Writing Your Novel – Three Months (Online)
Applications
Writing Your Novel – Three Months
Three months of expert novel-writing tuition and insights from literary agents delivered flexibly. Instalment plan available.
Tutor
Suzannah DunnTutor
Cathi UnsworthLength
3 monthsLocation
OnlineWriting Goal
Develop your writingOur flagship online Writing Your Novel course is designed for writers who are serious about developing their novel to its full potential.
Every aspect of the course – the brilliant materials, my wonderful tutor and my fellow course mates – had a huge impact on my writing.
Author of Weyward
With weekly teaching and workshopping on our interactive platform, plus one-to-one tutorials, and advice from renowned authors and literary agents, this course will help you hone your craft and make real progress with your story. Our compact three-month schedule and online learning environment makes this the ideal course for writers with busy calendars in need of flexibility as well as comprehensive advice and an energetic burst of motivation.
You will join a group of 15 writers tutored by Suzannah Dunn or Cathi Unsworth, experienced creative writing tutors who have won awards for their books. Teaching will cover how to create a strong narrative arc and convincing characters, as well as key techniques that will help you bring your story to life, from dialogue to description, tone and style.
In addition to the weekly teaching and workshopping – which is flexibly timed so you can take part at a time that suits you each week – you’ll also attend exclusive live industry masterclasses on Zoom featuring insights from authors, agents and publishers. When the course ends, you’ll be given the opportunity to share your work with literary agents from Curtis Brown and C&W.
Over 250 of our students have gone on to become commercially published authors, including Bonnie Garmus, author of the multi-million copy bestseller, Lessons in Chemistry. Previous students of our three-month online course include Heather Darwent (The Things We Do to Our Friends), Emilia Hart (Weyward), Julie Ma (Happy Families) and Rachel Marks (Saturdays at Noon). Whether you're in the early stages of writing, halfway through a first draft or embarking on a major rewrite – this course will give you the push you need to get the most out of your novel.
This course runs from 8 September 2025 to 19 December 2025.
Tutors
We are running two classes of 15 talented students for this course, one led by Suzannah Dunn and one led by Cathi Unsworth. Students will have the opportunity to give a preference of course tutor on the application form.
Suzannah Dunn
Suzannah Dunn is the author of two collections of short fiction and thirteen novels, of which her first, Quite Contrary, won a Betty Trask Award, and The Confession of Katherine Howard was a Richard and Judy pick. Her latest, Levitation for Beginners, was shortlisted for the Nero Novel of the Year 2024.
She has decades of experience of tutoring and mentoring writers of all levels of confidence and skills in a range of settings, for example at the Arvon Foundation and for five years as programme director of Manchester University’s MA in Novel Writing. For some years now she has tutored regularly online for Curtis Brown Creative.
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.
Read our interviews with your course tutors to discover more about their writing and approaches to teaching creative writing.
WHAT DOES THIS COURSE GIVE YOU?
- Flexible study: Teaching for this course is entirely online, meaning that you can take part from anywhere in the world, at a time that suits you. The course is delivered via interactive forum discussions with your tutor and fellow students alongside pre-recorded teaching videos on our bespoke learning platform, which we have developed exclusively for our students. The forum discussions are lively and every week there will be insightful writing chats and workshop feedback threads with posts from your tutor and student group. The only ‘live’ elements that take place at set times are the Zoom industry masterclass and your one-to-one-tutorials. Timings of these sessions will always be confirmed in advance.
- 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.
- Expert teaching: Suzannah or Cathi will post weekly teaching notes and lead discussions on a variety of novel-writing topics on our interactive online learning platform, and set homework tasks to further your learning. Through the teaching, workshopping and tutorials, he will work with you to help you write the story you want to tell.
- Teaching videos: In addition to the teaching from Suzannah or Cathi, each module will open with exclusive videos and notes covering a range of topics such as plotting, characterisation, point-of-view and editing – all written and delivered by our expert tutor team (see featured video speakers below).
- Writing workshops: Your work will be workshopped by the group twice during the course. Workshops centre on 3,000-word extracts from your novel-in-progress, and discussion takes place on our learning platform with students and the tutor posting written comments across the week. These sessions offer in-depth feedback from your student group and tutor and are also designed to help develop your self-editing skills.
- One-to-one tutorials: You’ll get two 45-minute, one-to-one tutorials with Suzannah or Cathi. Tutorials will be based on 3,000-word extracts from your novel-in-progress and will address your specific concerns and questions. Towards 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 who will read up to 6,000 words from your novel-in-progress plus your synopsis. Tutorials will take place via phone call or Zoom.
- Industry masterclass: Join a special live Zoom session with a leading literary agent and an author, they will answer your questions, speaking exclusively to you about writing, editing and the submissions process, and share their experience of real-life publication journeys.
- Synopsis & agent letter advice: We’ll give you the vital ingredients needed for a great synopsis and pitch letter. Individual feedback will come from experienced members of the CBC editorial team and/or a Curtis Brown/C&W literary agent – delivered via the learning platform.
- End-of-course submission: All students will be invited to submit their 3,000-word novel opening, 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 what you’re working on. When you are ready to submit formally – no matter how long after your course has finished – the CBC team will provide guidance and support with your submission to the Curtis Brown and C&W agents.
- Alumni services: At the end of your course, you’ll be given access to a range of exclusive writing services, available only to the alumni of our selective courses. These services include one-to-one mentoring, full manuscript reports and submission reports on your pitch package. Read more about the opportunities available to our alumni here.
Video Speakers
Course modules include exclusive pre-recorded teaching videos from these expert author-tutors.
COURSE SCHEDULE & DELIVERY
This course is ideal for people seeking flexibility, so they can write and study at times that suit them. Please note that precise dates of masterclass sessions and details of course speakers are subject to change.
WEEK 1 – INSPIRATION AND READING AS WRITERS
Mon 8 Sept – Sun 14 SeptWEEK 2 – OPENINGS
Mon 15 Sept – Sun 21 SeptWEEK 3 – WRITING FROM LIFE
Mon 22 Sept – Sun 28 SeptWEEK 4 – STORY, PLOTTING & PLANNING
Mon 29 Sept – Sun 5 OctWEEK 5 – VOICE AND NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW
Mon 6 Oct – Sun 12 OctWEEK 6 – CHARACTERISATION
Mon 13 Oct – Sun 19 OctWEEK 7 – DESCRIPTION, TONE & STYLE
Mon 20 Oct – Sun 26 OctWEEK 8 – SYNOPSIS
Mon 27 Oct – Sun 2 NovWEEK 9 – DIALOGUE
Mon 3 Nov – Sun 9 NovWEEK 10 – BUILDING SUSPENSE
Mon 10 Nov – Sun 16 NovWEEK 11 – ENDINGS
Mon 17 Nov – Sun 23 NovINDUSTRY TUTORIALS
Mon 17 Nov – Fri 28 NovWEEK 12 – EDITING AND REWRITING
Mon 24 Nov – Sun 30 NovWEEK 13 – AGENT LETTER/PITCH WORKSHOP
Mon 1 Dec – Sun 7 DecWEEK 14 – COURSE CONCLUSION
Mon 8 Dec – Sun 14 DecWEEK 15 – END OF COURSE SUBMISSION
Friday 19 Dec
COURSE FEES
The course fee of £1,900 (inc VAT) per student is payable, in full, by bank transfer or debit/credit card before the start of the course. (Please note, card payments will incur an additional transaction fee.) 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 Sunday 20 July 2025, and we will respond to applicants by Thursday 24 July 2025.
We read all application material promptly after the closing date and make our selection of students within a week. 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.
Still deciding?
If you’re thinking about applying for this course and want to know if it’s the right fit, book a free 15-minute phone consultation to discuss your needs.
Consultations will take place on Tuesday afternoons (14.00 to 17.00) or Friday mornings (10.00 to 13.00). Times listed are UK times.
