Online course
Start Writing Crime Fiction
12 weeks
12 weeks
Crime fiction is the biggest-selling genre in the UK and this course will help you to incorporate its building blocks into your own writing. Join the Queen of Domestic Noir, Julia Crouch, for an online creative writing course which will teach you how to write a crime novel. Explore the genre’s themes and appeal; looking at creating credible worlds and characters, developing and structuring story and building page-turning, tension-filled scenes.
CLICK HERE AND BOOK YOUR CRIME FICTION WRITING COURSE TODAY!
If you have any questions, you can get in touch by emailing Vicki at learning@nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk.
Course scheduleThis course runs for 12 weeks and is split into several modules, which each last two weeks. Modules consist of multiple chapters and your progress is tracked throughout, making it easy to pick up where you left off.
Although a module is open for two weeks, you are not expected to dedicate that entire time to the course! Our online courses are designed to fit around a busy lifestyle and each chapter is conveniently bite-sized so that you can always be making progress. On average we expect most students to spend between 3-5 hours per week on a course (this time will be a mixture of reading, community discussions, exercises and assignments). This will vary from student-to-student and some modules may be more intensive than others.
Each module includes smaller exercises and a main assignment. How much time you spend on these is flexible and will depend on your own writing style and process.
Zoom sessions TBC.
Equipment and software: What you needYou will need access to a computer and you will need access to the internet.
You can view the study materials on a mobile device but we recommend using a desktop or laptop computer for working on assignments and taking part in community discussions.
Important: Your web browser must be up-to-date to access the courses. We recommend using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
We use two platforms to deliver our tutored online courses:
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“I’ve taken away a much greater confidence in my creative work, an ability to be much more flexible but also decisive with my writing ideas and have learned many new writing techniques and ways of working.”
“I have learned a huge amount on this course. I feel I have leaped ahead in my knowledge of writing and what I am capable of writing at the moment.”
“My output has improved a thousand-fold in both content and quality.”
“The course had a therapeutic effect. I gained a sense of freedom from getting lost in the characterisations and dramas of my stories.”
“The course exceeded my expectations in every aspect with how well-structured it was, the exercises and the feedback. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
“Having someone read and feedback on my writing gave me focus and motivation.”
Who is this course for?This course is ideal for people who have done no formal training or courses who want to:
CLICK HERE AND BOOK YOUR CRIME FICTION WRITING COURSE TODAY!
Core areas of expertise: Novelist, teacher.
Notable works: Julia is the author of six internationally published crime novels: Cuckoo, Every Vow You Break, Tarnished, The Long Fall, Her Husband’s Lover and The New Mother. She also writes (and reads, given the opportunity) slightly chilling, off-beat short stories, which have been published in various collections.
Unable to find a sub-genre of crime writing that neatly described her work, she came up with the term Domestic Noir, which is now widely accepted as the label for one of the most popular crime genres today.
Julia has been a Visiting Fellow on the UEA MA Creative Writing Crime Fiction and teaches online for Faber Academy and the National Centre for Writing. She co-runs the Brighton Crime Wave, a bi-monthly crime fiction night.
What’s great about the course? The course is a thorough introduction to reading and writing crime fiction.
I love seeing students meet and support each other and progress through the course. They come away with their enjoyment of the genre enhanced – both as a reader and as a writer.
I started writing in my forties, after doing online courses (OU creative writing courses), so I understand exactly how a passion can be awoken through this form of learning.
Femi Kayode is an award-winning novelist and screenwriter. He is a graduate of the MA in Crime Fiction at the University of East Anglia, where his novel Lightseekers won the Little, Brown / UEA Crime Fiction Award. Lightseekers was called ‘a delight’ by the New York Times, ‘tense and disturbing’ by the Guardian and ‘a stunning murder mystery’ by the Independent.
Femi was a Packard Gates Fellow in Film at the University of Southern California and has built an impressive resume on prime-time television by creating, writing and developing several award-winning TV dramas.