Writing Your Novel – Six Months

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 for you.

Join a group of 15 writers for weekly in-person teaching sessions at a central London location. We’re excited to be offering two brilliant author-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 Ali Shaw and the second by Laura Barnett. Your tutors will help you to maximise your potential through weekly writing workshops, one-to-one tutorials and teaching sessions.

You will also have the opportunity to engage directly with industry professionals, with the opportunity to share the opening of your novel informally with the agent teams at Curtis Brown and C&W at the end of the course.

What does this course give you?

• Live teaching sessions in London: Ali and Laura will teach on a variety of novel-writing topics in dynamic sessions on Weds evenings. The tutors will also set homework tasks to further your learning.
• 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 their trusted readers with us – and form strong working friendships with classmates which go on long after the course is over.
• 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 25-minute, one-to-one tutorials (one with Ali and the other with Laura). 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.
• 4 industry masterclasses: These special sessions will feature guest literary agents, authors and publishers. Industry experts will talk about writing, editing and submissions process, they will draw on their experience of real-life publication journeys. There will also be opportunities to ask questions.
• Guest tutor sessions: Two acclaimed authors (TBD) will lead two evening teaching sessions (as listed on the schedule). They'll share wisdom from their writing career and set relevant tasks for the group.
• Synopsis & agent letter feedback: 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: At the end of the course 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 CB and C&W as well as a select group of agents from other UK-based agencies. This is not a formal submission to the agency but a chance to give the agents a taste of your work at this stage.

Course schedule

All teaching and workshop sessions will take place on Wednesday evenings (unless otherwise stated below). Classes will be will be held at a central London location (Asia House) from 7pm to 9pm. Guest speaker sessions will take place on Monday evenings from 7pm to 8.30pm, either in London or via Zoom. The exact dates and times of guest masterclass sessions are subject to change.

Classes may be moved from London to Zoom depending on circumstances, with prior notification to all concerned.

We are passionate about the safety and comfort of our students and continue to closely monitor the ongoing Covid-19 situation – you can read the current version of our Covid protocol 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.

Course fees

The course fee of £3,190 (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?

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 30 Jul, and we will respond to applicants by Thurs 3 Aug.

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.