Creative Thursday

  • Thursday 21st July 2022 | 9.00am – 5.45pm
  • The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate
  • Tickets: £100.00
  • Please note that all transactions are subject to a £1.75 booking fee.
  • Your ticket will include tea and coffee during the breaks, as well as a 2-course lunch at the Old Swan Hotel.

Online and telephone bookings have now closed. Tickets may be available to buy from the on-site Box Office at the Old Swan Hotel from 8.30am Thursday 21 July subject to availability.

A day of writing workshops, panel discussions and pitching sessions which no aspiring crime writer will want to miss.

They say every day is a school day, but if your favourite lesson is learning how to write a bestselling crime novel, then no day beats Creative Thursday.

Wherever you are in your writing journey, whether on the first chapter or the final draft, you’re guaranteed to pick up pointers which will help polish your prose and perfect your plot. Leading authors and industry professionals are on hand to share their secrets and arm you with everything you need to take that great idea and make it into a great book.

It’s a full day, packed with information, help, encouragement, and diabolically golden advice. Creative Thursday is immersive and unique, and is designed to give you the best chance of getting that publishing deal you dream of.

JOIN THE CREATIVE THURDAY ALUMNI

Hear from four successful authors who took the plunge to attend Creative Thursday and subsequently found themselves on the path to publication! Who knows, one day that may be you! Hear from Creative Thursday alumni about their journeys to publication and beyond, as they reveal all to Natasha Cooper. The session will be topped off with a quick-fire guide to presenting and presentation with Natasha Cooper – from pitching your novel to appearing at events, and from eye contact to how to present yourself behind the scenes on social media.

We are pleased to welcome Alumni DV Bishop, Lesley Thomson, Mari Hannah and Steph Broadribb.

THE OTHER SIDE

Vaseem Khan – How to write outside your own cultural background

Cultural appropriation. Stereotyping. Diversity. All issues that the publishing industry and today’s authors are grappling with. In this session, CWA Historical Dagger-winning author Vaseem Khan will examine the debate over who has the right to write which stories and how to write across cultural boundaries, offering thoughts from key industry stakeholders and recommendations for best practise together with examples from the crime fiction world. Vaseem recently led on an Arts Council-funded project examining these issues. The aim of the project was simple: to provide authors and industry professionals with advice and tools on how to tackle the issue of writing diversity into literature in a way that minimises the chances of causing offence. Each attendee of this session will also receive a PDF with the complete guidance from the project.

JUST WRITE

Greg Mosse – A Novel in Two Hours

A dynamic, collaborative story development workshop, weaving a compelling outline for an unwritten crime novel from ideas produced by the people in the space, mirroring the approach of the TV writer’s room. Greg Mosse, ‘writer & encourager of writers’, has 20 years’ professional experience working with novelists, playwrights and screenwriters, and will be supported by best-selling author, and wife, Kate Mosse. Greg’s future-thriller, THE COMING DARKNESS, will be published in November.

THE DRAGONS’ PEN

Four brilliant publishing professionals. Two minutes to convince them that your synopsis and first chapter are worth reading. One audience full of your fellow would-be writers. Our literary version of the popular TV show, Dragons’ Den, hosted by Mark Billingham is not for the faint-hearted.

THE DRAGONS’ PEN

Four brilliant publishing professionals. Two minutes to convince them that your synopsis and first chapter are worth reading. One audience full of your fellow would-be writers. Our literary version of the popular TV show, Dragons’ Den, hosted by Mark Billingham is not for the faint-hearted.

 

Welcoming Dragons:

Ed Wood – Publishing Director, Sphere Fiction, and IP Director for Little, Brown Book Group

Jane Gregory represents authors of crime, thrillers, psychological suspense, historical and literary fiction – David Higham Associates.

Liza DeBlock – Foreign Rights Executive at Mushens Entertainment, the number 1 ranked UK fiction dealmaker on Publishers’ Marketplace, representing crime novelists such as Natalie Chandler and Stacey Thomas.

Vicki Mellor – Publishing Director at Pan Macmillan

We have limited availability for this event and expect tickets to sell out fast, so book early to avoid disappointment!

In partnership with Amazon Literary Grant.

A number of bursaries supported by Amazon Literary Grant will be available for Creative Thursday for the 2022 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. Follow the link below for more information and how to apply.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR BURSARIES

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