taught by Cathi Unsworth. Course runs from 20 Feb to 24 Jul 2023.

If it hadn’t been for the CBC course, this book would not have been written, simple as that. It was such a turning point for me. I will be singing the praises of this course for the rest of my life, and I’m so grateful for having the chance to be part of it.

Jane Harper
Internationally bestselling author of The Dry

Tutors

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.

Cathi Unsworth

Cathi Unsworth is the author of four crime novels, most recently That Old Black Magic; plus two further (non-genre) novels, all published by Serpent’s Tail. Her novel Weirdo was translated into seven languages and longlisted for the 2014 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, the 2014 Gran Prix de Littérature Policiére, the 2013 Gordon Burn Prize and the 2013 New Angle Prize for Literature. Her novel Without the Moon was The Times' Crime Book of the month upon publication.

What does this course give you?

Teaching videos: Across 14 teaching modules, videos and notes will be made available on our learning platform, covering a range of topics such as plotting, characterisation, point-of-view and rewriting. All delivered by our expert tutor team (see featured video speakers below).
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. 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. Many of our former students have found their trusted readers with us – and form strong working friendships with classmates which go on long after the course is over.
Guided teaching: Lisa and Simon will teach on a variety of novel-writing topics in our interactive online learning platform. The tutors will also set homework tasks to further your learning.
Writing workshops: Across the course, you'll get three dedicated workshops centring on 3,000-word extracts from your novel-in-progress. These sessions offer in-depth feedback from your student group and tutor, and are also designed to help develop your self-editing skills.
1-to-1 tutorials: You'll get two 45-minute, one-to-one tutorials (one with Lisa and the other with Simon). Tutorials will be based on 3,000-word extracts of your novel-in-progress. Use these tutorials to address your specific concerns about your writing. Near the end of the course all students will also get a 45-minute one-to-one with an experienced CBC editor or a Curtis Brown/C&W literary agent. They will read a 6,000-word extract from your novel-in-progress plus your synopsis.
3 industry masterclasses: These special live Zoom sessions will help demystify publishing. Leading literary agents, authors and publishers will discuss writing, editing and the submissions process – they will draw on their experience of real-life publication journeys. There will also be opportunities to ask questions.
Synopsis & agent letter advice: We’ll draw on our expertise to give you the vital ingredients needed for a great synopsis and the all-important pitch letter. Individual feedback will come from experienced members of the CBC editorial team and/or a Curtis Brown/C&W literary agent.
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 as well as a select group of agents from other UK-based agencies. 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 live Zoom sessions acclaimed authors and top UK literary agents.

Jonny GellerRead bio →

Ruth JonesRead bio →

Lucy MorrisRead bio →

Tina Orr MunroRead bio →

VIDEO SPEAKERS

Course modules include exclusive pre-recorded teaching videos from these expert author-tutors.

Laura Barnett

#1 Bestselling author
Author of 5 acclaimed novels

Suzannah Dunn

Author of 13 novels
Over a quarter of a million copies sold in the UK alone

Andrew Michael Hurley

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award
Published in 20 languages

Simon Ings

Author of 8 acclaimed novels
Columnist for the Times

Nikita Lalwani

Longlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize
Winner of the 2008 Desmond Elliot Prize

Lisa O’Donnell

Winner of the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize

Christopher Wakling

Author of 6 acclaimed novels

See all our tutors

Course schedule

INSPIRATION & READING AS WRITERS
Mon 20 Feb – Sun 26 Feb
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OPENINGS
Mon 27 Feb – Sun 12 March
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WRITING FROM LIFE
Mon 13 March – Sun 19 March
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STORY, PLOTTING & PLANNING
Mon 20 March – Sun 2 April
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VOICE & NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW
Mon 3 April – Sun 9 April
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EASTER BREAK WEEK
Mon 10 April – Sun 16 April
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PLACE & SETTING
Mon 17 April – Sun 30 April
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SYNOPSIS
Tues 2 May – Sun 7 May
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CHARACTERISATION
Mon 8 May – Sun 21 May
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DESCRIPTION, TONE & STYLE
Mon 22 May – Sun 28 May
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DIALOGUE
Tues 30 May – Sun 4 June
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BUILDING SUSPENSE
Mon 12 June – Sun 25 June
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EDITING & REWRITING
Mon 26 June – Sun 2 July
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AGENT LETTER/PITCH WORKSHOP
Mon 3 July – Sun 9 July
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FINAL QUESTIONS
Mon 10 July – Sun 16 July
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END OF COURSE SUBMISSION
Tues 24 July
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Course fees

The course fee of £2,800 (inc VAT) per student is payable, in full, by bank transfer. 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.

Ready to apply?

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 Sun 22 Jan, and we will respond to applicants by Thurs 26 Jan.

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.

£2,800

6 months

Online

Join us for an intense online learning experience with feedback from expert tutors and industry advice from literary agents.

Tutor