Creative Thursday
A day-long workshop for aspiring crime writers
Have you ever walked to work stepping over imaginary dead bodies? Is that dog walker a potential assassin?! Do you see the world around you as being straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel? Chances are you’re itching to see your name in print. It’s time you put that imagination to use (or upped your medication).
The ever-popular Creative Thursday is a day-long workshop designed to shed light on the dark art of crime writing, run in association with Festival education partner, Leeds Met University.
Programming for Creative Thursday, 22 July 2010 is currently underway. This page will be updated with full details of the day’s workshops and seminars once details are released. In the meantime you can browse the 2009 Programme (see below) for a flavour of what the Festival’s Creative Thursday can offer aspiring writers.
To register your interest in joining the Creative Thursday mailing list to receive updates on the 2010 Programme as soon as they are available, please email: crime@harrogate-festival.org.uk or tel: 01423 562303.
The 2009 Programme
For just £80, including lunch, aspiring authors wishing to master the dark art of penning best-selling crime fiction benefitted from a series of workshops, tutorials and seminars tailored specifically to meet their needs.
Real CSI: Turning the Facts into Fiction
Award-winning author and Festival Chair Laura Wilson is joined by professional Crime Scene Investigation officer Andy Manns to explore how to utilise expert knowledge of the grim realities of real life crime to inform your fiction.
How to Run in High Heels
A self-defence master class and a writing workshop rolled into one. Author and action heroine Zoë Sharp teaches you how to write convincing violence – and possibly how to throw a punch!
Legalese
Martin Edwards is a well-known crime fiction author. He’s also a practicing lawyer working at the very top of the profession. In this tutorial Martin will advise how a writer successfully walks the line between staying true to the letter of the law and losing the plot – and the reader - to the minutiae of the legal system.
Pillars of Hercules
In this in-depth session, crime author and Head of Writing at Liverpool John Moores University, Adam Creed, will lead an exploration of structure within novels, looking at how writers can apply the lessons of storytelling – from the Ancient Greeks to James Ellroy – to their own work.
Adapting For Audio books
An industry seminar lifting the lid on the process of taking a bestselling novel and transforming it into a gripping spoken performance: Author Mark Billingham, abridger Kati Nicholl and actor Adjoa Andoh reveal the fascinating stages behind the adaptation process, following the journey of Mark’s novel In The Dark from page to finished audio book.
The Dragons’ Pen
Dare you brave our Dragons’ Pen? Four brilliant industry professionals. Two minutes to pitch in front of an audience of other aspiring authors. One chance to get your novel read by a leading figure in crime fiction publishing.
Do you have the nerve to take on the challenge and our Dragons?
We are offering a limited number of places to Creative Thursday participants with a completed concept for a crime novel, the opportunity to pitch their book to two powerhouse agents, Jane Gregory of Gregory and Company and Philip Patterson of Marjaq Scripts, and two widely-respected editors, David Shelley of Little, Brown and Selina Walker of Transworld Publishers Ltd.
Fail to excite the Dragons’ interest and you’ll be going back to the drawing board – but if your pitch rouses their keen instincts then they will vie with each other for the privilege of being the first to read a synopsis and first chapter of your work.
We can’t guarantee a publishing deal – but if you think your writing makes the grade and want to get your work in front of the people with the power to kick-start an author’s career – this is your big chance.
Between them the Dragons represent and publish such luminaries as Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Stuart MacBride and Simon Kernick to name but a few.
Looking for more Creative Writing courses?
Launched in October 2008, the Faber Academy is an exciting new writing and live events programme. Committed to innovation, and with both an international and UK focus, the Faber Academy delivers high-quality events, from one-day workshops to six-month mentoring schemes, devised by the foremost practitioners in their field.
To find our more visit the Faber Academy website.
