Writing Your Novel – Three Months
Deep-dive into your novel with expert tuition, a strong peer group and advice from literary agents. All online, and with flexible scheduling.
COURSE DATES
Apr 19 2021 - Jul 26 2021
Online
Take this course from anywhere in the world
Selective Entry
We offer places to the most talented applicants
Course Fee £1,800
Work on your novel with the experts
Overview
We’ve designed this online course to provide an experience that’s as close to our successful London-based courses as we can make it. You’ll receive direct engagement with industry professionals, including a one-to-one tutorial at course end with either an agent from Curtis Brown or C&W, or a CBC editor with substantial publishing experience, based on 6,000 words from your work-in-progress. 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 will join a group of 15 writers tutored by an experienced tutor. We’ll be running two student groups led by acclaimed authors. One group will be taught by Suzannah Dunn and the other group will be taught by Chris Wakling.
If you are selected to take part, we’ll assign you to the tutor group we feel will work best for you and your novel – however if you have a strong preference for one of the tutors, you can indicate this in the form and we will try to take this into consideration.
Your tutor will give direct feedback to students on their novels-in-progress via weekly workshops on our bespoke online forum, targeted writing exercises, and one-to-one tutorials via Zoom. You’ll also get access to teaching videos, notes and resources from our CBC tutor team (listed below) on our online learning platform.
You’ll take part in a Zoom Webinar with a top literary agent Sheila Crowley from Curtis Brown. Plus a literary agent from Curtis Brown/C&W will offer in-depth written advice on your agent letter and elevator pitch. Then 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 110 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 Rachel Marks (Saturdays at Noon), Jane Harper (The Dry) and Nicholas Searle (The Good Liar) and soon to be published Polly Crosby (The Illustrated Child). 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.
‘Suzannah is a fantastic mentor; she brings you out as it were, gets you to talk about yourself and your novel – where it’s going, where it’s not going, what you’re happy about, what you don’t feel you’re managing well.’
Fynvola Le Hunte Ward, CBC alumna
‘Chris was very generous with his time, and provided me with some extremely constructive feedback. He also made the forum discussions fun and guided them so that the feedback was useful. I thought he was an excellent tutor and will refer back to his advice as I write in the future.’
Melissa Echalier, CBC alumna
Tutor
Christopher Wakling, Author
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 has tutored numerous creative-writing courses for Curtis Brown Creative and The Arvon Foundation.
Suzannah Dunn, Author
Suzannah Dunn is the author of thirteen books. She was picked alongside Robert Harris, Edward St Aubyn and Helen Simpson, in response to Granta’s first ‘Best Under 40’ list in 1993. She 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 including The Confession of Katherine Howard and The Lady of Misrule. She has sold over a quarter of a million copies of her historical novels in the UK alone. Her latest historical novel The Testimony of Alys Twist is set to be published September 2020 by Little, Brown. 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.
WHAT DOES THIS COURSE GIVE YOU?
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 team, and your tutor will add their thoughts on each module and set tasks for the group - writing exercises or discussion. Topics tackled include plotting, characterisation, point-of-view and rewriting.
Writing Workshops
Led by your tutor
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.
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 workshop 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 45 minute, one-to-one tutorials with your tutor, conducted via Zoom or phone, based on 3,000 word sections of your novel-in-progress. Use these tutorials to address your specific concerns about your writing.
Tutorial with industry professional
Intensive one-to-one discussion of your novel-in-progress
Near the end of the course all students will get a 45-minute one-to-one on Zoom/phone 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. They will provide detailed feedback and publishing industry advice.
Synopsis Advice
Expert critique of 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 get individual feedback from an experienced member of the CBC editor team.
Pitch Workshop
Agent feedback on your letter & elevator pitch
We'll give you the vital dos and don'ts of agent pitch letters and elevator pitches - you'll then write your own and get in-depth written feedback on both the letter and the short pitch from a Curtis Brown/C&W literary agent.
Webinar with a Literary Agent
Join a live video chat with a top UK literary agent
Students will take part in a special 60 minute Zoom webinar with a top Curtis Brown literary agent Sheila Crowley. They will discuss what literary agents do and answer your questions about publishing.
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.
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 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 five-day intensive zoom/online alumni summer school, 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.
Guest Sessions
This course offers in-depth engagement with literary agents at Curtis Brown and C&W. You’ll also get teaching videos from your tutor and from the author-tutors on our team:
Applications now closed
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 £1,800 (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 discuss a payment 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.
Course Schedule
WEEK 1
Inspiration and Reading as Writers
Monday 19 April – Sunday 25 April
With videos from Anna Davis and Chris Wakling
WEEK 2
Openings
Monday 26 April – Sunday 2 May
With videos from Lisa O’Donnell
WEEK 3
Writing from Life
Tuesday 4 May – Sunday 9 May
With videos from Nikita Lalwani
WEEK 4
Story, Plotting & Planning
Monday 10 May – Sunday 16 May
With videos from Chris Wakling
WEEK 5
Voice and Narrative Point of View
Monday 17 May – Sunday 23 May
With videos from Nikita Lalwani
WEEK 6
Characterisation
Monday 24 May – Sunday 30 May
With videos from Suzannah Dunn
WEEK 7
Synopsis
Monday 31 May – Sunday 6 June
With videos from Anna Davis and a synopsis workshop with an expert CBC editor
WEEK 8
Description, Tone & Style
Monday 7 June – Sunday 13 June
With videos from Erin Kelly
WEEK 9
Dialogue
Monday 14 June – Sunday 20 June
With videos from Suzannah Dunn
WEEK 10
Building Suspense
Monday 21 June – Sunday 27 June
With videos from Erin Kelly
WEEK 11
Endings
Monday 28 June – Sunday 4 July
With videos from Lisa O’Donnell
WEEK 12
Editing and Rewriting
Monday 5 July – Sunday 11 July
With videos from Jake Arnott
WEEK 13
Agent Pitch Workshop
Monday 12 July – Sunday 18 July
With videos and individual feedback from agents at Curtis Brown and/or C&W.
WEEK 14
Course Conclusions
Monday 19 July – Sunday 25 July
A chance for the group and tutor to share the discoveries you’ve made on this course and to ask final questions.
WEEK 15
End of Course Submission
Monday 26 July
Students to submit 3,000 word opening and one-page synopsis to be read by the Curtis Brown and C&W literary agents
Application Process
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 21 March, and we will respond to applicants by Thursday 25 March.
