2011 was a crazy up and down kind of year for me, but one of the undoubted highlights was doing the Curtis Brown creative course.
Run by mega-agency Curtis Brown, whose clients range from David 'One Day' Nicholls to Twihottie Robert Pattison, it's a twelve-week novel writing course that first ran in April. I didn't apply for it then, but talented old Catherine Bray did, and reminded me to apply for the September course.
I was lucky enough to get in, and thought I'd blog for future ditherers. The course is firmly focused on the commercial (I don't mean in style, because the fifteen of us on the course were working across nearly every genre, from literary to not), but writing a publishable novel and getting a little insight into the business side of publishing.
Lessons were 7-9 on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Wednesdays were talks from industry insiders, from publishers to editors and successful writers, and Thursday were half lessons (editing, agent's letters, dialogue) and half workshopping each other's work. Add to that a couple of tutorials with the course directors, the brilliant Anna Davis and Chris Wakling, and you have a course that is well worth the money (it was £1,600). On a weekly basis, it's four hours of lessons, a few more hours for going through other's writing or any homework, plus the time you'll want to spend working on your novel. I found combining the course with a demanding full-time job difficult sometimes but fine with a little multitasking; others travelled from South Wales, or left their jobs to concentrate on their writing.
The group were, and are, amazing. We have varied backgrounds and experiences but, without an exception, they were all completely committed to the course, working on interesting pieces, and generous and useful with their feedback. To round off the course, we submitted 10,000 words of our works in progress for feedback sessions with Curtis Brown agents, and I'm rather chuffed to have Jonny 'William Boyd/Hari Kunrzu/Martine McCutcheon' Geller. Here's my group, after our session with unexpected charismabomb Jeffrey Archer. I'm the one swooning towards him in black.
I had high hopes when I first started the course - namely, a full first draft finished by my birthday at the end of January. To be honest, I'm no nearer that in word terms, but I'm much closer in better, subtler ways; I now have a proper story, a stronger picture of what I'm good and bad at (I find plotting tough) and, above all, a group that'll carry on meeting up next year to encourage each other. I'm starting 2012 more optimistic than ever about my chances of properly writing a publishable novel, and that's all down to Curtis Brown.
I couldn't recommend the course more.
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