The Enduring Lessons that I Learnt at the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-Writing Course

It’s nearly ten years since I attended the novel-writing course at Curtis Brown Creative, and it’s not too bold a claim to say that those three short months changed the course of my professional life forever – helping me to subsequently find an agent and a publisher, and now have five published novels to my name.

To begin with, I should say that I had studied writing before. In fact, I already had a Masters degree in Creative Writing – so what was it specifically about this course that worked for me, and what are the enduring lessons that still inform my writing today? The following are not writing tips. Instead, they are more general thoughts about an approach to writing – gleaned from working with the CBC tutors, meeting fellow students and listening to the published authors who came along to speak to us.

They are about an attitude to the work, an understanding of the realities of publishing, and the undervalued, but oh-so-important quality of perseverance. I hope they resonate!

Firstly, I learnt how to finish a novel. This was a particular problem for me to solve, as I already had a drawer stuffed with unfinished works – novels that started with energy and promise, but which petered out at around thirty thousand words. The course gave me a practical solution to this problem – to plan my novels in advance.

To accept that I couldn’t just sit down at my desk and expect a novel to drift into my head. (Yes, I know there are some authors who write this way… but it didn’t work for me.) The idea that this gift is universal to all writers is very seductive, but accepting that I hadn’t been duly blessed was a huge game changer. 

I learnt how to work with constructive criticism. One of the most rewarding parts of the course was sharing my embryonic novel with a group of talented writers, and listening to their thoughts and advice. But I also learnt how to deal with this information. How to categorise and weigh the feedback, so that it energised my work, and not the opposite.

You see, the problem to opening out an early draft to a lot of readers, is that you run the risk of being faced with a myriad of differing opinions. Feedback is essential, but too much can be paralysing – leaving the writer confused and even demoralised. I write historical crime fiction – so I was careful to pay the most attention to the advice that came from the writers who appeared to understand the conventions and subtleties of this genre.

Armed with this experience, I embraced the concept of working with ‘trusted early readers’ – a practice that I continue to this day. I now have three trusted readers. They are the only people to see early drafts – even before a book goes to my editor. These readers are completely honest with me (sometimes brutally so) But this is still an essential stage for any of my books. I am getting a truthful reaction to my work – from the sort of reader who would go into a bookshop and freely buy the type of book that I’m writing. 

You soon learn that you can’t please every reader with your writing (and nor should you seek to.) But equally, it is important to identify the readers whom you do want to please. 

I learnt to be professional and persevere. As part of the course, we had presentations from a selection of published authors, including Jojo Moyes, Jane Harris and Harriet Evans, and the quality that really struck me, (apart from their obvious literary talent, of course) was their formidable work ethic.

Inspired by this, I changed my own approach to my writing – an approach that has endured since those days. I have a daily routine, regardless of my other responsibilities. (If you really want to write, you will find space for it in your life, no matter how busy you are.) I have a dedicated place to work, where I run the least risk of being disturbed. (Doesn’t have to be an office. Could be a corner of a room.) Thirdly, I find it very useful to have a daily word count target, and to keep to it.

Sometimes I write more than my target – when the creativity is flowing. But, more importantly, I never write less. Sometimes this can mean writing when I don’t feel like it – but it’s important to keep going. Inspiration always returns. I find that a novel quickly grows with this technique. And, as a bonus, it’s the perfect solution to writer’s block!

I leant to read more. It often surprises me how little some would-be authors actually read. Luckily, I was always a keen reader, but my issue was that I tended to stay in my safe channel – choosing a mixture of the classics, intermixed with the odd work of crime fiction, or the latest Booker prize winner. I now challenge myself to read much widely. To pick up books that I wouldn’t have chosen ten years ago. Apart from being highly enjoyable (in the main), it also stretches and challenges my creativity.  

I learnt to keep learning. I loved everything about the Curtis Brown course – but most particularly I just loved immersing myself in the amazing, mysterious, frustrating, inspiring world of writing. I knew that I wanted to continue this experience whenever possible.

Writing is an art, but there’s also a craft to it. As a writer, you should strive to be a master of this craft. I try to keep my skills up to date in a number of ways – by reading books on the topic, but also by regularly attending workshops and writer presentations.

Or by listening to podcasts, such as Writers Routine – which gives an intriguing and revealing insight into the working practices of other writers. I am endlessly fascinated with how other writers work – as there is no universal model.  And equally, there are no universal lessons about writing. But these were my thoughts, prompted by attending an excellent course ten years ago, and then honed over the intervening years.  I hope they were helpful!

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Learn more about Curtis Brown Creative and their writing courses here: https://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/creative-writing-courses/

About the Author: S. D. Sykes is the author of Plague Land, The Butcher Bird, City of Masks, and The Bone Fire, all available from Pegasus Crime. She received an M.A. in Writing from Sheffield Hallam University, and she attended the novel writing course at Curtis Brown Creative, where she was inspired to write Plague Land. She lives in England.

Find out more about her on her website http://www.sdsykes.co.uk/

THE GOOD DEATH

A Somershill Manor Mystery

England, November 1370. Oswald de Lacy, Lord of Somershill Manor, makes a devastating confession to his dying mother. But will he gain the forgiveness he seeks—or destroy his family?

In 1349, Oswald, the third son of the de Lacy family, was an eighteen-year-old novice monk at Kintham Abbey. Sent to collect herbs from the forest, Oswald comes across a terrified village girl. Frenzied with fear, she runs headlong into a swollen river. Oswald pulls her broken and bruised body from the water and returns her to the local village, only to discover that several other women have disappeared. A heinous killer is at work, but because all of the missing women come from impoverished families without influence, nobody seems to care.

Oswald vows to find this killer himself—but as plague approaches, his beloved tutor Brother Peter insists they must stay inside the monastery. He turns instead to the women of the village for help, and particularly the enigmatic and beautiful Maud Woodstock—a woman who provokes strong emotions in Oswald.

As he closes in on the killer, Oswald makes a discovery that is so utterly shocking that it threatens to destroy him and his family. Even as plague rages across England and death is at every door, Oswald must kill or be killed. And the discovery will be a secret that haunts him for the rest of his life.

 

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